CHICAGO — There are many pieces, but few answers obvious to Mets officials regarding the organization’s once vaunted starting rotation.
Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard are slam dunks to be part of the Mets’ 2018 rotation if they are healthy, but beyond that take your best guess, as others will be returning from seasons defined by underperformance, and in many cases significant physical ailments.
Internally, the Mets have six candidates behind deGrom and Syndergaard, but general manager Sandy Alderson also has indicated the club may have to look outside for a dependable veteran presence who can anchor the middle of the rotation.
The Mets are using September to audition their internal candidates, but answers are tough to find. Here’s a look at the Mets’ inventory:
Jacob deGrom
The staff ace in Syndergaard’s absence, he has slumped late in the season, but still remains a top threat. DeGrom, who is set to surpass 200 innings in a regular season for the first time, has made each of his scheduled starts, no small feat on this team.
Noah Syndergaard
He hasn’t pitched since April because of a torn lat muscle, but the expectation is he will return as the pitcher who had emerged as among the game’s best. Syndergaard and deGrom together would give the Mets as formidable a 1-2 combo as any in the National League.
Matt Harvey
The former ace of the rotation is a mess in his return from a stress injury to his right scapula, after missing the second half of last year following surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.
Overall, he is 5-5 with a 6.14 ERA in 16 starts this season. The expectation is the Mets will tender Harvey a contract for next season, but he will have to earn a spot in the rotation. If Harvey appears sluggish in spring training, the Mets always could cut him late in camp and recover most of his salary. He still has three starts remaining this year to show something.
Steven Matz
The talented left-hander has sustained significant injuries in each of his first three major league seasons, leaving team officials to wonder if they ever will get a healthy pitcher for an entire year.
Matz’s latest setback was surgery to relocate the ulnar nerve in his elbow, a procedure similar to the one deGrom underwent last year.
The Mets expect to have Matz at the start of spring training, ready to show he’s better than the pitcher who went 2-7 with a 6.08 ERA in 13 starts this season. If healthy, he likely would belong in next year’s rotation to start the season.
Zack Wheeler
There was a point in early June when Wheeler was stating a case for recognition as the staff ace, but a rapid decline followed before he was placed on the disabled list in late July with a stress reaction in his right arm and later shut down for the season. Still unclear is whether the right-hander, who missed 2015 and ’16 rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, has the stamina to last an entire season.
Robert Gsellman
Nobody has been a bigger flop than the right-handed, Gsellman, who in spring training was viewed at worst as a solid middle-of-the-rotation option. But after six strong weeks last season to help the Mets secure a National League wild-card berth, Gsellman regressed this year and has to show he belongs in the major leagues. In 22 appearances for the Mets, he is 6-7 with a 5.58 ERA, and team officials will have to decide if he should perhaps be converted to a reliever.
Seth Lugo
The right-hander is pitching with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, and has performed respectably in stretches, though not Thursday, when he allowed eight runs (seven earned) in three-plus innings in what became a 14-6 loss to the Cubs. Lugo also could figure into the club’s bullpen plans if he doesn’t stick in the rotation next year, but the durability of his right elbow will be a significant issue.
Rafael Montero
In his past six starts, Friday’s scheduled starter is 4-1 with a 2.75 ERA and has entered the conversation for next season. But given Montero’s dubious track record, it would be foolish for club officials to count on him for next year.