After suggesting the previous night that a change in roles could be forthcoming for two lefties within the Mets pitching staff, manager Carlos Mendoza on Wednesday said the idea was still under consideration.
The move would involve Sean Manaea and David Peterson essentially swapping spots. Manaea has pitched in long relief since the start of the season, with Peterson in a starting/bulk role, behind an opener.
Before the Mets faced the Reds at Citi Field, the manager said there are various directions in which the team can proceed, considering Thursday’s day off, but there would soon be clarity.
Manaea’s recent resurgence has earned him the consideration. The lefty had a fourth straight solid outing in relief Tuesday, when he allowed one earned run over three innings. Manaea has pitched to a 3.09 ERA over that stretch.
“I feel like I am stretched out well enough,” Manaea said when asked if he is built up enough for a possible move to the rotation.
Peterson has struggled for consistency, in a season in which he’s bounced between starting and pitching behind an opener. Most of his troubles have occurred as a starter, most recently on Tuesday when he surrendered six earned runs over five innings against the Reds.
Opponents own an .837 OPS against Peterson as a starting pitcher. But in the bulk relief role behind an opener opponents own a .682 OPS against him.
“I would say [Tuesday] was just a little bit of an anomaly,” pitching coach Justin Willard said. “I think the last three or four outings have been really good and it’s just continuing to refine the locations of his pitches and understand where weak contact happens and just continue to work on some of those smaller details with him.”
Willard was asked what he’s seen from Manaea, who pitched to a 6.97 ERA in April as he looked to regain velocity on his fastball.
“Ultimately he is trying to get back to some of the mechanical things we saw in 2024,” Willard said. “But also a conviction in all his pitches and just trust in all his pitches. The additions of the sinker and the cutter, and even throwing the changeup a little bit more have helped specifically, but really just the conviction in his stuff is the most important thing.”
After a strong stretch from their starters, the Mets have hit a late-May slump that has coincided with the team’s chronic underperformance offensively. Most notably, Nolan McLean has struggled in two straight starts, but Freddy Peralta hasn’t been sharp in his last two outings, ahead of Peterson’s clunker Tuesday.
Interspersed was a rocky major league debut by Zach Thornton in Washington last week, when the rookie surrendered four earned runs over 4 ¹/₃ innings.
The Mets were turning to another rookie, Jonah Tong, in a bulk role behind opener Huascar Brazobán on Wednesday. Tong earned another shot after pitching three scoreless innings in relief last Friday in Miami.
It certainly hasn’t helped that the team’s most effective starter into mid-May, Clay Holmes, is sidelined by a broken right fibula.
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The scooter parked adjacent to Holmes’ locker Wednesday could have been a metaphor for a rotation that needs a lift.
“We still believe in those guys, we feel good with the rotation,” Mendoza said. “They are just going through a stretch here with Nolan and the back-to-back outings not going his way, but you still trust those guys that we have. We have got to help those guys get through it. They have been pretty good for us in keeping us in games.”
