Terry Collins told reporters that right-hander Dillon Gee has been pulled from the rotation and will now work out of the bullpen as a reliever.
Gee was clearly frustrated by the news, telling reporters, “I feel like if I had any value before, it’s now gone.”
“I almost don’t even care anymore. I’m done trying to figure this whole situation out.”
Gee struggled upon his return from the disabled list on Thursday, allowing eight hits and seven runs (four earned) in four innings pitched.
On Friday, Terry Collins announced that he was abandoning the six-man rotation and with the way Jon Niese pitched last night, it was apparent that Gee would be the odd man out.
Adam Rubin reports that Collins apologized to Gee for having him make that extra rehab start when it wasn’t necessary.
Collins also admitted that his own staff raised some concerns with his six-man rotation plan.
(Updated by Joe D.)
June 4
During last night’s outing, Dillon Gee (0-3) allowed eight hits and seven runs (four earned) in four innings pitched. The disappointing start raised his ERA to 4.46 and WHIP to 1.46.
After the game, Terry Collins got defensive when asked if Gee will be skipped for his next start. (Mike Puma)
“If I say so, it’s a headline, so I’m not going to say so just yet,” Collins said.
Despite the rough game, Gee still has a positive outlook on the situation.
“I didn’t feel terrible tonight, but the end result wasn’t great,” Gee said. “It was a bad night. They squared up a lot of balls.”
“I will just get ready like I normally do and throw when they tell me to,” he said.
While it was only the first day of the six man rotation experiment, Collins sounded like he was ready to bail on it after the game. It was shocking how non-committal he was when pressed on Gee making his next start.
There were many wondering if the idea should be scrapped entirely while others called for adding top prospect Steven Matz to replace Gee or Jon Niese and going with our best five or six.
Last night raised a few questions. It’s understandable that the Mets want to be cautious, but is limiting Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom by four starts actually going to prevent injury?
Would Gee serve the team better as a long reliever out of the bullpen?
Is it counterproductive to give away precious starts to lesser pitchers at the expense of minimizing your top pitchers?
Was there ever a plan in place for how the younger pitchers would fit in knowing Syndergaard and Matz would be up by mid season as far back as spring training?
One thing seems clear, for a team with as many question marks as this one, it’s going to be hard to clinch a playoff spot without getting more innings out of their best arms.
