It seems Keith Hernandez was right about his NY Mets concern, just in a different way

Back in March, Keith Hernandez spoke to the NY Post about what had him most concerned about the New York Mets. He didn’t go out on a limb. He spoke through all of us when he explained how he had his doubts about the starting rotation.

What’s especially unique about this take that aged well is he was worried about the loss of Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas before the season began. The Mets would need to turn to their depth immediately. This meant Griffin Canning would make the team and get a long leash. Tylor Megill, too, would be elevated from depth to getting his chance every fifth day.

A funny thing happened on the way to game 162. By the end of the season, we yearned for them to be back to give us more than what guys like Manaea and Montas routinely did during their time on the mound in 2025.

Keith Hernandez’s Mets concern came true, just not in the way he probably anticipated

Canning and Megill each had strong starts to the year. Megill seemed to fall further, but with a still credible 3.95 ERA in 14 starts, it wasn’t nearly as bad as what we got from Manaea and Montas or even Kodai Senga and David Peterson late in the year. Montas lived up to all of the doubts we had about his signing. Manaea flamed out as this year’s Jason Vargas/Carlos Carrasco as a pitcher who was injured in the spring, returned in July, and never was able to piece it together.

Hernandez seemed to appreciate the depth the Mets added. His concerns were valid. The Mets definitely favored quantity over quality with their pitching staff. For as brilliant as Manaea was the previous season, the question of whether he could do it again or not lingered. So did the health of Senga and the transition of Clay Holmes from reliever to starter.

You’ll have a tough time finding a baseball mind as smart as Hernandez capable of explaining things without much filter. His genuine worry about the starting pitching staff showed on his face. He was months ahead of what would become true for the ball club: you can’t make it to the playoffs on nothing but chances. A surer thing added to the rotation could have made a world of difference. Oddly, it was the more reliable starters whose downfall made the worries come true and not the other way around.