New York Mets: Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo may be needed to save season

With the constant injuries to the New York Mets starting pitchers, the two depth options they do have may loom very large down the stretch in 2018.

The New York Mets are stricken with a very unfortunate problem. They have very little depth at starting pitching. We’ve talked about the idea of the Mets needing to make a trade to infuse some depth. Sandy Alderson may find that easier said than done, as it’s never easy to acquire starting pitching. But the Mets definitely have a problem.

It stems from the fact that the Mets pitchers can’t stay in the rotation. They are always hurt. Noah Syndergaard is out. Steven Matz seems too weak to fight through injuries. Jacob deGrom has missed time in his past, it could happen again. Zack Wheeler is around but he has not shown he can be consistent yet. He could earn removal from the rotation or go down again. Jason Vargas is as up and down as they come.

What do the Mets do? As we mentioned earlier, there is no guarantee that they will be able to acquire starting pitching via trade. Teams just don’t give up pitchers easily and the Mets don’t have a lot of tradable parts. How can the Mets turn things around if they continue to suffer injuries and inconsistency with the pitching staff?

They are going to have to make due with what they have on the team. The Mets don’t have a lot of depth, but they do have two guys in the bullpen with experience in the starting role. If the trend continues they are going to loom large in whether or not the Mets turn things around. They can do it, being successful in that position with the Mets in the past.

Of course, we are talking about Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo.

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Gsellman came up in 2016 and was used in the starting role after one relief appearance. In each of his seven starts he never threw for less than five innings. He won four of those starts and pitched to a 2.42 ERA.

In 2017 his ERA ballooned to over five but he still managed to win eight games. Starting in 22 of 25 appearances and throwing 119.1 innings is evidence of an innings eater. Anyone that has watched the Mets bullpen knows they need the starters to go deep into games. Gsellman can handle that job.

Now we move on to talk about Seth Lugo. In 2017 he started 18 games and his record was 7-5. In 2016 he went on a run of winning four straight starts, never giving up more than three runs in any of those starts. He won a big one against Washington that September, allowing one run over seven innings in the heat of the playoff race.

So what is the point in all of this? While it’s true that the Mets are lacking significant depth with the starting pitching, these do have two guys that can help out. Lugo and Gsellman are two guys that have started before when needed and have done it well.

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It will not be easy for the Mets to trade for starting pitching. Who will they send away to get it? Dominic Smith? Guys on the major league roster? The Mets are not exactly filled with movable pieces. Correcting the problems of the 2018 season could very well come down to the skills of Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman. Hopefully they will be up to the task.

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