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These Four Questions Will Determine Mets Approach To Pitching
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- These Four Questions Will Determine Mets Approach To Pitching
We know the New York Mets will be chasing pitching this offseason, but we don't know how they'll be doing it. Both the top of the rotation and the back end have been mentioned as attack points to address, but there are a lot fo specifics to be determined right now.
Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com broke all this down into four key questions, and they're solid, so let's take a deeper dive into his answers to see what might go down.
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How aggressive will the Mets be in the Skubal hunt?
This is probably the answer that sets everything in motion, and on the surface it's an easy question to address. Owner Steve Cohen sees the offseason his time of year, and it's hard to imagine him being anything other than over-the-top aggressive in his pursuit of Skubal.
The question also once again highlights the conflict between the owner and his GM. David Stearns typically avoids nine-figure commitments to starting pitchers, but he might not have a choice given how badly most of his choices last offseason went.
Will Kodai Senga and or Sean Manaea be back?
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This question is also easy to answer on the surface. As aggressive as Cohen can be in chasing stars, he hasn't shown any inclination to eat money, and that would almost certainly be required with Manaea given that he's on tap to make $25 million. Senga might be a different story given that he makes $15 million, and the Mets might be willing to eat most of that to get a minor prospect back.
Does Nolan McLean have another gear?
This is a "when" question, not an if. We've seen the talent level and we know the potential is there, but the caveat is that development is rarely linear when it comes to young starters. McLean certainly looks like the exception to that rule, but there are bear traps hidden in the assumption that he's going to find that gear and hit it right away.
Can their other homegrown starters be counted on?
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This might be the best question of all. Christian Scott has struggled with injuries as well as issues with command and control, while left-hander Zac Thornton came from out of nowhere and might not have the velocity to sustain his initial success. Jonah Tong, meanwhile, is an absolute mystery, as he shows strethes where he looks dominant to go with others that caused him to spend most of last season at Triple-A Syracuse.
