There’s an old adage that goes, “The foundation of success in life is good health.” In 2018, the Mets are hoping that good health is what brings them back to the playoffs.

Speaking at the beat writers luncheon on Tuesday, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said that if New York’s rotation stays healthy, they will thrive.

“Our season is going to turn on the health of our pitching and if our pitching is healthy,” he said. “And I mean reasonably healthy, doesn’t have to be perfect, not every one of our pitchers is going to be in perfect health throughout the season. If we have a reasonably healthy season out of our pitchers, particularly our starting pitching, we’re going to be pretty good.”

Last year, the Mets pitching rotation was decimated by injuries which ultimately led to the team’s downfall. The collective ERA among starters was 5.14, fourth worst in all of baseball.

Ace Jacob deGrom didn’t land himself on the disabled list, but was the only starter who succeeded in doing so.

“Looking at what is coming back and should be coming back, (who were) hurt last year, I think that’s tantamount to signing some free agents actually because we didn’t have them for most of the season last year,” said Mets COO Jeff Wilpon. “In the terms of Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Matt Harvey, on down, it’s a great number of innings that can be coming back and I think from what I hear from the baseball department and Mickey and (pitching coach) Dave (Eiland), those are quality innings that can be coming back.

“A couple tweaks here and there what they want to do with their mechanics or the mental skills they are going to use on the mound, these guys bring can be a big turnaround and a big swing.”

In addition to hoping for a healthy pitching staff going forward, the team has also made some changes to their medical and training staff.

Brian Chicklo will be the new head trainer, while the Mets are also bringing in Jim Cavallini in the capacity of Director of Performance and Sports Science, a newly created position. Cavallini served in the same role the last three years as the Director of Performance for the United States Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Harvey and Syndergaard

Two of the biggest blows to the Mets in 2017 were losing Noah Syndergaard and seeing Matt Harvey struggle.

Alderson spoke about the latter and said they are cautiously optimistic in regards to the right-hander this season.

“One thing we noticed through monitoring this offseason is he has had a pretty regular offseason program, which has been positive We’ve noticed from the end of last season that some of the metrics that we follow, whether it’s velocity, spin rates or those kinds of things, are approaching his normal metrics from previous years,” Alderson said. “We’re hopeful that the shoulder area is going to be fully conditioned and rehabilitated this year after the (2016) thoracic outlet surgery, for some period of time we think is physiologically necessary has now passed.

“We’re very optimistic,” Alderson said. “One of the hurdles he’ll have to overcome this year is mental. Getting his confidence back. That’s going to come from getting back on the mound and having some success.”

In regards to Syndergaard, the Mets general manager said his injuries were a factor in the changes the team made this winter.

“It would be hard to ignore that Syndergaard was lost to us for most of the season. That became the signature for the entire 2017 season, so yeah, it had an impact,” Alderson said. “It wasn’t the only factor.”