New York Mets starting rotation isn't what it is cracked up to be

The New York Mets starting pitching staff may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

The New York Mets have been waiting for this for years. Years! Fans have been waiting for their phenom starters to be healthy at the same time. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, finally all healthy at the same time. Their new manager, Mickey Callaway was a pitching coach, so this was the year that the Mets were going to finally dominate with their young pitching staff.

The Mets started the season on a tear and were high atop the National League East. The starters were throwing well, the bats were cooking and the bullpen was shutting teams down. All was right as there was talk about being division champions. But things can change in an instant as we all know. This is what happened to the Metropolitans.

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The bats went quiet as did the rest of the team. They began a losing streak that ended just on this past Monday with a win over the Reds. Now the Mets sit at 18-15 and in third place, though just one game behind the Atlanta Braves.

It is still early and the Mets do have time to turn things around, but there is a possibility that fans may just have to deal with. There is the possibility is that this pitching staff is just not as good as everyone said it was.

deGrom has been great, with an ERA of 1.87 so far this season. Even Syndergaard has been underwhelming, pitching to a 3.09 ERA, the highest of his career. The strikeouts have been fine with 54 over 46.2 innings.

The balance of the rotation has been, well, something less than good to put it mildly. Let’s take Steven Matz. He is 1-3 with a 4.23 ERA. He has pitched better of late, but has he really been someone to worry about for most of his career? Absolutely not. Every little twinge causes him to miss time. He clearly has not been worth the hype. Matz has flashed but never been able to keep it up and keep it consistent.

What about Zack Wheeler? He was the lynchpin. Wheeler was finally ready to go after his previous surgery. He was the final piece of the puzzle for this rotation to finally have the fabulous five all together. How has that gone so far? He is 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA. Zack looked good in his first outing but abundantly average ever since.

Next: Harvey, a victim of his own arrogance

Finally, we have Matt Harvey. Oh, boy. There is no need to completely document his struggles, everyone knows about them. They are not all directly the fault of Harvey, but his attitude has never been a big help. It could be ignored, at least somewhat, when he was winning. Now, it became intolerable. From being the next great Mets pitcher to trade bait, the wheels have come off for the former “Dark Knight”.

There are a lot of excuses made for the Mets. Injuries, conditioning and misuse of the bullpen have all been on the list. Maybe it’s just the fact that the starting staff just isn’t that good. Hopefully they will eventually prove the rest of us wrong.

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New York Mets starting rotation isn’t what it is cracked up to be

By Alan Schechter | May 9, 2018

The New York Mets starting pitching staff may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

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