With all the discussion around which pitcher or pitchers the Mets will deal this offseason, I’ll toss this one out there… what about opening the season with a six-man rotation?
Before dismissing this as folly, it may actually make sense – especially with Matt Harvey coming off Tommy John surgery and likely being on some sort of innings limit. We’re all hoping that the Mets will be contenders in 2015 and we’re not all that far removed from the 2012 controversy surrounding Stephen Strasburg when he was shut down for the postseason the year after his own surgery. This is something we surely don’t want to see if the Mets are playing October baseball.
Another potential reason to look into carrying these six starters is the depth. Inevitably, someone will be sidelined with an injury. The team can always drop back down to five and not miss a beat. Or they can look to slide Noah Syndergaard or Rafael Montero into the sixth spot (provided one or both wasn’t traded). And if the season becomes a total disaster and the Mets are looking to make a trade in season, we’d be looking to jettison someone anyway.
The rotation is a strength. Use it. Someone will inevitably go down. Stay strong with MLB quality depth to help get to the postseason. Make sure Harvey is strong enough to pitch into October and let the rest of the starters battle it out to fill out the remainder of the postseason rotation.
