The rise and fall of the Mets' talented former rotation
From left, former Mets pitchers Steven Matz, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler and Matt Harvey. Credit: Jim McIsaac; AP/Stephen Hawkins; AP/Ashley Landis; AP/Chris Szagola; Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
In the 2015 World Series, the Mets’ starting pitchers were Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz.
Now Harvey, 34, is retired.
DeGrom, who will turn 35 on Monday, recently had his second Tommy John surgery.
Syndergaard, 30, is on the injured list with the Dodgers and has a 7.16 ERA.
Matz, 32, is in the St. Louis Cardinals’ bullpen. He is 0-7 with a 5.49 ERA.
“Obviously, we all have ideas for how our careers are going to go,” Matz said on Friday, “and the reality is just it doesn’t work out that way all the time. I think the excitement around that time was pretty special. Something all of us remember. Do I wish it went differently for all of us? When you think about it, yeah, probably.”
Eight years ago, the Mets assembled what many thought would be one of the most talented rotations in MLB history, especially when you factor in Zack Wheeler, who was injured in 2015 and 2016 but rejoined the party in 2017.
In April 2018, the Mets used those five starting pitchers for the first time ever in a single turn through the rotation. Then a second turn.
But an ineffective Harvey got moved to the bullpen and eventually was traded to Cincinnati. That was it for the formerly fab five.
Harvey, the one-time Dark Knight whose early Mets tenure was the stuff of legend, announced his retirement on May 5 after bouncing around the fringes of the majors from 2019-21.
It’s hard to understate now how important Harvey’s rise was to the rise of the Mets during that period, culminating in the National League crown in 2015. Harvey’s starts became events — “Harvey Day” — and the righthander soaked in every bit of his fame and success.
Omar Minaya, who was the Mets’ general manager when the club drafted Harvey with the seventh overall pick in 2010, recently told Newsday he knew he had something special.
“I just remember him being a guy who was a great competitor — real great competitor — who wanted the ball,” said Minaya, now an adviser to Yankees GM Brian Cashman.
“A good kid, good person. Just a good guy. But the thing that really stands out the most for me is his competitiveness from Day 1, from seeing him in college, his whole career. And later on, of course, a sad story because I feel that because of injuries, unfortunately, his career did not pan out to the length that it should have been.”
Harvey’s career ended with a 50-66 record and a 4.42 ERA.
As Harvey faded, DeGrom picked up the ace mantle with the Mets and won a pair of National League Cy Young Awards with unparalleled pitching excellence. If there was an award for making major-league hitters look silly, deGrom would have won that, too.
But deGrom left Flushing for Arlington, Texas, this past offseason, signing a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers, and finally couldn’t dodge the injuries that have dogged him the last few years.
In a tearful news conference earlier this month, deGrom said he hopes to pitch again by the end of next season.
Syndergaard has gone from a charismatic, big-talking, hard-throwing righthander to a befuddled hurler who, when the Dodgers placed him on the injured list with a blister on his pitching hand, said: “I’m just not really good at getting big-league hitters out.”
The same could be said for Matz, who spurned a return with the Mets as a free agent before the 2022 season to sign a four-year, $44 million deal with St. Louis.
Injuries limited the Long Island-born lefthander to 48 innings last season. Ineffectiveness has sent him to the bullpen this year for the disappointing Cardinals, who came into the weekend with the worst record in the NL at 27-42.
The only one of the former Mets group who is having success today is Wheeler. He signed with the Phillies for five years and $118 million before the 2020 season (then-Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen didn’t think Wheeler was worth that much and said so publicly).
Wheeler, 33, finished second in the Cy Young Award voting in 2021, helped the Phillies to the World Series in 2022 and this year is 5-4 with a 3.73 ERA.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
