Concerns for the Mets pitching staff

The Mets are attempting to work to the strengths of one starting pitcher at the expense of other important things

Over the last couple of days, like a lot of people, I have been thinking about the Mets pitching, the obstacles which have suddenly dropped in front of the club, the pre-existing issues along with how the club is pressing ahead.

First off, the Mets are 21-11, a 1/2 game behind the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. Despite an off and on offense, that speaks for itself as far as how good the season has gone for them so far, inclusive of their pitchers and how they’re being deployed. I don’t want to cast a real negative tone when I discuss their pitching, especially since their starters have been the best in the game to-date in 2025, and their bullpen isn’t too far behind.

I am also not going to get into how Carlos Mendoza did or didn’t use Edwin Díaz during the Arizona series. Sure, not using him might have cost them a series win, but I think he was pretty transparent about his reasoning (on Wednesday night, anyway) and these are the buttons the manager has to push and he can’t push all of them correctly all the time.

Having said that, much of that is built into the staff before they lost AJ Minter and now Danny Young. Suddenly, the Mets are in dire need of external relief help, as they literally have no real major league option to replace one, let alone both. Genesis Cabrera is going to get a look for the time being, and I’m betting Brandon Waddell could be back by next weekend as well when he’s eligible to be returned to the major league roster. And, David Stearns has proven he will address any need as immediately as he can on this roster. That’s not to say finding a major league left-handed reliever is going to be easy on May 2 - the market isn’t exactly percolating right now so the Mets will have to be creative in finding an answer, akin to their move to get Phil Maton in early July last year.

However, July is pretty far away, isn’t it?

Even so, this doesn’t even seem like their biggest problem.

It is very difficult to operate a major league bullpen when the Mets are deploying a pseudo six-man rotation (without a sixth starter, I should add) and a revolving door of 3-4 relievers on a regular basis. They’re deploying this “six-man” rotation in an effort to keep Kodai Senga on a once-per-week game schedule, which is what the Mets have done since Senga signed with the club before the 2023 season. It stands to reason - he comes from an environment in Japan where he was pitching once a week, and his lifetime ERA in the big leagues with five days rest is 2.59 and 2.62 with six days or more of rest. His ERA with four days of rest - or regular rest for the majority of major league relievers - is 4.61.

So, they’re doing right by Senga. However, it’s coming at the expense of a lot of other things, including their ability to have a major league starting pitcher available to them one or two times per week.

That also doesn’t take into account the possibility of another pitcher needing to skip a start or skip a day, for whatever reason. This week, the Mets have been dealing with a stomach bug which has traveled through the clubhouse and impacted both Senga and Griffin Canning, which forced the Mets into a bullpen game last week. And, they’re pushing Canning back to Arizona next week instead of having him go on Sunday. Instead, they’re reportedly calling up no. 15 prospect RHP Blade Tidwell to make the start. He will also presumably be on a short leash, meaning they’ll likely be planning to lean on their bullpen heavily yet again two days from now.

The Mets bullpen - with a door that revolves daily right now - is hardly in an ideal space to throw multiple bullpen games per week.

On top of that, the Mets have manufactured this plan for Senga, which is fine and understandable, but because he might’ve been sick earlier this week or just generally did not pitch well on Thursday, they needed a semi-bullpen game anyway since he was only able to throw four innings for them against Arizona during his start.

Think about it - all of this to get four innings out of Senga this week.

Of course, we might not be having this conversation if Sean Manaea and/or Frankie Montas were available. But again, they’re trying to cater to Senga idealistically, and there is no day on the baseball calendar which is ever perfect or even ideal for any team.

As for Senga, he’s been outstanding this season and has pitched into the sixth inning or later in half of his starts. So, this isn’t on him. He can’t be effective every time out no matter what the Mets do to massage his schedule and routine. It’s fine, but this is the risk the Mets are taking with the current construction and use of their entire pitching staff.

That brings me to another issue. They simply have to get more innings out of their rotation, as well as they’ve pitched over the first month of the season. The starters have given them 160.2 IP over their first 32 games, the 12th fewest in the majors, a shade over five innings per start. They have been phenomenal, pitching to a 2.24 ERA in those 32 games which demonstrates how well the Mets have orchestrated the rotation and their ability to protect them from over-exposure. But again, with the bullpen in so much flux, it’s becoming paramount the Mets begin to ask for a little more from this rotation.

The good news for the bullpen is, Dedniel Núñez might be coming up soon. He has pitched reasonably well in 10 outings for Triple-A Syracuse this season and he can be an effective weapon against left-handed hitters as well. That could help buy them time to get to Brooks Raley, who might be available sometime in June, and/or to find a left-handed reliever on the external market. They’re also coming to the end of 25 games in 26 days, although that break is still six days out and it’s easier said than done as far as getting there is concerned.

No matter, the Mets need to find a stable solution for both parts of their pitching staff soon. They were winning because they had created some predictability in their rotation and bullpen specifically over the first month of the season, but as we all know, pitchers get hurt, and the Mets have taken two significant blows in that bullpen in the last week while dealing with a flu bug on top of it. Perhaps Núñez can offer them some stability, but it’s going to take more, and perhaps an immediate move from outside the organization.