Steven Matz has been in the Mets organization since 2009, and with the major league club since 2015. He is perhaps still best known for his electric debut, when he allowed two runs in 7 2/3 innings and collected three hits at the plate. With Grandpa Matz going ecstatic, Matz instantly became someone Mets fans could fall in love.
Since then, it has been an inconsistent battle of ups and downs for Matz. He has shown flashes of greatness, while falling into near-incompetency at others. Injuries have played a factor as well. The fact of the matter is that Matz never quite put it all together as a Met, and never quite became that top-of-the-rotation arm they were hoping for.
Regardless, Matz’ absence leaves an extra spot open in an already-thin rotation. They still have their ace in Jacob deGrom, and to their credit, they have made some reinforcements that have strengthened things a bit. After Marcus Stroman accepted the Mets’ qualifying offer, they traded for Carlos Carrasco, and most recently, Joey Lucchesi.
Stroman and Carrasco, while not aces, form a very solid two-three punch behind deGrom. After that, there’s David Peterson, who was impressive in the glimpse we saw of him last year, but isn’t quite yet a proven starting pitcher. Asking him to give a full season’s worth of starts may be a tall task for the left-hander, but he’s a bright spot nonetheless.
Lucchesi is currently slated to be the fifth starter. On Thursday, Tim Ryder wrote a great piece focusing on how Lucchesi is going to get his chance with Matz gone.
The problem that I still see here is that after Lucchesi, the depth takes a downward dive really fast. Remember, the Mets have had thin rotation depth for some time now. Acquiring an extra guy or two was the bare minimum, and losing Matz sort of makes it a two steps forward, one step back kind of deal.
I like Peterson as much as the next guy, and I do think he’s going to be solid. Tim’s article also raises some really good points on why Lucchesi may be trending upward. But the thought of relying on two relatively inexperienced arms to anchor the back-end of the rotation scares me a little bit. And we know the Mets’ history with injuries. Once even one of those guys goes down, the Mets are in trouble.
I will give the Mets some credit, especially for their acquisition of Carrasco. Acquiring a guy like him was really a necessity. But I would feel a lot more comfortable if they slotted another arm in there to give themselves some wiggle room.
Of course, Noah Syndergaard should be returning at some point during the season. If he returns to full strength in a reasonable amount of time as planned, then that would be huge. But especially with the added financial flexibility that the Mets have these days, I really don’t think they should be playing the “ifs” game again.
The 2021 Mets’ rotation would certainly be interesting if nothing else, with lots of experience in the front-end and very little experience in the back-end. If Syndergaard returns to fell strength, the rotation could be absolutely nasty. But if guys get hurt and/or Peterson or Lucchesi struggle with a heavier workload, things could get ugly very quickly.
