ALL ACES ARE ON THE TABLE
Matz the final phenom of Met pitching plan
It began on a hot night in Phoenix nearly three years ago, and it will end at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon. Sandy Alderson, the GM who has staked his attempt at a Mets revival on a phenom-filled rotation, will see the last of that group debut.
From the moment that Matt Harvey (who, fittingly, started on Saturday for the Mets) struck out 11 Arizona Diamondbacks on July 26, 2012, the team and its fans have enjoyed the unique pleasure of rolling at least one stud per year: Zack Wheeler in 2013, NL Rookie of The Year Jacob de Grom in ’14 and Noah Syndergaard last month.
Now Steven Matz, the first of those players to join the organization, will make his long-delayed first big league start on Sunday. Pushed back by Tommy John surgery and subsequent setbacks, Omar Minaya’s top 2009 draft pick ends up as the final piece of Alderson’s pitching-centric vision.
Fans of the team should enjoy the moment on Sunday, because this is it. The Mets have depth in their system, but have used all of their phenoms. Now comes the interesting part: Seeing if a half-decade of development will lead to actual winning.
It is a perilous task, constructing a team around pitching — just ask Paul Wilson, Bill Pulsipher and Jason Isringhausen. The early returns on this era have been mixed, but it is far too early to issue a final verdict.
Injuries have already slowed Harvey and Wheeler, and practically canceled the buzz around Rafael Montero, whose shoulder has turned him into a ghost. But with an important piece such as Matz yet to debut, it is still possible for the Mets to sell hype and optimism.
“I’ve never had this experience before, where you just keep bringing these legit prospects into the big leagues in the rotation,” Terry Collins said on Saturday. “That’s why we’re doing the best we can to guard these guys and make sure that they stay as healthy as possible. Because this has a chance to be some kind of dynamic rotation. . . . I have never seen anything like it.”
Added de Grom: “The people that I’ve played with and come up (with) together, to see them all come up here . . . in that sense, it feels like the guys who came up together and were looked at as being major-league starters are all here now.”
The organization (with a significant assist from Minaya, who drafted Matz, de Grom and Harvey) has done well to compile so many high-end pitchers. That project has already brought memorable moments, such as Harvey’s All-Star start, Wheeler’s debut and many nights of de Grom dominance.
But the team has done very little winning, while waiting for these pitchers to mature. This year, with the dream rotation nearly in place, bad defense and a nonexistent lineup have shown that a rotation alone is not enough to win. Many in the industry are watching with interest how the Chicago Cubs’ rebuild, centered on hitters, will compare to the Mets’ plan. Which end of the equation should a team stockpile, run producers or run preventers?
At the moment, the Cubs are in the lead, but again, it is too soon to render final conclusions. You’d probably rather face Chicago in a short playoff series than deal with Harvey, de Grom and friends, but the Mets have a tougher path to even arriving at that moment.
From now on, that becomes the only focus. It is so much easier for a GM and his marketing machine to tell fans about what is coming than it is to actually win meaningful games, but that is the only thing that matters for the Alderson Mets.
This year, you can feel the fan base growing tired of hope and hype; just look at how muted the excitement has been for the Syndergaard and Matz debuts, compared to Harvey’s and Wheeler’s.
Back then, the Mets sold you hope. Now, with Matz in the clubhouse, that pitch has expired, and the future has arrived. How does it look?