Manager Terry Collins spoke to reporters today at Citi Field before their game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Collins cleared up some questions regarding the Mets pitching rotation and how the team will handle the younger pitchers, skipped starts, and innings limits moving forward.
To begin, the rotation has been set for the series in Miami versus the Marlins.
Friday: Jacob deGrom
Saturday: Bartolo Colon
Sunday: Steven Matz
As has been already reported, Matz is starting in place of Noah Syndergaard who is skipping a turn in the rotation to preserve his innings.
Syndergaard has already tossed 152 innings this season, easily surpassing the 137 innings he pitched in 2014 for Triple-A Las Vegas. The Mets could also have him skip a second start, but that hasn’t been officially decided on yet.
With the weekend series now in place, it now lines up Jon Niese, Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom for next week’s series in Washington.
The Nationals will counter with Jordan Zimmermann, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg.
According to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal, Collins approached Niese and told him that his next start against the Washington Nationals will be “the biggest game he’s ever pitched in his life” and that he “better get ready” for it.
Collins also told reporters that it’s very likely Matt Harvey will have another of his starts skipped this month because doctors have advised the team not to let him exceed 180 innings pitched. Collins did not say when Harvey will be skipped but did add that he has two dates in mind.
That’s all for now.
