Key Names
- Principal Owner: Steve Cohen
- President of Baseball Ops: Sandy Alderson
- General Manager (interim): Zack Scott
- Field Manager: Luis Rojas
- Bench Coach: Dave Jauss
- Hitting Coaches: Chili Davis
- Pitching Coach: Jeremy Hefner
2020 Results
- 26-34, last-place tie with Nats, 9 games behind Atlanta Braves
- Offense rank: 3rd (Fangraphs)
- Defense rank: 18th
- Pitching rank (ERA): 22nd
- Starters only: 26th
- Bullpen only: 18th
These numbers tell you just what can happen when injuries bite — and they did take a toll of the Mets rotation… Jacob deGrom can’t pitch every day, after all.
Again, though: this is a different club now, and money notwithstanding, the changes appear to be both measured and useful (on paper). All that thanks to a very active Winter.
OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES:
Mets Pitching
ROTATION
- Jacob deGrom
- Carlos Carrasco
- Marcus Stroman
- Taijuan Walker
- David Peterson… maybe
- Joey Lucchesi
- Jordan Yamamoto
New York hopes to have Noah Syndergaard back at some point later in the season — effectively a big trade-deadline pickup.
It is assumed that the top three will perform well, but if there is such a thing as a Mets Infirmary Curse, there truly is some potential for concerns with most of their starters’ list.
Carrasco is a cancer survivor (and remarkably so) and Stroman lost half of 2018 to injury. Walker has a UCL injury and shoulder issues in his past.
Stroman also struggled a bit (3.77 ERA) in New York when arriving in 2019 and opted out of 2020 (after a calf injury), so he might show some rust.
Beyond that, their 5th-man slot … well, that could be one reason Mike Montgomery was signed in mid-February (he’s been a starter at times). After all, they really wanted Trevor Bauer. That definitely would have helped.
BULLPEN
There’s a lot to choose from here:
- Edwin Diaz
- Trevor May
- Miguel Castro
- Seth Lugo
- Jeurys Familia
- Aaron Loup
- Dellin Betances
- Tommy Hunter
- Mike Montgomery
- Jerry Blevins
- Jerad Eickhoff
- Arodys Vizcaino
- Robert Gsellman
- several others
The pen actually performed reasonably well in 2020, given the problems their rotation had. There have been a couple of upgrades made, though the bottom line is that the Mets will live and die with the first 5 names on that relief list above.
Their hope, of course, is that the rotation will routinely get them into the 7th inning and thus improve the lot of those coming afterward.
If so, then New York will do very well. If not, then … they may have to count on the offense a bit more.