RISKY WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Mets should make sure they have Zack for stretch run
PORT ST. LUCIE — Zack Wheeler is making this decision more difficult than the Mets were planning on a month or even a week ago. Suddenly he looks like he’s capable of pitching at a high level when the season begins, an especially enticing thought with Steven Matz injured again.
But with the big picture in mind, they really should resist the temptation of opening the season with Wheeler in the starting rotation.
Or they’re going to wish they did come September when he’s out of innings and done for the season.
In other words, in the name of Stephen Strasburg, stick to the plan of leaving Wheeler in extended spring training for at least a month so that he’s available when the games matter most.
After all, the Mets are still saying they will limit Wheeler’s innings to 125-130 after he missed two seasons from Tommy John surgery, but rather than starting the clicker later in the season they’re whispering about making that number work over a full season, by limiting his starts to five innings, skipping him here and there, etc.
Which sounds like a much dicier plan, considering how things tend to get hairy for Terry Collins when he’s trying to win games that count.
A source made the point to Daily News beat writer Kristie Ackert that it doesn’t make sense to waste Wheeler’s innings in extended spring, but that’s a controlled setting in which he would be throwing a bare minimum of low-intensity pitches to stay in some type of rhythm.
It doesn’t compare to the stress of pitching in real games.
Even if Matz is sidelined for awhile, the Mets have enough pitching without Wheeler. Matt Harvey is making strides toward dominance again, and, more to the point, Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo can hold the fort as the No. 4 and 5 starters, as they did last August and September for an injury-decimated rotation. Lugo didn’t exactly hammer that point home on Monday, when he took a pounding from the Nationals, and the timing made it look worse, as Wheeler was breezing through five innings 40 miles down Rt. 95 in a split-squad game against the Cardinals.
But to be fair to Lugo, he was coming off three high-energy, high-intensity starts in the World Baseball Classic, quite a contrast to Monday’s low-key setting in spring training, with a few thousand fans in the ballpark. Some sort of letdown was inevitable. “It’s hard to ramp up and then go back down like that,’’ Lugo admitted afterward. “It’s something I’ve never done.’’
He was aware the start could factor into the Mets’ decision on a No. 5 starter to open the season, which comes down to Lugo and Wheeler now that Matz is sidelined with an elbow injury.
But suffice it to say that mattered a lot more to Wheeler, who is trying to re-establish himself as a potential star, while Lugo would be thrilled just to be getting majorleague meal money on the road.
Whether it’s starting or relieving, then, “I just want to be on the team,’’ Lugo said with a smile, “If I’m on the team, that’s most important.”
Spoken like a 34th round draft choice who got his first taste of the good life late last season and doesn’t want to go back.
Wheeler, on the other hand, said that he approached his start in Jupiter wanting to prove that he’s ready to start the season. You can’t blame him for wanting no part of extended spring; he’s seen enough of Port St.
Lucie, to say the least, during his two years in Tommy John exile.
But better that than experiencing the same fate as Strasburg, who was famously shut down in September of 2012 with the Nationals headed for the postseason.
I’m not saying there isn’t a case to be made for starting the season with Wheeler in the rotation and Lugo in the bullpen, perhaps with the intent of having him ready to pick up for some of Wheeler’s five-inning starts.
But trying to manage them both that way could get awfully complicated, depending on results. Ultimately it could also wind up being short-sighted. Making Lugo the No. 5 starter seems more sensible.
As such it should be easy enough to overlook what he did on Monday, when he gave up eight hits and four runs, including three home runs, and his stuff was ordinary at best. “You always want to have your best stuff but some days, other stuff can affect you and it costs you a couple of mph,’’ Lugo said. “Hopefully I’ll be a little more intense, with a little more energy next week when we get going and it won’t be an issue.’’ It’s reasonable to think that will be the case. Not that Lugo will ever match Wheeler’s high-ceiling potential, but as the Mets make this No. 5 starter decision, they should be looking well past next week’s start to the season.