Mets' David Stearns looking at all options to bolster pitching staff
Mets pitcher David Peterson pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fourth inning of a game Thursday at Citi Field. Credit: Noah K. Murray
Things decayed quickly with this Mets pitching staff.
During the first couple months of the season, it was a team strength, even though lefthander Sean Manaea hadn’t thrown a pitch because of an oblique strain suffered in spring training. The starting pitching options looked like an embarrassment of riches. The Mets were lauded for helping pitchers like Griffin Canning reach their potential.
Then, in the course of two weeks in June, ace Kodai Senga injured a hamstring, Tylor Megill sprained an elbow and Canning ruptured his Achilles. Over the past three weeks, the rotation has pitched badly and the bullpen, now overtaxed, has pitched even worse, and sustained its own set of injuries.
It’s no coincidence that as this unfolded the Mets lost 14 of 18 and fell out of first place in the NL East. Nor that they don’t have someone lined up to pitch Sunday’s Subway Series finale against the Yankees.
“It's happened fast and we just have to react and adjust,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said.
So now Stearns is exploring internal and external options to weather this storm. He said there’s been dialogue with other teams and that, thus far, asking prices are high and ‘sellers’ are still emerging, adding “we're going to explore every avenue we can and see what's out there.”
More issues arose on Thursday before the Mets played the Brewers at Citi Field. Starter Paul Blackburn and key reliever Dedniel Nunez went on the injured list with a shoulder impingement and an elbow sprain, respectively.
Manager Carlos Mendoza was asked whether Nunez could need Tommy John surgery (he also had one in 2021), he replied “it’s on the table.” Stearns said, “There is not a full tear, there is ligament involvement.”
Mendoza said Senga is going to begin a potentially brief minor-league rehab assignment this weekend and that Manaea will have his last minor league rehab start early next week and envisions him making his season debut right before the All-Star break.
As for Sunday, Stearns said an array of options are being considered including a bullpen game, using an opener followed by a long reliever, a call-up from the minors or an acquisition.
“We're going to evaluate everything – we’ll get through it,” Stearns said. “I do think we have options to get through this and this is more of a short-term need than a longer-term need. We feel good about where Senga is in his process. We feel good about where [Manaea] is getting back. Clearly this weekend, we've got some decisions to make.”
The notion of bringing up one of the club’s top pitching prospects – like Brandon Sproat or Nolan McLean, who are both at Triple-A Syracuse – is not a card he wants to play.
“My preference is to . . . not bring up a top prospect for a spot start,” Stearns said. “I also understand it's a unique circumstance and I can't take anything off the table right now. But my preference would be to figure out a way to do it without doing that.”
The Mets' recent slide has raised concerns for Stearns, but not panic.
“We haven't played well over this last stretch [and] it’s continued longer than I would have anticipated,” Stearns said. “It's natural for opinions about certain segments of the team to change when you go through a . . . stretch like we've gone through. My overarching opinion of the team remains the same: we're a good team, we have good players.
“I think we're certainly much better than we've we've played over the last three weeks . . . but I'd also be foolish not to look at the last two and a half weeks, recognize that we haven't played well and there are probably areas where we need to get better."
He made the notion of the Mets making a trade soon sound like a longshot with the trade market as it is right now. He said he expects that, as the July 31 trading deadline nears, more potential trading partners will emerge based on their postseason prospects.
While the news on Nunez is reason for apprehension – he will have a series of medical appointments to decide a course of action – the outlook for Blackburn is more favorable.
“He's going to be three to five days without throwing and then we’ll get him going again,” Mendoza said. “He's on medication now, hopefully that [quells] the discomfort there a little bit. So that's relatively good news.”
Manaea said he felt healthy after throwing 60 poitches for Double-A Binghamton on Wednesday and understands the urgency the team has to get him back.
“We're not trying to just sit back and try and get healthy,” he said. “It's definitely like, yeah, I want to be out there as quickly as possible.”
Notes & quotes: Juan Soto was named the National League Player of the Month for June. . . . Blade Tidwell was optioned to Syracuse . . . Righthander Justin Hagenman was called up and righthander Rico Garcia was selected to the big league roster. . . The Mets are signing righty reliever Zach Pop to a major league contract according to reports. He was designated for assignment by the Mariners and elected free agency on Wednesday.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
