Staff stays

Dan Warthen had plans. The kids, what he calls his pitchers, had come up and knew what they were doing. This season he would get them settled and ready to go forward. After two straight years of excellent pitching and playoff appearances, the Mets long-time pitching coach would retire. There was golf to be played in the proper season and there were countries he wanted to visit with his family.

“I thought this would be my last year. I really thought I wanted to retire. I’d have my pitchers all back and they’d be ready to go,” Warthen said. “But after this year, I want one more year. I don’t want to leave them like this.”

Warthen has helped develop every one of the young pitchers that have come up into the system, from Matt Harvey to Noah Syndergaard. In 2012, he helped guide R.A. Dickey to a Cy Young season.

In 2016, despite losing Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz to season-ending injuries, the Mets rotation finished with the third-best ERA in the majors. In 2015, the year their pitching carried them to the World Series, they had the fourth best ERA in the