Tonight, Logan Verrett is making his second start with the Mets. With everything that’s going on, I’ve lost track of whether this is supposed to be a Matt Harvey start, an implementation of a six man rotation, or both. 

What I do know is that Verrett needs to impress to make the postseason roster. By my calculation, there are only three possible spots left up for grabs on the playoff roster. I’m assuming the breakdown of those spots is as follows: lefty, middle relief, long man. 

Unlike someone like Jon Niese, Verrett has bullpen experience. Verrett has made nine appearances out of the Mets bullpen. In those appearances, he’s pitched 14.1 innings with a 2.51 ERA and a 0.977 WHIP. If you eliminate his terrible August 28th appearance against the Red Sox where he let up 3 hits (2 homeruns) in one inning of work. Eliminating that appearance drops his relief number to a 0.69 ERA and a 0.840 WHIP. Unfortunately for Verrett, it doesn’t work that way. 

In five of the nine appearances, he went at least 2.0 innings.  However, he has only appeared in back to back games just once. The time this happened was the aforementioned Red Sox appearance. I’d imagine that will be his only back to back appearance as he will probably be a starter the rest of the year. 

That’s unfortunate for him because I believe that limits his chances of making the postseason roster to the long man spot. Right now, I believe Sean Gilmartin is a front runner for that spot due to his good work as the long man this year and the fact that he’s left-handed. If I’m right that may give Erik Goeddel an inside track to the postseason roster. 

There’s also the chance the Mets carry both Verrett and Gilmartin as long men giving Terry Collins some real options in the postseason. That decision may rest on how Steven Matz finishes the year. If Matz makes a real case to be in the playoff rotation (which he has not done thus far), either Noah Syndergaard or Bartolo Colon may wind up in the bullpen. 

If it’s Thor, I see him as an ace reliever out there to throw 150 MPH for one inning. If it’s Colon, I believe he’s the long man.  I think Thor in the bullpen would help Verrett’s chances of making the roster while Colon I the bullpen would damage those chances.  As you can see there’s a lot of moving pieces without addressing the whole Harvey situation. I’m not addressing that situation yet due to the number of conflicting reports that are out there. 

The main variable as far as Verrett is concerned right now is how he pitches. If he doesn’t pitch well, he’s not making the roster no matter the scenario. If he pitches well, he puts a lot of pressure on the Mets. That’s a good situation for him and the team. I’d rather the Mets have to make difficult rather than easy choices for the bullpen. 

Tonight will be a very important first step in Verrett’s personal march to the postseason.