It’s getting late early
Three quarters of the way through the abbreviated season, the Mets’ pitching situation has gone about as well as you would expect. Injuries and ineffectiveness chipped away at the makeshift rotation, which saw Steven Matz and David Peterson demoted to the bullpen and Seth “Absoluetly Not a Starter” Lugo and Robert Gsellman promoted. Lugo quickly cemented his role as the #2 starter while Gsellman was just #2 until injuries took him down as well. As for Marcus Stroman, his return never materialized and he opted out for the season. Anyone with a pulse and a 40-man spot is getting a shot at the rotation now, including new arrival Ariel Jurado, with less than stellar results. At least Jacob deGrom started getting run support?
Despite everything that went wrong (by chance or design), the Mets still found themselves within reach of a playoff spot. 8 spots for 15 teams will do that… So it was anyone’s guess what they would do at the trade deadline. Buy for a big run? Sell and regroup for next year? Stand pat and let the chips fall where they may? They did none of these things and dealt prospect Kevin Smith (who would have his first Mets autographs released less than a month later) and three PTBNLs for reliever Miguel Castro, catcher Robinson Chirinos, and old friend Todd Frazier, aka literally the least you could do without doing nothing. Predictably, their record was 21-24 at the 3/4 mark, 2 games (and 3 teams) back in the playoff race. It’s not over, but they’re going to need to do something soon if they plan on playing past September, whatever that ends up looking like.
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| Andrés Giménez* | Jake Marisnick | Dellin Betances | Eduardo Nunez |
| 24 July 2020 | 24 July 2020 | 25 July 2020 | 25 July 2020 |
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| Hunter Strickland | Rick Porcello | Michael Wacha | Chasen Shreve |
| 25 July 2020 | 26 July 2020 | 27 July 2020 | 27 July 2020 |
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| David Peterson* | Brian Dozier | Ryan Cordell | Franklyn Kilomé* |
| 28 July 2020 | 30 July 2020 | 30 July 2020 | 1 August 2020 |
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| Jared Hughes | Billy Hamilton | Ali Sánchez* | Ariel Jurado |
| 3 August 2020 | 5 August 2020 | 10 August 2020 | 1 September 2020 |
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| Miguel Castro | Robinson Chirinos | Erasmo Ramirez | Guillermo Heredia |
| 2 September 2020 | 3 September 2020 | 7 September 2020 | 21 September 2020 |
*MLB Debut
Previous Entries:
Christmas Opening Day in July
Going into the offseason, the Mets knew they needed a number 5 starter. Not a number 3 or a number 4, they specifically wanted nothing better than a number 5. Because everyone knows you need one each of 1 through 5 and never more than that. And they got two number 5s in Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello. So clearly one of the other starters needed to go, because you can’t have 6 starting pitchers. Luckily, Noah Syndergaard broke, sparing us from that particular discussion. Unluckily, Marcus Stroman started the season on the IL, leaving Porcello and Wacha slotted in as the number 3 and 4 starters, respectively, and leaving the Mets still short a number 5. So 2017 first round pick David Peterson got the call because, well, there’s nobody else.
Meanwhile, Andrés Giménez made the Opening Day roster along with a bunch of veterans signed to major or minor league deals. It’s too early in the season to tell how anyone is going to work out, but the COVID-19 outbreak in the Marlins clubhouse sure makes it seem like the end is near for baseball in 2020.
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