Laura Albanese: Mets figuring out how to get their lefties on track, but luckily they have depth
From left: Mets lefthander pitchers David Peterson and Sean Manaea. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
Despite their upcoming schedule, the Mets won’t move to a six-man rotation, manager Carlos Mendoza said Wednesday. By the time David Peterson had completed the first two innings of their 7-2 loss to the Diamondbacks later that day, you almost began to wonder if they could get away with a four-man rotation.
It’s been that type of start for Peterson, who coughed up five runs over a ghastly first two innings before settling down to toss three scoreless. That opened the bullpen doors for Sean Manaea, whose diminished velocity has relegated him to a long-man role. The velocity was still down – a fastball averaging 89.3 mph – and though his pitchability helped him squirrel his way through his first two innings of relief, the Diamondbacks finally nicked him for two more runs in the eighth.
Which brings us to this: The Mets appear to have a lefty starter problem. One is struggling with sequencing and location, the other is suffering with his velocity, and for now that means Mendoza is still in ‘figure it out’ mode.
But things might not be exactly as dire as they seem.
Peterson did, in fact, improve as the game wore on; the Diamondbacks’ first-inning run was largely the product of soft contact (the second inning was pretty much just batting practice).
“I felt a little off mechanically in the first two innings,” Peterson said. “I think we’ve relied on the sinker and the changeup too much and allowed hitters to kind of sit over the plate, so in my eyes, it’s more about usage than it is execution.”
What was his confidence that he’d be able to fix both before his next start?
“Extremely high,” he said.
Manaea still has some deception going for him, and he could have potentially gotten out of that eighth inning unscathed with a little more help from Luis Robert Jr. The former Gold Glover came just shy of making two excellent plays in center, but trapped a ball on a diving attempt with one out and then covered a metaphorical acre before whiffing on what would have been a sacrifice fly two batters later (it went down as a two-run double).
Whatever the damage, Manaea saved Mendoza from turning to a bullpen that had to fire all its high-leverage bullets the day prior, finishing the game having allowed two runs and five hits with two walks and two strikeouts on the day he reached 10 years of service time.
Those types of unsung contributions become highly valuable at the end of the year. If you doubt it, look toward last season, where the Mets’ bevy of one-inning relievers collapsed under the weight of staff injuries and an untenable workload. That’s pretty important if Peterson does continue to struggle, and if Freddy Peralta continues his career-long trend of effective inefficiency – i.e., he gets guys out, but he sure can take a lot of pitches to get there.
Peterson and Manaea are also not this team’s only options. Tobias Myers, who’s been excellent thus far this season, could certainly give them a start if needed. Beyond that, they still have Christian Scott waiting in the wings. Scott, returning from Tommy John surgery, was nothing short of impressive in spring training, and already has major-league experience. Jonah Tong, while still in need of development, is expected to be a factor later this year as well.
Mets pitching has also been pretty good – good enough, at least, that it’s too early to worry too much. Going into Wednesday’s matinee, they had the second-best ERA in the National League. The rotation has been solid enough, keyed by the likes of Clay Holmes, Nolan McLean and a resurgent Kodai Senga, and the bullpen has been nothing less than a force behind Devin Williams, Luke Weaver and too-overlooked Brooks Raley.
For what it’s worth, Manaea thinks that, personally, “each day, [I'm] trending in the right direction…”
“It’s definitely not going to be an immediate change but I think over time, we’ll see it through,” he said.
Manaea expressed no disappointment at not returning to the rotation and after the game, Mendoza said he didn't plan to flip Manaea and Peterson by sending the latter to the bullpen in his stead.
“I’m here to help this team any way that I can,” Manaea said. “The bullpen puts in so much work season in and season out and being in this role, [you] really appreciate all the work those guys do…I’m happy to be helping those guys out because they’ve helped me plenty of times.”
And so, the ‘figuring it out’ process continues. It isn’t pretty – it was anything but that Wednesday – and there certainly are no guarantees. But it’s still early, and if nothing else, the Mets have the luxury of flexibility.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
