Our pitching sucks

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

That's pretty much the whole story of this season. We talk a lot about the hitting and it's been inconsistent, but what sucks is the pitching.



Megill -- sucks

Peterson -- sucks

Senga-- ok

Scherzer-- cheats but ok

Verlander -- sucks

Carrasco-- sucks

Bullpen -- sucks with a few exceptions



Our pitching sucks.

[Frayed Knot]

You're acting as if most walks + most HRs allowed is a bad thing.

[Edgy MD]

I tend to think the (1) the numbers will come around, as attrition catches up with everybody else, and (2) it's a rough time to draw conclusions, coming out of Denver.



That probably won't mean dramatic improvement, so much as perhaps enough regression toward the mean to give the offense more opportunity to win some games. This has already begun, I think.



The tough part is that there is no ace in the hole — no game-changer expected to return from injury and be a force — and no impact pitchers expected to join the roster from the minors. (Syracuse's starting pitching has been much, much worse.)



Hopes go to (1) Scherzer and Verlander being somewhat closer to their old selves than their recent selves, (2) Quintana joining the team and, if not necessarily becoming anybody's idea of a stopper, at least taking innings from lesser options, and maybe (3) getting at least one non-self-saboutaging figure from the Megill/Peterson/Lucchesi/Butto contingent.



Some of that has to happen, right? The team is 4 1/2 games out of first in May, with an improving offense, so it doesn't all have to happen.



One? Maybe one of those things can happen? I can work with one.

[whippoorwill]

I agree with Johnny. What happened to us? The Mets were always pitching proud if nothing else.



I know I prattle on endlessly about how pitchers are babied these days but I have to wonder if it's truly making pitching a weaker position overall

[metirish]

Yeah I tend to agree, overall a flawed team, boring to watch for the most part

[nymr83]

Verlander has allowed 27 hits and only 6 walks in 30 innings, but carries a 4.5 ERA - that seems like bad luck and he should be more in line for an ERA in the 3's

[Centerfield]

I saw that too. WHIP in line with career totals but ERA is high. I guess also giving up the long ball hurts.



To Edgy's point, it's not one guys. It's that they're all underperforming. Some of them disastrously so.

[Edgy MD]

They all indeed are. At least, all the starters are.

[MFS62]

A brief, but accurate, description.

Later

[smg58]

The GM and manager have showed more confidence, at least until recently, in the back of the bullpen than they have in Francisco Alvarez. And that has cost us games.



In order for Verlander and Scherzer to justify their salaries, they had to combine for 11 WAR over the season. A third of the way in, Fangraphs has them combining for 0.8 WAR.



Eppler probably thought going in that the presence of Diaz obviated the need to invest in the back of the pen. But I think that underscores the flaw in his strategy. You have three guys who categorically HAVE to be elite for the entire season to justify their salaries. One of them likely won't even pitch an inning for us this year. And the other two are old. Basically there are no such things as safe bets where pitchers are concerned right now, and we are invested in some pitchers to the point that we can't afford them to be ordinary, much less miss any time.



It was a reasonable expectation that Peterson and Megill would be able to step in and keep us in games, given they did that for us last year. It hasn't happened. Every team needs that depth and we thought we had it, but we don't.



I looked at Quintana and saw a guy who returned to his best form by dialing down the mph, and I though he'd be as safe a bet as anybody. Guessing right on pitching is a very inexact science.



So what to do? Well, we're kind of committed to Scherzer and Verlander, so hopefully they give us something close to what we paid for the rest of the way. Senga is still an unknown commodity, but hopefully he'll improve as he gets more familiar with the league. Carrasco was good last outing and the track record is there, but I've stopped holding my breath. The state of the bullpen is not acceptable.



The good news is that we have some major league resources that are moveable due to our younger players. Narvaez will be more valuable to another team than he is to us. A team in a hitters' park that needs a 3B might take a flyer on Escobar. Canha or Marte might be dealable too. But who has pitching to spare?

Edited May 29, 2023 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

=nymr83 post_id=126886 time=1685365598 user_id=54]
Verlander has allowed 27 hits and only 6 walks in 30 innings, but carries a 4.5 ERA - that seems like bad luck and he should be more in line for an ERA in the 3's