Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Tim Britton of The Athletic writes that the New York Mets will use a six-man rotation at strategic times throughout the 2023 season. Britton notes that the Mets are going to dissect their schedule to find spots where it makes the most sense to use a six-man rotation while still making sure veterans like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander can stay close to their normal routines.

The Mets remade their rotation this offseason by bringing in 2022 AL Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, Japanese start Kodai Senga, and veteran lefty Jose Quintana to replace Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker, and Chris Bassitt that all left via free agency. That gives the Mets a rotation that is all at least 30 years old and Senga is the only one under 34.

Though Scherzer performed great for the Mets overall in 2022, the 23 starts he made was the lowest full-season total of his major league career. He also faltered in arguably his two most (and last) starts of the season against the Braves in October and in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Padres.

Verlander made 32 combined starts in 2022, but enters the season at 40 years old and missed all of the 2021 season. Senga is used to pitching once a week in the six-man rotations that are customary in Japanese baseball. Veterans Quintana and Carlos Carrasco combined to make 61 starts last season, though they enter the season at 34 and 36 respectfully.

The Mets pitching staff is fine with the changes due to how well they know manager Buck Showalter, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, and GM Billy Eppler are at communicating their plans.

“Pitching once a week, that’s a challenge because that’s very foreign,” Scherzer said. “You’ve got to start thinking about a second bullpen and other things to keep the feel. I train my body to be on that fifth day. One day doesn’t get you off-kilter. Sometimes you need that off day. Once you start introducing two off days, you’re searching again.”

The last time a team had four starters that pitched at least 100 innings in a season that were at least 34 years old was the 2006 Mets with Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Steve Trachsel, and Orlando Hernandez.