The Crane Pool Forum

Lets call this a sunny take.

Megill throwing an "elite" splitter!

Severino pushing harder!

Manaea improving velocity!

Houser: a throwback!

Quintana: Impressive work ethic!


https://nypost.com/2024/01/27/sports/me ... -rotation/

Nothing like Spring Training coming up for articles like this , guys are really giving it their all , anyway , I am looking forward to seeing what if anything Severino has

I'm feeling a bit optimistic about Manaea. I think he'll be at least as useful as Taijuan Walker was.

No superstars, but a bunch of solid players who could go either way. I'm also intrigued by Mike Vasil and another guy, Dominic Hamel, who was 8-6 with 160 Ks in 124 innings for Binghamton. He can't be that far off from the majors, either. And you can't forget Butto, who impressed last year.

Actually, I just looked at their roster and it could be a fun team to watch in 2024.

Yes that article reminded me Butto exists. Hopefully he can cut down on the walks

I bet they're all in the best shape of their lives too!!

At any given moment, the Mets always seem to have a bunch of pitchers that would make killer 3 and 4 guys on another team in any other year. That is, they always seem loaded with guys who have the potential for 10-12 wins and a decent ERA and 100-110 ERA+. Yet those guys never seem to click at the same time, or they mysteriously get injured, or they decide enter their decline once they put on a Mets uniform.

Right now, the guys the Mets have that fit that description are Severino, Quintana, Manaea, Houser and Lucchesi. One day they'll actually use Lucchesi and we can see what he can actually do. Peterson I'd say has the potential, but he continually underachieves. Butto also has the potential, insofar as he hasn't done poorly at any given instant to make me think otherwise. I don't think Megill will ever be that guy, not in a Mets uniform.

If those names were on the Braves, I bet they'd win 15 games each.

Most Major League starting pitchers that ever existed, though, fit the definition of "pitchers that would make killer 3 and 4 guys" to the extent that there is such a thing as a pitcher that's simultaneously "killer" while not qualifying for one of the first two slots in his team's rotation.

Killer for a #3 or 4 guy implying that he would actually be a net positive for the team, rather than someone just eating innings. 2022's Carlos Carrasco would be a decent example, despite his depressed ERA+.

Well, yeah, they all look better than replacement level, with every reason to think one or two will be better still.

Sunny indeed.

I also wonder why Lucchesi is consistently slotted after a bunch of guys with what seem to me to be more questionable pedigrees. Perhaps the Mets have already earmarked him for the Trevor Williams swing role position.

On one of his books, Jim Brosnan described Bob Rush as "Just good enough to lose with".

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... bo01.shtml

Some of the Mets pitchers might fit that description.

Later

We can’t forget our lousy bullpen, guys. We could have the 1986 pitching staff here but our middle relievers would piss it away.

That’s my number one reason I hate the current trend of five inning starts and giving it all over to lesser pitchers to lose

Of course we have to be skeptical, but I hope it's true that Megill and his new splitter will make him elite. Maybe he'll go from being the Mets' Mike Scott to being the Astros' Mike Scott. (Or perhaps The Office's Michael Scott?)

Somehow I feel worse after reading that.

I think Senga will be good. Though I think he will regress a bit. I think Quintana can be solid. Same for Manaea. Maybe high 3, low 4 ERA. I think the rest of the rotation kinda looks like a mess.

Yeah, this pitching staff will be 'killer' all right. But not in a good way.

It don't look killer, but I admire that they've had a strategy and stuck to it. They've topped the rotation with a pair of multiple CYA winners the last two years and it's come up with less than the best results, because an injured Bob Gibson and an injured Kevin Kobel are worth just as much.

So, unless I'm misreading, they are trying to (a) spread their resources around more broadly, and (b) make commitments that will be easier to move on from when one works out and another doesn't.

That may not be the answer either, but it hopefully won't be a step back. They have a farm system that's now generally ranked in the top five — and it might have been number one if they hadn't looked for the instant gratification of trading Pete Crow-Armstrong for Javier Baez. The crew they have may or may not be able to staff the ship effectively until those classes mature, but if they do, those pieces are fungible enough to clear room for anybody who comes through.