First game back home, trying to avoid a return to .500, and Mickey Callaway performed his tribute to the “Nothing to see here! Please disperse!” sequence in “The Naked Gun,” when Lieutenant Frank Drebin downplays the seismic fireworks exploding behind him.
“It’s not concerning,” the Mets manager said Monday afternoon, referring to his starting pitchers’ recent downturn. “Actually I’ve seen this before many times. You take a 10-to-12 game sample size out of any staff and it’s not gonna look great.
“… We’ve got very talented guys that work very hard. That are competitors. They’re gonna be fine.”
Then Steven Matz, coming off the worst start of his career, outpitched Jake Arrieta to give the Mets an important, 5-1 victory over the Phillies at Citi Field, tying their rivals (both 12-10) for first place in the National League East as Bryce Harper’s Phillies debut in Queens ended with an ejection by home-plate umpire Mark Carlson.
It made sense that the Mets’ vaunted starting rotation would, in due time, look more like their old selves. Yet it also makes sense that the quartet of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler and Matz probably won’t duplicate their 2018 output, either individually or collectively.
Hence it makes sense, if the Mets aren’t going to sign Dallas Keuchel, that they should at least bring Gio Gonzalez into the organization.
While the former National very likely won’t produce like Keuchel, neither will he cost anything like Keuchel. And whereas Keuchel would require some ramp-up time upon choosing an employer, Gonzalez can pitch right now after his brief stint in the Yankees’ organization that concluded on Monday with his release.
The 33-year-old Gonzalez compiled a 6.00 ERA in three starts for the RailRiders, striking out 19 and walking 10 in 15 innings. He put up a shaky 2018 (4.21 ERA) with the Nats and Brewers, which explains why he had to sign a minor-league contract with the Yankees back in March. However, little doubt or debate exists that he represents a superior option to Mets fifth starter Jason Vargas, who has a 9.58 ERA this season and 6.16 in 102 ¹/₃ innings since rejoining the Mets last year.
And it’s not like Vargas’ rotation mates are covering much for him. Ace Jacob deGrom didn’t even make it home healthy, landing on the injured list with stiffness and soreness in his right elbow. An MRI on Monday cleared him of serious ailments, the Mets said — why the team allowed deGrom to play catch on Saturday, the day after sidelining him, stands as a head-scratcher — and he threw a bullpen session Monday afternoon to prepare for his return start Friday night against the Brewers. Hey, at least the Mets eventually brought him in for testing.
On April 14, Mets rookie general manager Brodie Van Wagenen expressed faith in his starting rotation and particularly Vargas, who had managed to record just one out against the Braves the previous night. In the subsequent seven games that completed their three-city road trip, the Mets saw their starting pitchers total an 8.01 ERA (27 earned runs in 30 ⅓ innings). After Matz’s six-inning, one-run, two-walk, six-strikeout showing on Monday, a nice recovery from his zero-innings, eight-run showing at the Phillies on April 16, the Mets’ rotation owns a terrible 5.42 ERA.
It should decrease … but by how much? DeGrom and Wheeler established new ceilings last year, and Syndergaard and Matz each put up his second-best season in the big leagues. If you believe that at least some of them will regress to their personal means, and the early evidence encourages that notion, then you understand why they need to add the rotation depth on which they passed during the offseason.
For the depth, as you have seen, underwhelms. Chris Flexen faltered in his first audition, Saturday in St. Louis. Corey Oswalt when he relieved Vargas in that April 13 game. The farm system has no studs ready to plug and play.
Enter Gonzalez, who figures to receive multiple suitors; clubs like the Brewers and Phillies also have obvious starting pitching needs. He’s low-risk, low-reward. And the Mets, trying hard to win this killer division, are in no position to be picky about either.