Atlanta Braves vs. the NL East in 2017: New York Mets.

Jul 15, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Logan Verrett (35) and starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard (34) and starting pitcher Steven Matz (32) ad starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) and bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello (53) walk together prior to action against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The New York Mets won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Unbalanced Line

Right now, when looking at the MLB.com edition of the Mets’ depth chart, something should strike you as odd.  It’s the pitchers.

At the moment, the chart lists 7 starters (good for them), yet only 6 relievers (bad for them).

Let’s also add the fact that their closer – Jeurys Familia – is going to be suspended by Major League Baseball for a while.  My over-under number on that penalty is 50 games.

But why?  The charges against him were dropped! 

So were the ones against Jose Reyes.  Yet MLB still found enough smoke to conclude there was a domestic violence fire sufficiently hot enough to give him a 51 game suspension in 2016.

Aroldis Chapman didn’t actually do anything, yet was still slapped with a 30-game penalty.  Hector Olivera did – and was convicted; he landed an 82 game suspension.

Since MLB and arbitration and negotiation is all about precedents, something in the 50-55 game range – one-third of the season – is probably what Familia will be facing.

Even without considering Familia’s plight, the bullpen is clearly short.  I suppose they expect that every starter will go 8 innings or more for every game.

About Those Starters

The Mets rolled 12 starting pitchers out in 2016.  Okay, they weren’t the Braves (16), but they weren’t the Mets, either.

Fortunately for them, 4 of the starters used the most threw to ERAs of 3.50 or less… and that’s clearly their strength:  starting pitching.  In this regard, the Mets have something that the Nationals don’t – quality depth.  The question is whether that depth will survive the full season.

Bartolo Colon is gone – he gave them the most innings of anyone at 190.  Noah Syndergaard is probably the staff leader now.  He made it to 183 last year, but mostly on sheer determination.

Jacob deGrom?  148.  Steven Matz?  132.  Matt Harvey?  93… and a lot of that wasn’t very Harvey-like.

There’s a lot of hope in the Mets camp.  Hope that players will return and be the best of their former selves.  That’s true for more than just pitchers, but if you average it out, they’ll probably get something close to what they saw in 2016 overall with some mix of names.

Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo were a pleasant surprise for them.  Zack Wheeler will be back, though he last threw in 2014, so any expectation for high innings out of him is folly.  Matt Harvey should be healed up from his Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

So yes, the hope is actually real.  But either some of these pitchers will have to pitch out of the bullpen or the Mets will actually have to start hiring a bullpen to make sure that their opponents don’t score after the seventh inning.

Of note:  at least three of their primary rivals (Braves, Nationals, and Marlins) have quite enough offense to make that a real concern.

But that’s only on the pitching side of the ledger.  Let’s check on the rest.