In a conversation with Adam Rubin of ESPN, Terry Collins spoke of the Mets’ starting rotation and his plans for them going into spring training and beyond.
It is no secret that 2016 was a year full of injuries for the team’s rotation. Collins is looking to learn from what occurred this year and figure out how to go about keeping them healthy.
“We’ll make sure we don’t push them too much early in spring training, so that they are ready,” Collins said.
“Coming out of spring training, are they ready to go seven innings? Probably not, some of those guys. But I do believe that certainly as we get closer to the end of spring training, those guys should be ready to pitch.”
The Mets seem to be taking an extra cautious approach with their rotation heading into next season. After the injuries that they incurred in 2016 to their staff that is not too surprising. They though have no reason to believe that Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom or Steven Matz will not be ready for spring training at this time. Collins though was still cautiously optimistic of what to expect going forward.
“I think you can only go with what past research and past things have shown, and that’s that these guys will bounce back,” Collins said. “As we saw from Zack Wheeler, not everything is etched in stone. Fourteen months after Tommy John isn’t a guarantee you’re going to be ready to pitch.
“But you’re looking at the end of [2017] spring training, 24 months after Tommy John, there’s no reason to think that [Wheeler] can’t be ready. Matt was a three-month [recovery time]. DeGrom’s is a three-month. Steven Matz’s is a three-month.”
Only Noah Syndergaard of the fab-five made it out of 2016 unscathed, for the most part. The Mets were helped by another tremendous season from the eighth wonder of the world, Bartolo Colon. With how fragile this rotation has shown to be, it seems like a no-brainer to bring back Colon once again.
Though the emergence of rookie pitchers, Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo, could change that feeling as well. The Mets got more than they ever could have expected from Gsellman and Lugo, who proved they have the ability to handle pitching in the major leagues.
There will be many questions regarding this starting rotation heading into 2017. It is hard not to wonder if we will ever see the five highly touted pitchers altogether in the starting rotation at one time. Only time will tell.
