Mets' six-man rotation: A closer look at their plans
Jose Quintana of the Mets waits for a new ball after giving up a run against the Rays during the third inning of a game at Tropicana Field on May 3 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Credit: Getty Images/Mike Carlson
As the Mets mull moving to a six-man rotation, potentially as soon as next week, they have in their clubhouse one of the most important ingredients for that arrangement: buy-in from the impacted starting pitchers.
The young, the old and the injury-prone — all of whom stand to benefit from such a setup — are down for what amounts to an additional day of rest between most starts.
“That would be great,” Luis Severino said. “Giving that extra day to everybody is good. The ideal for me is [starting once every] six days.”
Christian Scott added: “I don’t mind. I want the ball whenever I can get it. Pitching on a six-man rotation in the minors is something that I’m used to.”
And Sean Manaea: “I’ve done that before in the past . . . Six days is great. Seven days is way too much.”
Beginning Friday, when the Mets host Atlanta, they play on 13 consecutive days and have just one off day across a four-week stretch before they head to London, hence their temptation to work in a sixth starter. Here’s a look at the other reasons why that makes sense for them.
It works for Kodai Senga
This is the Mets’ greatest motivator. He is their best pitcher and was on a once-a-week-schedule in Japan. Last year, his first season stateside, he had a 2.83 ERA when pitching on extra rest (five days or more) and a 4.61 ERA when pitching on normal major-league rest (four days).
The Mets’ preference is to just keep rolling with that. When Senga begins a minor-league rehabilitation assignment soon, they’ll put him on this sort of schedule.
“Senga had really good success on it last year,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “And we don’t have the youngest starting rotation.”
It helps their older pitchers
Jose Quintana is 35 and already about halfway to his 2023 workload. Manaea is 32 and trying to be a full-time starter for the first time in a couple of years. Severino and Senga also are in their early 30s and have complicated, lengthy injury histories.
“It tends to benefit guys more than it hurts guys, to give them that extra day,” Hefner said. “So that’s why we like it.”
It’s fine by their younger pitchers
For Scott and Jose Butto, a start once every six days would merely be a return to their minor-league regimen, when they had Mondays off and rarely went more than once in any given week.
Pitching ever-so-slightly less often would aid Scott in particular given his background. He tossed a career-high 87 2/3 innings in a career-high 19 games in 2023. This year he is up to 32 innings and six games, with a long way to go.
The Mets won’t put a concrete innings cap on Scott. Hefner said they are open to him making a huge workload jump and even pitching right through the end of the season — as long as his “biomechanical markers” and other quantifiable pitching and strength/conditioning standards don’t signal any red flags.
“The days of putting a hard innings limit on any guy are probably gone, just because we have so much more information now,” Hefner said.
How do they know that works?
“We don’t,” Hefner said. “But the other way didn’t work either. This is the information in front of us. You try to make the best decision possible with the information that you have. He’s a really good pitcher. He’s a big part of our organization moving forward. So we’re going to do everything in our power to keep him healthy and not put him in harm’s way.”
They have the bodies for it
Tylor Megill figures to be a rotation option again within the next week-plus. David Peterson is a couple of weeks behind him, with Senga lined up to return in about a month. Even with other injuries and issues inevitably popping up, the Mets should be able to field six starters they like.
A key detail: They probably will go with a modified five-man rotation — five regulars plus a sixth guy slotted in when desired, like when they go a while without an off day — as opposed to a true six starters rotating and taking turns.
Flexibility and open-mindedness, as always, will be paramount.
“We’re certainly not married to that,” Hefner said. “These things have a way of working themselves out usually. You can’t count on that; you obviously have to plan for something. Right now we’re planning on more of that modified [arrangement], but it may present itself to where it is a true six-man rotation.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
