Opinion: A Starting Concern
…entering the season the one area of the Mets i was not concerned about was the starting rotation, and on the surface they have pitched well, but stressful innings and the inability to go deep into games is leaving a mark on the bullpen early in the season…
Through the first 19 games the Mets starting rotation has pitch 110.1 innings, allowed 46 walks and are throwing 3.88 pitches per plate appearance. All worse than the National League average.
…although they have pitched to a 3.34 era, third best in the nl, Mets starters have only pitched through the seventh inning on five occasions this season and 60% of those have come from Johan Santana starts…
…on too many occasions this season the bullpen has had to bail starters out and their already showing signs of fatigue…many will blame Willie Randolph for pulling the likes of John Maine and Oliver Perez too quickly and not giving them a chance to get through a tough late inning situation, especially when their pitch counts haven’t reach 100, and i agree to an extent, but high pitch counts early in games has lead to late inning situations in which rescue becomes necessary…
…despite it being early in the season, these excessive high-pitch count innings and the starters inability to pitch beyond the sixth inning is taxing the bullpen and as we saw in the second half of last season, too many early season relief appearances spell disaster and is something worth monitoring…
