Who will be in the Mets' starting rotation for the final stretch?
Mets pitcher Nolan McLean throws in the first inning of a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on Aug. 27. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
DETROIT — It’s tryout week for the eight viable starting pitchers the Mets have on their roster and in the minor leagues.
Sean Manaea may have pitched his way out of a future starting gig by being strafed for five runs and eight hits in 3 2⁄3 innings in the Mets’ 10-8 victory over the Tigers on Monday.
Manager Carlos Mendoza said Manaea hasn’t been able to elevate his fastball, which has affected his whole repertoire.
When asked why that might be happening, Manaea said: “I have no idea. I have no idea. I feel like I’m doing all the right things. It’s just not working out right now.”
There aren’t a lot of right nows left for the Mets. They have 24 games remaining in the regular season.
Speaking of Manaea and the equally struggling Kodai Senga after the game, Mendoza said: “They’re part of the rotation.”
But in the next week or so, the Mets are going to need to pick which candidates will fill the five or six rotation slots they will use in the season’s final three weeks — and, they hope, a top three or four they can count on in the postseason.
The current scheduled starters are rookie Nolan McLean, who will bring a 3-0 record and 0.89 ERA into his fourth big-league outing on Tuesday; converted reliever Clay Holmes, who is scheduled to start on Wednesday but is way over his previous career-high innings total and doesn’t go more than five innings, and David Peterson, who Mendoza said will open a three-game series in Cincinnati on Friday. Peterson is coming off a stinker (two innings-plus, eight runs) on Saturday versus Miami. The Mets are off on Thursday.
The other candidates: rookie Jonah Tong, who allowed four runs (one earned) in five innings against Miami in his big-league debut on Friday; Tylor Megill, who is slated to make his final minor-league rehab start on Tuesday, and prospect Brandon Sproat, who threw seven shutout innings for Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday.
The Mets have to figure out which pitchers to keep in the rotation and which to move to the bullpen as part of their September staff, which increased to 14 on Monday with the recall of Justin Hagenman as the rosters expanded to 28 (Luisangel Acuna also was called up).
If Tong pitches Saturday, the first open slot in the rotation comes Sunday, which would be Senga’s turn. But when asked Monday morning what the plan is for the onetime ace, Mendoza said, “We don’t know yet.”
Senga and Manaea are the issues. Both have had stretches of dominance — Manaea last season, Senga in the first half of this season.
“Our job is trying to find a way to help, and that’s what we’ll do,” Mendoza said. “And then we’ll go from there.”
Megill is a bit of a forgotten man. He has been out since June 15 with a right elbow strain.
The Mets tried him as a reliever late in the 2022 season under Buck Showalter, with the idea that his big fastball would play out of the bullpen. It didn’t go well, as Megill had a 6.00 ERA in six September/October relief outings. Mendoza said the plan is to continue to build up Megill as a starter.
But unless the Mets plan to go to an eight-man rotation, some decisions will have to be made by the end of the week.
Notes & quotes: Francisco Alvarez (right thumb sprain, left pinkie fracture) will catch Tuesday and Wednesday for Syracuse, after which the Mets will evaluate if he can be activated off the injured list . . . Tyrone Taylor has been unavailable since Saturday because of a hamstring strain . . . Acuna (0-for-1) entered the game as a pinch runner for Jeff McNeil in the seventh and took over at second base.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
