PORT ST. LUCIE — Enter the Tradition Field home clubhouse, turn to your right and you’ll see the Fifth Avenue of locker rows.
These guys dress alongside one another, left to right: Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz — with Bartolo Colon occupying the corner locker behind them.
Syndergaard and Matz are new to the neighborhood, replacing last year’s occupants, Dillon Gee and Jon Niese. The image and the memory add up to this: The 2015 Mets possessed the best Plan E in baseball history.
Syndergaard and Matz began the year ranked eighth and ninth, respectively, on the organization’s starting pitching depth chart — and at Triple-A Las Vegas — and their ascensions, combined with injuries and underperformance above them, led to each starting three postseason games.
The 2016 Mets, looking to defend their National League title and win the World Series this time, can boast of the best Plan A in the game when it comes to starting rotations. Yet Plan A rarely goes perfectly in this area, so the Mets’ challenge this spring is to refine Plan B and beyond.
“We’re going to certainly line those names up and give them a chance this spring to show us what they can do,” Terry Collins said Friday, after the Mets’ first formal workout for pitchers and catchers attracted a record-setting crowd (according to the team) of more than 1,500.
Said Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen: “Bartolo is only going to last so many years, and we’re going to need that extra starter, and another one, and another one, because we’re not going to be able to hold onto all of these guys for the rest of their careers.”
Everyone knew a year ago that Syndergaard and Matz possessed higher upsides than Gee (who wound up getting banished to Las Vegas midseason) or Colon or Niese, both of whom served as postseason relievers. Now, general manager Sandy Alderson said, “Our highest upside guys are pitching every fifth day.”
Wheeler, who underwent Tommy John surgery last March, has a target return date of July 1. If everyone remains healthy, then Wheeler will join the rotation and Colon, who turns 43 in May, will shift to a sixth-starter/long-reliever role.
History shows the Mets probably will require more help. Last year, they used 10 starting pitchers, putting them on the lower end of the spectrum, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Orioles and Pirates deployed the fewest starters, eight apiece, while the Dodgers paced the industry with 16.
At the moment, Alderson agreed, Logan Verrett stands as No. 6 on the Mets’ depth chart. Collins, in a team meeting Friday morning, directed everyone’s attention to the 25-year-old right-hander, whom the Mets reacquired last May after losing him to Baltimore in the 2014 Rule 5 draft, and said, “This guy pitched the game of the year for us last year.” Last Aug. 23 in Colorado, Verrett stepped in for a resting Harvey and threw eight stellar innings to defeat the Rockies and bail out an exhausted Mets bullpen.
Rafael Montero, his 2015 a waste due to right shoulder problems, is seventh.
“He needs to get back on the radar,” Warthen said. “This is too good of a prospect, too good of an arm, too good of a kid not to be back out there. … We’ve already had a conversation with him that he is not a forgotten person, but he could easily [be] that forgotten person because the other guys have taken steps beyond him.”
Sean Gilmartin, a starter in the Braves’ minor leagues before relieving for the Mets last year, will make some Grapefruit League starts and projects as a swingman. Alderson mentioned right-hander Robert Gsellman, who finished last year at Double-A Binghamton, and veteran lefty Duane Below as other candidates.
“The depth is something we still have,” Alderson said. “We don’t have it in the same quantity, or probably the same upside potential. We’re happy with guys like Montero, Verrett and so forth.”
Call this a first-world problem. While the 2015 Mets’ remarkable Plan E will be celebrated for a long time, “It’s better to have a good Plan A,” Alderson said. The 2016 Mets will put that logical statement to the test.