Marcus Stroman Can Be the Impetus Behind Mets' Success
With Cookie and Syndergaard out until June, Stroman bears the responsibility of bridging that gap
The New York Mets had visions of one ace and three potential number-twos populating their starting rotation by June when Noah Syndergaard returned from UCL surgery rehab.
With Carlos Carrasco now on the shelf for the next six-to-eight weeks after suffering a torn right hamstring on Thursday while running post-workout sprints, those plans were thrown into a state of flux.
Naturally, the Mets will be leaning heavily on the back-end rotational depth they assembled this winter to fill that gap.
Bringing in quality, MLB-caliber arms in Taijuan Walker, Joey Lucchesi, and Jordan Yamamoto to bring up the rear of New York’s starting five would have paid dividends in any case. Now, under these new parameters, even more so.
As important as the three-through-five spots will be for the Mets as they await the return of Carrasco and Syndergaard, right-hander Marcus Stroman could be the impetus behind this group’s success.
Stroman, 29, accepted New York’s one-year, $18.9 million qualifying offer this winter to return to Queens after coming over in a trade from Toronto mid-season 2019.
After pitching to a 3.27 ERA over his final eight starts in 2019, including a 2.91 ERA in September and just five earned runs allowed over his final four starts of the year, all parties involved had high hopes for Stroman’s 2020 impact on a very strong Mets rotation.
That plan didn’t come to fruition as Syndergaard underwent Tommy John surgery and Stroman opted out of the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but 2021 presents a new, just as exciting challenge.
With similarly high expectations, as well as all that aforementioned quality depth strewn about the roster, the Mets are now built for all of those worst-case scenarios we’ve seen unfold so many times in recent years.
In Stroman, the Mets have a viable no.2 starter with the track record to back it up. Stroman’s 3.65 ERA since 2017 (that’s including his 5.54 ERA over 19 injury-plagued starts in 2018) speaks for itself, as does his notorious determination to continue adapting.
The new pitches (split-finger changeup), the different looks and messing with hitters’ timing on the mound, the willingness to continue adjusting (Stroman noted a video of a chest-high changeup on Twitter this week and said he’d be adding that to his bag of tricks, as well), it’s all a calculated effort to succeed in spite of a changing landscape.
It’s the same story for each and every one of us. If you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind.
This spring, the Patchogue-Medford High School and Duke University alum has been terrific, pitching to a 2.70 ERA over 13.1 innings of work, striking out 14 and walking two with 0.83 WHIP.
Following his five innings of one-run ball in Thursday’s loss to the Nationals, Stroman acknowledged the potentially “devastating” nature of losing Cookie indefinitely, opining his absence knocks the Mets’ rotation out of the “elite” conversation.
This was hours before Carrasco’s diagnosis was known. Devastating is now an understatement. Though, with the right mindset, that next-man-up mentality could take hold and reverberate throughout this group.
And Stroman’s just the guy to fire up the crew, in that sense. Be the example. Show the others how it’s done.
With quality pitching depth behind him and Marcus Stroman’s notorious determination to improve and drive to compete with (and defeat) the best, the Mets theoretically may not miss a beat.
Won’t be easy. We’ll see.
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Love Stro's attitude and willingness to constantly adjust and adapt. He could definitely step up in a big way this year and pitch like a true #2 starter. But in addition to Stro, Taijuan Walker may be stepping up in that #3 spot to start the season rather than being the #4 guy. Lots of potential in this rotation though and you have to love the depth they added.