Clay Holmes
Well, no one is whining over losing Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, and Jeff McNeil. David Stearns has drastically and dramatically remade the New York Mets into possibly the best team in baseball.
They recently made huge additions with Bo Bichette and Louis Robert Jr. (two moves requiring overdue posts). Stearns then took a big swing trading for Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers.
People will say Peralta was needed because the Mets rotation was bad. They were very wrong. That said, Peralta is a very good pitcher, and when you can add a very good pitcher, you do it.
Peralta makes the Mets rotation better in so many ways.
He was 24th in the majors in innings pitched, and he’s made 30+ starts in three consecutive years. He was 17th in the majors in FIP and 15th in WAR. He was seventh in ERA and eighth in ERA+.
While you may uncomfortable calling him an ace, he’s a number one starter. It’s a fact. When there are 30 MLB teams are you’re top 25 and better in most categories, you’re a number one.
When a team adds a number one starter, it dramatically improves their outlook. Go back to 2000. Mike Hampton wasn’t an ace, but he was a true number one, and he was a big piece that helped the Mets win the pennant.
Peralta may not even be the Mets best starter. That is probably Nolan McLean. It’s hard to find a better 1-2 in baseball than Peralta-McLean . . . or McLean-Peralta.
Speaking of McLean, this makes him and the whole rotation better. At the moment, the Mets have six starters. This gives McLean an extra day of rest to help him get through his first full MLB season.
Kodai Senga has been better with an extra day of rest, and now, he gets it. David Peterson and Clay Holmes wore down from the increased workload, and now, they also get an extra day. Sean Manaea also gets a needed extra day.
They just didn’t get better by adding Peralta. They got better because the six man rotation makes the entire rotation better. They’re getting the best out of all their starters, which is very bad news for the National League.
Senga and Peterson have been All-Stars. Manaea was a top of the rotation pitcher for a team that went to the NLCS. McLean’s ceiling is as high as we’ve ever seen. They’re now all positioned to be at their best making them arguably the best rotation in baseball.
Keep in mind, Peralta was not the only pitcher the Mets obtained. They also received Myers, a pitcher who is not even arbitration eligible until after the 2027 season.
Myers has been a dominant reliever in his brief Major League career. If you go back to that 2024 Game 3, he absolutely dominated the Mets and appeared to be the game winning pitcher until Alonso did what he did.
Myers may still yet be a starter. He could be a future closer. He’s the Mets 2026 version of Seth Lugo. That’s a dangerous pitcher to have on your staff, and Myers is probably better.
Now, the Mets paid an understandably steep price for Peralta and Myers. In fact, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel explains the Mets trading Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat moved them from the top farm system to sixth best. Ironically, the Brewers moved from sixth to first.
There will be some who try to nitpick the prospects. We can point to Sproat’s struggles at Triple-A and his four Major League starts. We shouldn’t be doing that.
Sproat has a bright future ahead of him. After all, he made his MLB debut a year after being drafted. He could’ve been a big piece for the Mets in 2026.
Williams is a top prospect. He has a real future at second, short, or CF. He’s got speed and power in his bat. Losing him hurts, and it takes away insurance for the 35 year old Marcus Semien and injury prone players like Bichette and Robert.
The Mets can soon come to regret this trade, especially with Peralta being a year away from free agency. That makes this a real gamble and a worthwhile one at that.
Peralta improves the Mets rotation and improves the entire pitching staff. Myers makes the Mets deeper. If Myers is in the bullpen, this could be the best staff in the entire Major Leagues.
The Mets officially went all-in. They’ve built a team better than the 2025 Mets, and it could be the best this century. Time will tell. Whatever happens, it’ll be because the Mets made the very bold move to add Peralta to make the Mets the one team who can dethrone the Dodgers.
In case you haven’t been paying attention the last two years, the New York Mets have been signing former New York Yankees left-and-right. The latest example was the Mets signing Luke Weaver to a two year deal.
Weaver will be setting up for former Yankee Devin Williams. Certainly, they will pitch in relief of former Yankee Clay Holmes.
The pitching changes will be made by former Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza. Mendoza will fill out his lineup card with former Yankee Juan Soto.
You may see a pattern here. Certainly, Yankees fans are noticing and are trolling the Mets and their fans.
To hear Yankeee fans, this is a new development that only works one way. The irony is the Yankees helped build a dynasty off former Mets players.
The Yankees manager was Joe Torre. Torre finished his playing career and began his managerial career with the Mets.
Torre’s pitching coach was Mel Stottlemyre. Stottlemyre was a well known Yamkees pitcher, but he began his career as a pitching coach with the Mets.
Torre’s first base coach was Lee Mazzili. Mazzili was a beloved Mets player. He did play very briefly with the Yankees after a 1982 trade.
Another coach. Jose Cardenal played two years for the Mets. Interestingly enough, he actually played for Torre.
Aside from the coaching staff, the Yankees roster was full of Mets during those dynasty years.
One of the Yankees big game starters was former Met David Cone. Cone was joined in that Yankee rotation by Mets legend Dwight Gooden.
We’d see those Yankees teams use some former Mets relievers in the bullpen. Those pitchers included Wally Whitehurst, Paul Gibson, and Allen Watson.
The Yankees had Darryl Strawberry, who was a significant contributor and mentor. He should’ve been the 1996 ALCS MVP. He was great again in the 1999 postseason.
When the Yankees beat the Mets in the 2000 World Series, it was former Met Jose Vizcaino who had the 12th inning walk-off single to win Game 1. Cone had a big strikeout of Mike Piazza in Game 4.
Look at the current Yankees team. They just re-signed Amed Rosario. Last year, they also had former Mets Marcus Stroman, Paul Blackburn, Carlos Carrasco, Rico Garcia, Geoff Hartlieb, Pablo Reyes, and former Mets draft pick Allan Winans. The Yankees also had former Mets Adam Ottavino, but to be fair, Ottavino was a former Yankee when the Mets signed him.
Put another way, the Yankees love former Mets. They don’t seem to even care if that former Met was good or not. Ability comes second to a history with the orange and blue.
You can honestly say this has been a two way street. It has, but that’s also the point. The Mets aren’t doing anything different than the Yankees do.
They love each others former players and go out of the way for them. The Mets signing a few relievers this offseason only highlights this.
In reality, the Mets signings shouldn’t lead to mockery of the Mets for signing former Yankees. Rather, the Yankees should be mocked for losing so many quality pieces to the Mets.
Let’s start with two premises. The first is you can never have enough pitching. The second is the New York Mets starting pitching completely fell apart in 2025.
With that out of the way, we need to assess what the Mets have and act accordingly. Remember, just because things were bad last year, it doesn’t mean they’re automatically bad the next.
Right off the bat, Nolan McLean looked like a future ace. He burst onto the scene like Jacob deGrom did in 2014, and the hope is McLean improves in year two in the same way deGrom did (no one is saying McLean will be the Cy Young version of deGrom . . . yet).
Behind McLean is Kodai Senga. When healthy, he’s been untouchable. Before Pete Alonso’s throw, he was 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA while averaging nearly six innings per start.
He just wasn’t right after he returned from injury. We don’t know what happened, but the fair assumption is he can get back to the pitcher who has pitched at a near ace level in his career.
It was a tale of two halves for David Peterson. He went from an All-Star to a mess. Lost in last season was the fact he pitched far more innings than he ever had as a Major Leaguer.
In 2024, Peterson pitched 121.0 innings, which was a then career high. Through 127.0 innings in 2025, he was 7-4 with a 2.83 ERA. With him being so good, and the other pitchers either injured or unable to go deep into games, Carlos Mendoza pushed him during this stretch.
After that 127.0 mark, Peterson was 2-2 with an 8.42 ERA averaging under five innings per start. It’s fair to assume there was some fatigue involved. Certainly, we should expect him to be fresh to start the year, and with closer attention to his workload, he should be able to get through the year better.
Sean Manaea was injured to start 2025, and he never got fully healthy, and he never built up his stamina. After 25 pitches, his K/9 went from 10.00 to 5.25.
He didn’t have a spring training, and he rushed back to help the team. He pitched through pain, and he faltered. Fortunately, he’s feeling healthy now.
Whether he gets back to being the top of rotation pitcher who led the Mets to the 2024 NLCS remains to be seen. Still, he should be able to give you five quality innings at the back end of the rotation.
Then, there is Clay Holmes in his second year as a starter. He actually held up well through his first 17 starts going 8-4 with a 2.99 ERA even if his 4.42 FIP indicated a regression was coming, which did come.
After those 17 starts, Holmes was 4-4 with a 4.23 ERA. He does deserve credit for a big time start his last outing of the year. All told, we should see more stamina from him in 2026.
Right there, the Mets have a viable five man rotation.
- McLean
- Senga
- Peterson
- Manaea
- Holmes
That’s now where the pitching stops. Next up is Brandon Sproat. There were some positives in his four starts with a 2.80 FIP. His first two starts with the Mets were very good. He should start the year in Triple-A, and we will likely see a better version of him when needed.
The same can be said for Jonah Tong. He had some flashes but mostly struggled. Still, he has the stuff and the highest ceiling of any of the three Mets prospects called up at the end of last year.
Speaking of Mets young pitching, we all forgot about Christian Scott. He’s fully recovered from Tommy John, and he appears ready to go for spring training. He showed flashes in 2023 while dealing with a torn UCL, and we can hope he can take a step forward in 2026.
At the moment, that puts the Mets Major League ready pitching depth at eight starters. That increases to nine with the team signing Carl Edwards Jr. to a minor league deal.
Edwards has had success in the majors out of the pen, and he’s recently transitioned to a starter. He did have some success as a starter in the Mexican Leagues last season making this an interesting gamble.
Top pitching prospect Will Watson will likely start the year with Double-A Binghamton. That puts him closer to making it to the majors. With a breakout season, he may very well force his way there.
Same goes for Jack Wenninger. He pitched better than Watson in Double-A and appears much closer to the majors. It’s very possible we see him in Queens next year.
We saw Jonathon Pintaro make his Major League debut next year, and he could be among the first called up next year. We could see a Zach Thornton or Jonathan Santucci pop in 2026.
Point is, there’s real pitching depth here without the Mets making one move to add a starter this offseason. It’s prudent and practical to add more pitching because as we saw in 2025, you can never have enough pitching.
That said, despite the narratives being pushed on Mets fans, they have starting pitching. They’re very well poised to be successful in 2026, and we should see the starting pitching be a driving force of the 2026 season.
In Game Three of the AL Wild Card Series, Cam Schlitter was electric, and he had the type of performance we will talk about for years to come. Over eight shutout innings, he struck out 12 Boston Red Sox while walking none to help the New York Yankees advance to the ALDS against the Toronto Blue Jays.
When the Yankees called up Schlitter, their team was in trouble. Not only did they need another starter, but they were falling apart. Their division lead turned into a 3.5 game deficit in the AL East.
There was open discussion about the Yankees missing the postseason entirely. Not only did the Yankees not miss the postseason, but they would tie the division lead (was a Wild Card on tiebreakers), and they would advance to the ALDS.‘
At the time the Yankees called up Schlitter, there was a call for the Mets to call-up one of their trio of top pitching prospects. On that same July 9 date, the Mets were in first place, and to be fair, they did seem to have corrected the ship.
However, things would change. In early August, they would lose eight in a row. From July 28 – August 15, they were 2-14. TWO AND FOURTEEN!
The Mets once division lead was a six game deficit. Because of the state of the National League, they still somehow held onto a Wild Card spot, and at the time, they even seemed secured of a wild card spot. The joke would ultimately be on us.
During this stretch, the Mets saw Kodai Senga unable to pitch through his earlier injuries. David Peterson and Clay Holmes were hitting a wall with their innings. Sean Manaea was incapable of pitching through his elbow injury.
During this stretch, we not only saw the aforementioned starters falter, but we also saw starts from Frankie Montas and Reed Garrett (acting as an opener for Montas). Both pitchers would go down with season ending injuries.
Finally, on August 16, Nolan McLean would get his first start of the season. The Mets had to drop out of the NL East race and put themselves in the mix for the Wild Card before the Mets reached for McLean.
During the course of the season, the Mets would also give starts to Paul Blackburn, Blade Tidwell, and a series of openers. Notably, Blackburn would be released on August 18, two days after McLean’s first start. Tidwell was moved at the trade deadline in the Tyler Rogers trade.
With young prospects, it is always a guessing game. McLean was ready from the moment he was called up, and he pitched like an ace. Jonah Tong was the most heralded of the players called up, and he faltered.
It’s difficult to know if McLean would have been ready a month or two earlier. To that point, Schlitter made five Triple-A starts this year before his call-up. McLean had made 13 starts.
As of July 9, McLean had made nine starts and two piggyback starts. He was 3-4 with a 2.52 ERA and 65 strikeouts over 60.2 innings. At that point, Schlitter had made five Triple-A starts going 2-1 with a 3.80 ERA and 35 strikeouts over 23.2 innings.
Again, this is not a science, but McLean was ahead of Schlitter in many ways, but the Yankees made the decision much quicker than the Mets. That was even with Schlitter getting shelled in his last Triple-A start.
Meanwhile, McLean made five more starts in Triple-A. During that timeframe, the Mets were 9-13. They lost two-out-of-three to the Cincinnati Reds. Those games were literally the reason why the Mets did not make the postseason.
McLean made five extra starts in Triple-A with four out of the five being very good. It was during this stretch that the Mets lost the Wild Card because that stretch is where they lost the tiebreakers.
The Yankees called up Schlitter. They claimed a Wild Card spot, and they won the Wild Card series behind a brilliant start by Schlitter. McLean was brilliant for the Mets, but because the Mets waited, they missed out on the postseason.
If you want to criticize Stearns, the Yankees gave you every reason why in Game 3 of the Wild Card series.
David Stearns’ New York Mets were worse in year two than they were in year one. They failed despite adding Juan Soto, which is just baffling.
Every fan and pundit is going to point to the starting pitching. Obviously, the starting pitching was a failure, but at some point, you have to actively say there’s only so much one man can do.
Right off the bat, Stearns made a massive mistake signing Frankie Montas instead of bringing back Luis Severino. Montas was a disaster, but he was also broken. It’s fair to question just how much of that was something that happened with the Mets, and whether the team physical missed something.
Looking at Severino, he was not good in 2025. He had a 1.0 WAR and a 92 ERA+. It’s possible he could have been better with the Mets, but based off what we saw, he was a below average pitcher whose strikeout rate dropped. Still, his 29 starts averaging 5.2 innings would have been more than welcome.
Aside from that mistake, Stearns had Kodai Senga and David Peterson returning to the rotation. He re-signed Sean Manaea, the ace from the 2024 staff. Right there, the Mets had as good as a top three as anyone in baseball.
Like with Montas, something either happened or was missed with Manaea. We looked at him as someone that could be an ace to someone battling through injury barely able to give you three quality innings. ‘
Senga was pitching at a Cy Young level. That was until Pete Alonso made one of his horrendous throws to first base leading to a Senga injury. After that throw, Senga went from a 1.47 ERA to a pitcher who had a 5.90 ERA over his last nine starts.
Peterson was great in the first half. He was an All-Star. Who knows what happened to him after July 20. After that start, he was 3-2 with a 6.34 ERA. The hope is it was the extra workload, but based on the missed injuries we saw with Montas and Manaea, a potential injury can’t be dismissed.
Joining that group in the rotation was Clay Holmes. Holmes had a good first year as a starter with a 114 ERA+. If starters didn’t drop like flies, he might’ve been able to be transitioned to the bullpen late in the season. Alas, that opportunity never arose.
Tylor Megill was quality starting pitching depth again. He had a 3.95 ERA over his 14 starts. Unfortunately, he needed Tommy John and will miss all of 2026.
Adding to the depth, Stearns signed Griffin Canning. He was a revelation of his 16 starts. At one point, he was on the outskirts of All-Star discussion, and he finished his season with a 107 ERA+ before he suffered a fluke ruptured ACL tear.
Look over that list again. In theory, the Opening Day rotation was supposed to be Manaea, Senga, Peterson, Montas, and Holmes. Behind them was Megill and Canning. That’s seven quality starters who should have been able to get you through the season.
Behind them, the Mets farm system did a great job developing Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong. McLean will enter next season as the ace, and Sproat should be in the conversation to join the Opening Day roster. Tong clearly needs more time in Triple-A.
Without making any trades, the Mets had 10 different starting pitchers that were capable of winning games. That is all even before we consider the Paul Blackburn disaster.
Sometimes you are just snakebitten. Obviously, there is a curse that is in the Citi Field bullpen. Either that, or the Mets need to address how they review physicals and keep pitchers healthy.
If Stearns goes into 2026 with this level of starting pitching depth, things will be better for the Mets next season. Stearns had a good philosophical approach to the staff, but he did not have the luck he had in 2025.
And before anyone starts, no, the Mets don’t need to go buck wild spending on free agent starters. The Opening Day rotation will have McLean, Peterson, Manaea, Senga, and Holmes. That is great. ‘
Behind that group, they will have Sproat and Tong ready to go. Possibly, Will Watson will be ready at some point in 2026. It would be nice to see if they can bring back Canning.
Think about this for a second. Even with the Montas blunder, Stearns did enough last offseason to build a formidable rotation for 2026. He did his job very well. He just now needs to figure out the health and possibly a way to better keep these pitchers healthy.
Weird things happen in the MLB postseason. Since the expanded postseason format, things rarely, if ever, goes as planned.
The first expansion was in 1969. The New York Mets shocked the world that year. Even though the Mets had won 100 games, they beat the favored Atlanta Braves in the first ever NLCS.
The Mets went on to shock the world by beating the 109 win Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.
Four years later, behind the Tug McGraw mantra of “Ya Gotta Believe!” the 1973 Mets won the NL East with only 82 wins. That team beat the Cincinnati Reds in five games (back when the NLCS was five games) to advance to the World Series.
To hear Howie Rose tell it, if Yogi Berra pitched George Stone in Game 6 instead of Tom Seaver, that team likely wins the World Series. Still, an 82 team in the World Series highlights how crazy things can happen.
In 2015, aided by a Washington Nationals choke job (insert Jonathan Papelbon–Bryce Harper joke), the 2015 Mets won the division. Daniel Murphy became Babe Ruth, and the Mets trio of Jacob deGrom–Matt Harvey–Noah Syndergaard led the Mets to the pennant.
If not for Terry Collins, the Mets win the 2015 World Series. He was as bad as you can be, and the Mets largely didn’t win because of him.
It’s also worked against the Mets.
The Mets dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 season. However, Orel Hershiser would come up huge, and he’d help the Dodgers with a huge upset. Fueled by Kirk Gibson’s shocking homer in Game 1, the Dodgers beat what could’ve been seen as an all-time great Oakland Athletics team.
In 2000, the Mets had some luck with the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Atlanta Braves. That cleared the way for the Mets to beat the Cardinals and win the pennant.
In the World Series, they faced off against an 87 win New York Yankees team, who ended that season on the verge of an epic collapse to miss the postseason. If Todd Zeile’s ball bounces over the wall, or Armando Benitez throws a strike who knows?
The less said about that World Series, the better.
In 2006, the Mets were the best team in baseball and seemed destined to win the World Series. El Duque got hurt warming up the NLDS, Billy Wagner faltered in the postseason like he always does, and Carlos Beltran struck out looking.
Meanwhile, we watched on with horror as the 83 win Cardinals beat an imploding Detroit Tigers team to win the World Series.
No matter the win total, if the Mets make the postseason, they will be sputtering in. Who cares?
This is still a team who can win a World Series. Everything they need is here.
Nolan McLean is a real ace, and Edwin Díaz is the best closer in baseball. As we saw with the Dodgers last year, you can win getting 2-3 innings from everyone.
We’ve already seen that Clay Holmes–Sean Manaea piggyback work well. It can certainly work with the rest of the staff.
Pete Alonso and Juan Soto had series winning homers last postseason. Francisco Lindor led the way like he’s doing during the current stretch run. Mark Vientos shook off late season struggles to be the Mets best player last postseason.
This Mets team can win the World Series. They have what it takes. They just need to get there. Even if you’re still skeptical, just look at past postseasons to look at how crazy things get.
The New York Mets have a very real starting pitching problem. Ironically, this is happening just as their projected opening day starting rotation is all healthy and together.
We’ve all seen the graphics on SNY. David Peterson is the only starter going 6+ innings. Worse yet, aside from him the other starters have been averaging 4.2 innings per start.
It’s embarrassing, and it probably helped lead to the rash of reliever injuries we’ve seen this season.
Speaking of relievers, Clay Holmes seems to be on fumes. He’s never thrown more than 70 innings in a season. He passed that mark on June 7.
He’s giving five innings now but to varying degrees of success. At the moment, he probably needs more off days between starts, or maybe the Mets should be moving him to the bullpen to prepare for the postseason.
The problem with that plan is Frankie Montas. Montas has been brutal averaging under five innings per start with a 6.68 ERA. He’s flat out giving the Mets no chance to win, and worse yet, he’s exhausting the bullpen for the games they actually could win.
Montas needs to move out of the rotation now. The innings aren’t there and need to come from somewhere.
Everyone is hoping Sean Manae can provide those innings. Right now, he is still working his way back from offseason injury and an elbow injury that appeared during his rehab stint. Last year, he averaged 6+ innings per start in the second half.
Notably, Manae hasn’t thrown more than five innings or 86 pitches in a game. As he continues to get stretched out, that should be two reliable starters
Kodai Senga is the ace, but he’s slipped of late. Over his last four starts, he’s averaging 4.0 innings per start with a 6.19 ERA. Effectively speaking, he’s become Montas.
We do know he’s better with more rest. The Mets need to find it for him, and for Holmes if he is to stay in the rotation.
If and when Paul Blackburn and Tylor Megill are ready to return from injury, they could hop into the rotation. Blackburn is much closer and could rejoin the rotation this week. That said, they are both the five and fly starters that have hampered this Mets bullpen.
The answer to the Mets issues is likely one of Brandon Sproat or Nolan McLean.
Sproat has been great of late, and his recent run seemed to begin when he was working with Francisco Álvarez during Alvarez’s demotion. Over his last six starts, he’s averaging 5+ innings per start. He’s allowed just two earned over his last 33.0 innings while striking out 39.
McLean isn’t on the same hot streak as Sproat, but he’s the more polished pitcher. He’s also giving more innings averaging nearly six innings per start. With Syracuse, he has a 3.01 ERA, 1.144 WHIP, and a 9.6 K/9.
David Stearns has said he’s not calling up any prospect starting pitcher for a spot start. Instead, he will only call them up to join the rotation. The Mets have a definite need for them, and the Mets are running out of other solutions.
Sprout and McLean need to be in the rotation now. It will give more rest to Senga, Manae, Peterson, and Holmes to help their effectiveness. It will get Montas out of the rotation and into the bullpen where he can work on things.
Mostly, it can help the Mets find their fourth starter for the postseason. Of course, they can help them get there too.
By having both in the rotation, the Mets can see which one fares better and is better ready to face Major League batters. They can get more innings to help the bullpen, get more rest for the other starters, win the division, and hopefully win a World Series.
The need has arrived. The Mets can ill afford to wait any longer. Sproat and McLean must be called up now.
By all accounts, Dom Hamel has struggled since his promotion to Triple-A Syracuse last season. This season, it got to the point where Hamel was moved out of the rotation.
There are a number of reasons. His low 90s fastball doesn’t play as well as a starter in the upper limits of the minors. He’s become more of a guy living on the edges than attacking the strike zone. The ensuing walks get you in trouble.
That said, Hamel still does a lot right. He has a high spin sweeper and a change that generates a number of swings and misses. He has a cutter he either needs to complete refine or scrap. He still has a good 12-6 curve.
He’s been far more effective against right-handed batters limiting them to a .222/.276/.284 batting line. He’s struggles against left-handed batters with them hitting .303/.389/.487 against him.
Part of that is he has a plan of attack against right-handed batters. He’s a fastball-sweeper pitcher against them. Against left-handed batters, he hasn’t truly decided on the change or curve as the main secondary pitch.
In the end, he’s not a starter for a few reasons. He’s a two pitch pitcher against right-handed batters. Left-handed batters are feasting on him. He lacks a true third pitch.
However, there are numbers that portend success at the next level.
Hamel strikes out over a batter per inning (10.19 K/9). He has a 43.8 GB%. In his minor league career, his FIP has typically been better than his ERA. There are just some pitchers who perform better at the Major League level, and Hamel just may be one of those guys.
This is a good time to try it too.
Hamel has been pitching well out of the pen. Over his last four appearances, he has struck out 10 over nine innings with a 2.00 ERA and 1.111 WHIP.
Being in the bullpen allows him to scrap some pitches and increase some velocity. Working with Jeremy Hefner can get him to another level. In some ways, Hamel can be the effective multiple inning reliever Hefner has helped Jose Butto become.
As we well know, the Mets need multiple inning relievers with their pitching staff being decimated by injuries. It’s not just their being without Sean Manae, Kodai Senga, Griffin Canning, and Tylor Megill in the rotation and AJ Minter in the bullpen.
There’s the trickle down effect to the bullpen. They’re overtaxed. We are seeing Reed Garrett and Huascar Brazibán wear down and struggle.
Hamel could potentially provide multiple innings to take the burden away from the Mets top relievers. He can eat innings when pitchers like Blade Tidwell falter, or Clay Holmes continues to manage his innings.
If it fails, it fails. Much of what the Mets are doing now is failing. It’s worth a gamble on a multi-inning reliever with a high strikeout and spin rate.
This could be Butto. It could be more of the same. It’s worth a shot.
There was a time WFAN was the best talk radio station in New York. Probably America. We can pinpoint different moments it started to fall apart.
Dom Imus’ Rutgers scandal probably led to where we are. That was a factor in Mike and the Mad Dog eventually splitting. It brought on Craig Carton which began the tone of the station.
Gone was pure sports talk. Now, it was sensationalism. Pure shtick replaced debate and discussion. It’s been all downhill from that.
That brings us to McPherson. If you’ve heard him, he’s a troll. Mets fans are his favorite targets, but in sum, he’s a troll.
Then, there’s Jon Heyman. He’s an easy target with his typo ridden tweets. He’s seen as a Scott Boras lackey sending out info to help give Boras leverage in negotiations.
Of course, that could also be seen as the strength of Heyman. He has a good relationship with the best agent in sports who represents the best players – players like Pete Alonso and Juan Soto.
With Soto on the verge of getting a record setting deal, everyone is eagerly anticipating to see where he will sign. With Heyman being the reporter with the pipeline to Boras, everyone wants to talk to him.
For his part, Heyman hasn’t been discerning. He’s been willing to talk to everyone and anyone. That includes talking to McPherson on the Friday overnight.
The professionalism is commendable. If only that was reciprocated by McPherson, who probably doesn’t get this caliber of guest (don’t bother correcting me, I’m not interested in listening more than I’ve had to find out I’m wrong).
For his part, Heyman tried laughing along with the “joke” he was on the take with Boras. He tried rolling with the punches over Arson Judge. The thing is McPherson didn’t know when to quit.
That’s probably wrong. He likely knew what he was doing. He didn’t intend to inform his listeners about Soto, and to a lesser extent, Alonso.
Nothing on new Mets starter Clay Holmes. This was just an exercise in getting Heyman riled up and losing his cool. To that, McPherson got what he wanted with Heyman hanging up saying he was quitting WFAN forever.
It’s not too dissimilar from Carl Banks doing the same with Sal Licata. Where there’s a lack of knowledge, there’s pure shock value even if it comes at the expense of the dignity of the guest.
Sure enough, while most were coming down on McPherson for his lack of professionalism, fellow WFAN host Greg Gianotti came swooping in to McPherson’s defense:
I guess the purposeful misspelling was supposed to be funny. In reality, it’s the perfect way to sum it all up. Failed shtick designed for shock value that’s not funny not matter how desperate it tries.
This is a far cry for what WFAN used to be. No sports were discussed. Just unfunny trolling. It’s all just lame. We deserve better, but sadly, nothing will change.