3 NY Mets offseason decisions that could haunt the team this season and beyond

2) Starting rotation patchwork project, Part 2

The initial signing of Luis Severino and Sean Manaea last offseason stirred a lot of uncertainty and reputability surrounding David Stearns’s philosophy of molding hidden talent to work in the team’s upside. While it worked once, it’s understandable to have some mixed notions on the somewhat unorthodox approach.

In a market where acquiring top rotation talent was opportune, the front office opted for another trial run, taking chances on Clay Holmes, Frankie Montas, Griffin Canning, and even during last season’s trade deadline, Paul Blackburn. In the case of Blackburn, one can only wonder what his services can offer given the nature of his injury and the duration in which he’s been off a professional mound. But the ongoing projects Stearns has entrusted pitching coach Jeremy Hefner to handle, may not just backfire…it can all out fail.

Of the three acquisitions (plus Tylor Megill, Christian Scott, and others) to supplement a healthy Kodai Senga and a resurgence in David Peterson, the backend of the starting staff draws a lot of concern on various metrics. Could the plan be to create a long-rounded rotation, curate several long arms out of the bullpen, or shift the roles entirely with no defined nucleus? The team’s makeup may allow for Stearns’s experimentation to come to fruition, but one extraneous factor could easily put the entire pitching contingent in flux.