A Half Dozen

[Edgy MD]

Sure, but part of the thinking is (or should be) that the guy three days away from starting is also your last guy out of the pen.

[Zvon]

And the guy with The Hammer could be our #3 pinch hitter on off days. And Hairball can hit.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Speaking of six-man rotations, pitching is this week's theme at Grantland's "The 30" baseball piece by Jonah Keri, and the Mets are one of the featured teams.

2. Pittsburgh Pirates (26-24, plus-34, LW: 12) 11. New York Mets (28-23, plus-6, LW: 10) 10. Chicago Cubs (26-22, minus-2, LW: 8) 9. Detroit Tigers (28-24, minus-1, LW: 6) 8. Los Angeles Angels (27-24, plus-8, LW: 9) 7. Minnesota Twins (30-19, plus-21, LW: 11) The Mets� 2015 season has doubled as a challenge to one of baseball�s eternal truths: You can never have too much starting pitching. With right-hander Dillon Gee scheduled to come off the disabled list to start Wednesday against the Padres, the Mets will go to a six-man rotation. And the thing is, six spots might not even be enough, as New York has seven starters who look ready for the majors. So let�s take stock of the Seven Samurai: � The six-man rotation�s main purpose is to protect Matt Harvey. With a strikeout-to-walk ratio greater than six-to-one, the Dark Knight has returned from Tommy John surgery without missing a beat. However, that dominance carries with it a weird curse: There�s no way the Mets can cap Harvey�s innings at around 180 (as the organization had hoped) if their ace keeps pitching seven innings or more per start while part of a five-man rotation. By going to six starters, they�re hoping Harvey can make it through the regular season and potentially into the playoffs (if the Mets make it that far) without hitting his innings cap. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Harvey�s agent, Scott Boras, emphatically approves of this plan. � Unlike Harvey, Jacob deGrom isn�t on a strict innings limit, but the defending rookie of the year topped his career high in pro ball by tossing 178.2 frames last year. He�s a pivotal part of the rotation, he�s averaging more than six innings a start, and he sports the lowest ERA among Mets starters who�ve been in the rotation since Opening Day. If the team makes it to October, deGrom would be badly needed, so the six-man rotation should help ease concerns of overworking the soon-to-be-27-year-old. � After a hot start to the season, Bartolo Colon has seen his ERA climb to 4.72. Even still, we�re talking about a pitcher with a 54-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio � elite command that drops Colon�s fielding-independent numbers about a run lower than his ERA. Add in his wildly entertaining at-bats, and Colon is a damn superhero. Nobody�s taking his job. � Noah Syndergaard�s first four starts in the majors have been as good as any Mets fan could�ve possibly hoped for. Through 24.2 innings, Syndergaard has fanned 22 batters, issued just five walks, allowed one homer, and delivered a 2.55 ERA and 2.57 FIP. His fastball averages nearly 98 mph, and he complements it with a virtually unhittable curve. If taking Colon�s job is tough, stealing Syndergaard�s away could be as challenging as lifting Thor�s hammer. � Saturday�s rough outing against the Marlins marked the fourth straight start in which Jon Niese has allowed four or more earned runs. He�d never done that at any previous point in his eight-year big league career. Hell, he�d never even done it in three straight starts. His curveball, an important part of Niese�s eclectic, six-pitch repertoire, has looked especially awful, as batters whacked it at a .385 clip in May. Niese hasn�t indicated that he�s hurt, and he allowed one earned run or fewer in five of the six starts before this current ugly stretch, so these struggles could soon pass. � When healthy and pitching well, Gee is a league-average starter. He�s a pitch-to-contact right-hander who might have unlocked some hidden ability in his first five starts this season, when he posted a career-best 59.2 percent ground-ball rate. That�s a great skill for any team to have in a fifth starter, let alone a sixth starter, but when it comes to the rotation, the Mets are clearly not any team. If Niese�s cold spell ends soon, Gee could find himself as the odd man out. � With Syndergaard now pitching in the Show, the undisputed best pitching prospect in New York�s system is Steven Matz � and boy is he killing it right now. Working in the pitchers� nightmare that is Triple-A Las Vegas, Matz has flashed a brilliant 1.98 ERA while striking out 70 batters, walking 23, and allowing just 49 hits and three home runs in 68.1 innings. Matz turned 24 on Friday, he�s put up impressive numbers throughout his minor league career, and he owns three potential major league-quality put-away pitches in his fastball, curve, and changeup. There�s no guarantee Matz will outperform Niese or Gee if the Mets call him up soon, but he�s certainly better than a less-than-100-percent Gee or the Niese we�ve seen over the past few weeks. As the New York Post�s Ken Davidoff recently wrote, the Mets are a sub-.500 team in games played against teams other than the Phillies, and the schedule will get tougher as the season goes along. Moreover, they�ve gone just 12-15 after a blistering start to the season. Lucas Duda�s emergence has been impressive, but more offensive help is needed, especially with David Wright�s health status still up in the air. An arm-for-bat trade would make tons of sense, even if it doesn�t bring a sought-after name like Troy Tulowitzki to Flushing. Whatever direction the Mets decide to go in, given the team�s weaknesses and this year�s deep class of NL contenders, sticking with what they currently have in the majors seems like it�d be the wrong call.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/mlb-the-30-phillies-orioles-mets-royals-starting-pitching/

[Frayed Knot]

Frayed Knot wrote: -- I'm predicting this doesn't last more than three or four times through.

My prediction overshot it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

If you predicted Gee would be too ineffective to justify it, come collect your prize.

Interesting upshots: The "fire-Terry" crowd interprets this seeming reversal of the 6-man 'ro (and hurting the feeeeeeeelings of Dillon Gee while doing so) as evidence of his cluenesses and, of course, only punishable by firing him on Monday.

I think the club is probably committed to at least a few more one-off 6-runs but maybe they've learned not to do it if its just going to result in using a guy the Padres will kick around.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The Grand Puma reports:

Mets hint at call-up time for stud lefty Steven Matz PHOENIX � In the muddled equation of the Mets� starting rotation, much of the intrigue surrounds a pitcher who hasn�t arrived yet. But the consensus among team officials is Steven Matz will be wearing a Mets uniform at some point before the All-Star break. The fact Matz � a stud pitching prospect at Triple-A Las Vegas � hasn�t been promoted already has raised a few eyebrows even within the organization as the Mets tread water with Jon Niese and Dillon Gee, but general manager Sandy Alderson told The Post there are factors that need to be considered. Left unsaid was the approaching Super-2 cutoff for arbitration eligibility � the safety date is thought to be around June 20, and the Mets at this point would potentially be sacrificing significant dollars for maybe two starts from the 24-year-old Matz before the cutoff. But the Mets also want to manage Matz�s innings, which is easier accomplished at Triple-A, to ensure he�s in better position to avoid a shutdown once he joins the Mets� rotation. Matz pitched six innings on Friday for Las Vegas and allowed one run over six innings in the loss. Overall, he is 6-4 with a 1.94 ERA in 74�/? innings. �It�s a process of managing his innings so he could be around 180-185 innings,� Alderson said before the Mets� 2-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday night. �We are not looking at this as a minor league season for him.� But Alderson conceded it�s �very possible� Matz already would be in the major leagues if the Mets didn�t have a logjam in the rotation. Is there anything the Mets still have to see from Matz in the minor leagues? �Probably not,� Alderson said. An organizational source expressed concern the Mets haven�t already promoted Matz, noting the left-hander is dominating the Pacific Coast League � a hitters� paradise because of the altitude in many locales � and the need for the team to stay afloat in the NL East until injured players can return. It�s a group on the disabled list that includes David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Travis d�Arnaud, Bobby Parnell and Vic Black. Manager Terry Collins on Saturday scrapped the team�s new six-man rotation � sending Gee to the bullpen � that had been implemented to help ensure Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard won�t need shutdowns or layoffs during the season. The Mets continue to dangle Niese and Gee, but interest has been limited, according to an organizational source. Ideally, the Mets can trade Niese and keep Gee in the bullpen as a potential spot starter once Matz arrives. Over the last four seasons, the Mets have promoted Harvey, Zack Wheeler, deGrom and Syndergaard to the major leagues, and Matz for now appears to be the last of the elite talents in the pipeline. But that can change fast, as deGrom�s emergence from the pack two years ago in the minors demonstrated. But Harvey, Wheeler, deGrom and Syndergaard each pitched at least a half-season at Triple-A before getting a call to the major leagues. �Matz has only pitched at Triple-A for [11] starts,� Alderson said. �So he�s realistically inexperienced at that level. Nothing stands out that he needs to work on, but getting more experience at that level is always beneficial.�

http://nypost.com/2015/06/07/mets-hint-at-call-up-time-for-stud-lefty-steven-matz/

[ashie62]

Gee is back in the pen, So back to five.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Gee starting Sunday, so we're back to 6, this time around.

#fuckedup

[Edgy MD]

I thought that was still the plan. Six-man rotation, but Gee eats it if there's a day off or a rainout.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

[crossout:34ewt2tq]But I don't see an offday or rainout.[/crossout:34ewt2tq] nevermind I get it.

Whatever, this is weird.

[Ceetar]

the other concern here though, is that the Mets will be using 9 hitters in the middle of next week. (well, 'hitters') So 6 man rotation, 9 guys batting, 8 guys in the pen. That's 23.

It's a nice bench.

[Edgy MD]

It's new territory and an all-new flavor. It's greasy and it's smokey. With an unusual combination of hickory and fennel.

I don't know how the starter-hording is gonna play out. I'm going to hope it protects the Mets from the attrition that will consume other teams over the long hot summer.

My greater concern is this whacked-out American League bench policy � four reserves, including two outfielders and two catchers, one of whom can't answer the bell. It's as crazy or crazier than the six man roto.

[Frayed Knot]

So Syndergaard gets bumped to Monday and the highest scoring team in all of baseball (by [u:1l1dsydi]50 runs[/u:1l1dsydi] over the NYY of all teams in 2nd). Better him than Gee I suppose.
Syndy and Harvey get to bat in their games while Niese & Colon get DH'd for in the back half of the home-and-home.

I'd like to think the catching situation will be straightened out by then -- most likely with Plawecki either DL'ing or AAA'ing it -- and another bat brought up which almost has to be an IFer. Murphy's at least a week away meaning someone (Muno most likely) is going to get a short term boost in salary and meal money and then go right back down.
Of course Tejada will be back by then so who knows after that.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

If I were a guy with tickets to Sunday;s game (and I am) I'd be kinda pissed.

Fortunately, I'm also going Monday.

But still. Gee-Syndy vs. best offense is worse than Syndy - Hovvey

[Ceetar]

eh, rotations change. Few people actually bought tickets for Sunday with Thor in mind, was just lucky.(Also, I'd rather have seen Gee start his last start, so there's that)

Also Muno is already back.