3 far bigger concerns for NY Mets fans than Nolan McLean’s WBC loss

You want an overreaction, you take anything you see in the preseason whether it be spring training games or The World Baseball Classic and tell yourself that’s reality. Nolan McLean made his WBC debut on Tuesday. A series of three batters that included a home run, hit by pitch, and another home run spoiled the night for the New York Mets starter.

It’s one inning in a game where he struck out the side in the first and had several more ground outs, his specialty, to get through his one-quarter of the game. In a regular season scenario, McLean has the opportunity to go at least 5 innings and change the look of the stat line. Because of the nature of the tournament, he exited after 55 pitches and a 9.00 ERA.

Worried? You haven’t been a Mets fan long enough. These three concerns loom much larger for the Mets this coming year than anything he or someone else may do in the WBC for the remainder of the tournament.

Three bigger concerns than Nolan McLean after his WBC start

1) The durability, health, and effectiveness of the rest of the rotation sans Freddy Peralta

Someone within the Mets rotation is going to have an unexpectedly good bounceback year. Another is going to suck from the start. Then there’ll be a third who’ll fool us into thinking one thing or the other. Way too many of the Mets starters faded down the stretch in 2025. That theme has no reason to completely disappear this year.

The crew bound to fit into any of these scenarios will include Sean Manaea (never really all that good last year), Kodai Senga (never the same after the injury), and David Peterson (what kind of a second-half was that?). We also have to wonder what Clay Holmes will look like in his second year as a full-time starter.

The Mets have some good young depth in the minor leagues. However, they can’t rely on those guys to be a solution. Jonah Tong was unimpressive when he got called up last year. Brandon Sproat was so-so. Yes, there’s Freddy Peralta. He can’t pitch five days straight.

2) The Mets seem bound to misuse several players

All of the position changes underway, it seems like the Mets can get caught up in trying to force something that shouldn’t happen a little too long. For instance, Bo Bichette isn’t going to move off of third base quickly even if he is a mess. We won’t see Brett Baty there often enough.

The Mets have been carefully planning the use of several players both defensively and to keep them healthy. Luis Robert Jr. hasn’t made his spring training debut with the purpose of ensuring he will be in the best shape of his life. Underusing someone for that reason is a little easier to accept. What won’t be cool is when Baty is DH’ing and clearly the best answer for the Mets at both corner infield positions.

3) The bullpen and everything about it

Transitioning from Edwin Diaz to Devin Williams is troublesome even if overblown. Luke Weaver can add as many pitches to his arsenal and we’ll still wonder if he was a flash in the pan with the New York Yankees. The Mets bullpen is concerning beyond just those players like Luis Garcia, Craig Kimbrel, and anyone else who seems capable of putting together an excellent year as much as they do a terrible one.

What’s more, the Mets deploying a six-man rotation will limit the number of relievers they can actually have. Even if someone was to slide out of the rotation and into the bullpen, it’s not foolproof. A piggyback situation between two starters can help, but not resolve those questions about reliever usage.

Nolan McLean was way too awesome in 2025 for any of us to show a level of concern because of one bad WBC inning. When that starts happening in the regular season and the Mets are losing, maybe then we dust off the panic button on him for the first time.