If there’s one thing you can never have too much of, it’s pitching, the old baseball adage goes.
The Mets understood that this winter, and brought in several arms to backup their formidable five that they envisioned would encompass their rotation. However, with offseason acquisition Carlos Carrasco looking like he will be sidelined until Memorial Day at the earliest, and Noah Syndergaard likely to return shortly thereafter, New York has a few months where they will be shorthanded per se.
As the rotation currently stands, it will likely be Jacob deGrom anchoring the staff, followed by Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker, David Peterson and one of Joey Lucchesi or Jordan Yamamoto.
Beyond that, they have Jerad Eickhoff, Harol Gonzalez and Corey Oswalt as other in-house options. The team could always afford more, however, and they should look to the free agent market where Rick Porcello still remains unsigned.
The idea of the Mets bringing back Porcello, 32, may elicit some groans from fans. I get it. The New Jersey native was signed by former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen for $10 million to act as one leg of a replacement along with Michael Wacha for Zack Wheeler, who New York allowed to sign with their division rival, the Philadelphia Phillies.
However, Porcello brings several aspects to the table that would be beneficial to the Mets.
If there’s anything that can be said about Porcello, it’s that he has a rubber arm. Since debuting in 2009, Porcello has started at least 27 games every single season (minus the shortened 2020 season), and has pitched at least 30 in nine of those years.
In fact, Porcello has only been on the injured list once in his career, back in 2015 when he had triceps soreness. He still wound up making 28 starts that year.
This time around, he will also come cheaper than the $10 million he received last winter. Lingering on the open market, New York could again sign Porcello to a team friendly one-year, laden incentive deal. And even if he’s only on the team until Carrasco or Syndergaard return, he will give the rotation some extra stability and someone who can be relied upon every fifth day.
Porcello isn’t going to blow batters away at the dish, but does yield very few walks and, in 2019, had strong spin on both his fastball and tertiary pitches that if he can hone back in on, would make him effective, especially in a cavernous ballpark like Citi Field.
The 32-year-old has also been worth at least 1.5 fWAR every year of his big league career, and while pitching wins above replacement can be a bit wonky when they’re measured, it still shows that he has been consistent throughout his career.
Bringing in Porcello isn’t going to be the piece that is going to punch the Mets’ ticket to the World Series, but he is still a reliable arm that is available for the picking, and with pitching surplus always a necessity, perhaps New York and the right-hander can strike a deal.
