Who’s the worst starting pitcher in Mets history? Your answer likely depends on when you started watching, although there’s no doubt that a name jumps into your mind. Let’s make it so that the pitcher has to have thrown at least 250 innings for the Mets as a starter, to eliminate the James Baldwin-types. In case you’ve successfully erased Baldwin from your memory, he allowed 10 ER in 6 IP over two starts in 2004, which is a 15.00 ERA, the worst-ever mark for a Mets SP with at least 5 IP.
The following list was created with FanGraphs, which filters out relief appearances. But FG doesn’t have ERA+, which is a stat I wanted to include. So, after FG created the list of 65 pitchers with at least 250 IP as a starter for the Mets, I went over to Baseball-Reference and grabbed their ERA+ as a Met. Now, this isn’t perfect, as B-R doesn’t separate out starts and relief appearances for this stat. But we’ll use what we have.
Here are the pitchers with an ERA+ of less than 90. If you’d like to see the entire list, just leave a note in the comments and it’ll be sent to the email address you signed up for with the site.
| Name | IP | ERA | ERA+ | FIP | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay Hook | 376 | 5.22 | 74 | 4.51 | 1.1 |
| Carlos Carrasco | 295.2 | 5.21 | 76 | 4.55 | 2.2 |
| Mike Scott | 330.1 | 4.69 | 77 | 3.93 | 2.5 |
| Pete Schourek | 280.1 | 4.43 | 80 | 3.89 | 2.9 |
| Mike Torrez | 253.1 | 4.37 | 81 | 4.33 | 0.9 |
| Tracy Stallard | 380.1 | 4.16 | 84 | 4.06 | 1.3 |
| Tylor Megill | 291 | 4.7 | 85 | 4.45 | 2.7 |
| Al Jackson | 969.2 | 4.19 | 85 | 3.51 | 11 |
| Jack Fisher | 931.2 | 4.12 | 85 | 3.68 | 7.4 |
| Nino Espinosa | 436 | 4 | 86 | 4.02 | 3.3 |
| Jason Isringhausen | 319 | 4.66 | 88 | 4.37 | 3.5 |
| Bob Shaw | 266.1 | 4.06 | 88 | 3.31 | 3.3 |
| Galen Cisco | 479 | 4.04 | 88 | 4.01 | 1.5 |
Our list of 65 is whittled down to 13, which conveniently works out to the bottom 20% of starters in team history. And while he’s not the worst pitcher, regardless of which metric you want to rate them by, it’s hard not to notice that Megill is in the team photo. Some people love Megill’s unflappable demeanor on the mound. And for sure, it’s much better to have a guy who doesn’t get outwardly rattled compared to one who melts down on the mound. But how many times do the Mets plan on trotting him out there, only to get poor results?
Megill teases us with some really fine outings. Just this year, he threw seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts against the Dodgers. And there have been outings like this in each of his four years in the majors. The problem is that those are the outliers and the rest of his outings have been uninspiring. Megill has made four starts since that terrific game against LA and in that span, he’s allowed 15 ER in 17.2 IP. That’s, um, not good.
No one doubts that Megill is trying his best each and every time he takes the mound. The issue isn’t with Megill, it’s with the coaches, managers and front office personnel who keep prioritizing giving him starts over other pitchers. And it’s not like Megill is some high-round pick that the organization has a lot invested. He was an eighth-round pick in 2018, which was done many GMs ago. His most-favored status continues to be a head-scratcher.
Meanwhile, Jose Butto made seven starts in the majors and posted a 3.08 ERA but that wasn’t enough to keep him from being sent to Syracuse. Since the demotion Butto has a 3.06 ERA and it’s only that high due to one bad outing. But there’s been almost no talk about when the Mets will recall him. Instead, the focus has been on Christian Scott, who certainly deserves consideration. Perhaps the Mets’ SP wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have two of their better options performing in Triple-A instead of the majors.
There’s a legitimate concern with Butto and his elevated walk rate. His 5.0 BB/9 this year in the majors has led to a 4.15 FIP. This trouble with walks is a relatively new thing with Butto, not showing up in his ascent thru the organization until last year. But it hasn’t been consistently bad. Last year in five September starts for the Mets, Butto allowed just 9 BB in 27.1 IP for a 2.96 BB/9. Since his demotion, he’s allowed 12 BB in 32.1 IP for a 3.34 BB/9.
This Spring, all the talk was about how Megill had added a splitter to his repertoire. And it’s been an effective pitch for him. But even with this new weapon, Megill has a 4.81 ERA and a 44.6 HardHit%. Perhaps you could make a case for him getting first crack at a rotation spot due to the new pitch. But it’s hard to justify now when the results simply haven’t been there.
Another thing we should keep in mind is that Butto was one of the main beneficiaries of Citi Field playing like an extreme pitcher’s park. Five of his seven starts came at home, where he had a 2.51 ERA, compared to a 4.82 ERA in his two road outings. But since no one seems to want to recognize that in just about any other player’s split, it seems a weird place to draw the line here as for a reason to keep Butto in the minors.
It’s not a slam dunk that Butto should be in the majors and Megill in the minors. There’s some uncertainty as to how Butto will perform over, say, 15 straight starts. At the same time, there’s getting to be very little doubt with Megill. Yeah, he strikes out a lot of guys. Yeah, he shows the stuff to dominate lineups. Yeah, his splitter has turned into a pretty good pitch.
It’s just that the whole is significantly less than the sum of his parts. Enough so that Megill’s in the bottom 20% of starters for the Mets with at least 250 IP. And given that includes the expansion hurlers, the late 70s pitchers, the early 90s and most of the 21st Century – that’s just not a club you should be in if you want to stay in the majors.
Interesting that in the list of worst pitchers in the article at least 2 went on to have very good careers with other teams. Mike Scott of course who won a Cy Young with Houston, I think and Jason Isringhausen who became a very effective reliever.
Maybe we should teach Megill to scuff the ball like Scott.
A change of scenery some times does the trick. Just look at Mike Scott’s stats once he moved on from the Mets. The Mets also got Mike Torrez near the end of his career where he did have some good years. Jason isringhausen didn’t get straightened out until he became a star closer elsewhere. But back to Megill. Fourth season with the Mets and never an ERA under 4.82. Why is he even in the majors? I see him being moved at the trade deadline because he might flourish under a new approach from a different team. If he goes to Syracuse and dominates, his value will go up. Just look at Brett Baty at Syracuse. He mashes and that will get other teams attention. I’d rather wait for Mauricio’s return then. give a spot on the team to Baty.
Seems part of the blame falls on years of poor scouting and player development and the Wilpons cheap approach to fielding a good team. Mets used to be known for developing pitchers back in the day when the Cardinals developed good outfielders. But that was a generation ago. Hoping Stearns has a better eye for both developing and trading for better talent for Cohen to spend his money on.
Not fair to blame the Wilpons any more. That was long enough ago. Alderson was the architect of the organization in the 2010’s ans again after Cohen bought it in 2021. I blame Alderson first, and then Megill. The merry-go-round if GM’s absolves Cohen. Plus, we know he spends.
But, he wasn’t the worst…..
On Friday, Imanaga got killed throwing fastballs and then started the off speed stuff. On Saturday, with Tomas Nido now on the Cubs, Megill got in trouble with his fastball and then started mixing in the off speed in the second inning. Huh? Why? When Dizzy Dean said that God blessed him with a million dollar arm and a ten cent brain, he didn’t realize he would be Megill’s hero.
I’d bring up Scott and move Megill to the pen.
Megill has always, to me, profiled as a reliever. Why the Mets don’t give that a legit attempt is bewildering to me.
Sidenote: I’d put Marte on the IL. We’ve tried pushing through injuries in the past with him and it’s never gone well. Bring up Ben Gamel — who can play any OF position, runs well, has MLB experience, and has been great in Syracuse. Gutting through a knee injury in June is just foolish.
And continuing to throw away games with Megill as a starter is maddening. Try him in the pen.
Butto replace Megill in the starting rotation for the reasons you wrote in this fine article. Christian Scott should get some consideration and maybe they’ll be a future article to replace another starting pitcher. Both deserve to be in the rotation. Megill has options and should be demoted to Syracuse to transform himself into a multi-inning reliever. This year he has a 11.5 K/9 and only a 0.5 HR/9 rate. Those are good numbers for relief pitchers. The Mets have control of him until 2028 so they will have his services in the bullpen for 3 plus years. When he masters relief pitching in Syracuse then he can be called up for the bullpen.