Starting Rotation News

[Frayed Knot]

The Mets plan to leave Kodai Senga and David Peterson in Florida when they head for Houston in a few days.
This strongly implies that both will start during the season's second series in Miami.
It also tends to suggest that Megill and Canning are slated to start games 2 & 3 (in some order) following the Clay Holmes opener.
Paul Blackburn could also see time vs the Astros but indications are that they like him more as a long reliever, at least at the moment.

None of the above is cast in stone. Or, if it is, the team isn't releasing that info for public consumption.

[Edgy MD]

I totally did not see Blackburn getting enough innings in spring to break camp with the team, but suddenly he's got five starts and 12 2/3 innings.

Maybe this six-man rotation is going to play out after all. I think it is more likely to be some sort of hybrid, to use Senga once a week (or so) for the first month (or so), but maybe they want to keep Holmes on long rest too until they see how he bounces back.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I gotta say, I'm down on the Mets. Six weeks of spring training and they don't have a healthy rotation and look to me like a team that'll once again mail it in for the first 10 weeks and ope to get hot with the weather.

I'm not saying that is The Plan, but I wouldn't be surprised if Stearns has some data suggesting wire to wire balls out play isn't useful when the postseason is so easy to qualify for.

[Edgy MD]

I think his data also tells him to not invest big in starting pitching when the seemingly 30-35% annual chance of a long-term injury makes the difference between Max Fried and Frankie Montas increasingly negligible.

I think its also more fun to GMs to give themselves the room to be nimble.

[roger_that]

I approve of the "Pitching is Overrated" philosophy and have long been a member of Team P.I.O.

You want to edit the "is" out of your first sentence above, Edgy MD, or shall I read it a dozen more times to see if I can render some sense out of it?

[ashie62]

I'd like to see Blackburn stay healthy and do well at least until Manaea comes back. That would be a considerable lift to the staff

I will be more comfortable when Senga gets a couple of starts behind him without event

It feels like Stearns punts on starting pitching and maybe he does

Maybe since teams seem to blow through forty pitchers over the course of a long season it's not critical to have your best five or six on opening day

[metirish]

Official from Mendoza: Holmes, Megill, Canning for the Houston series. Peterson and Senga will follow in Miami.

Puma

[Frayed Knot]

Official from Mendoza: Holmes, Megill, Canning for the [season opening] series.

Just the way I dreamed it would be last November.

[Edgy MD]

I approve of the "Pitching is Overrated" philosophy and have long been a member of Team P.I.O.

You want to edit the "is" out of your first sentence above, Edgy MD, or shall I read it a dozen more times to see if I can render some sense out of it?

I did that just now after not making sense of it myself.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Eno Sarris, writing for The Athletic, ranks MLB's starting pitchers ahead of the 2025 season. Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, respectively, receive his top two rankings.

The Mets top-ranked starter is Kodai Senga, ranked #39, followed by Clay Holmes (#46), Tylor Megill (#57), Sean Manaea (#78), David Peterson (#82), Frankie Montas, Jr. (#106), Griffin Canning (#152) and Paul Blackburn (#161).

Former Met Jacob deGrom is ranked 12th.

Excerpt:

It's impossible to get the *right* ranking for Jacob deGrom. Over the past four years, he has the best starter's ERA (2.01), supported by the best starter's K-BB rate (39.2 percent!!) and the best starter's Stuff+ (123). All of that is great. He's thrown 190 innings combined over those four seasons. Less great. He's got a new ligament, though, and Paul Skenes was the fifth-best pitcher in fantasy last year with 133 innings — could deGrom get there? Does your league have injured list slots? What do you do when he's hurt and doesn't have a timeline? How much are you willing to invest? deGoat was in my top 10 at one point, but this feels like a better place for the innings risk.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/621136 ... -baseball/

[batmagadanleadoff]

The Athletic ranks MLB's starting pitcher rotations. The Mets are ranked #20.

Excerpt:

20. New York Mets

Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Griffin Canning, Blade Tidwell (minors), Brandon Sproat (minors)

Injured: Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas

The Mets were able to bring back their ace from last year, Manaea, who changed his entire way of pitching en route to delivering a 3.47 ERA and 184 strikeouts over 32 starts. He’ll miss the start of the season with an oblique injury. They signed Holmes, who added a changeup and cutter, and the results in spring training were impressive enough that the former reliever will be their Opening Day starter. Senga is healthy and his “ghost fork” pitch is still unhittable. Peterson and Megill are underrated and Canning is overrated. The oft-injured Montas is out with a lat sprain. But perhaps the most exciting development for the Mets is how impressive Tidwell and Sproat looked in spring training; both should debut and impact the Mets rotation later this year.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/623110 ... ening-day/