3 options to replace Christian Scott in the NY Mets rotation

Christian Scott is going on the IL with a minor hip injury. Regardless of whether it’s called minor or major, losing him is a big blow to a New York Mets starting staff already tested and tormented this year.

Scott is coming off of a poor outing but a Mets victory and wins in each of his last two decisions. A 3.10 ERA on the year in 9 starts, he has been one of their better starters as Freddy Peralta and Nolan McLean took a back seat in recent weeks.

It’s not all bad. Sean Manaea pitched well over the weekend. But this is a team already deep into their starting pitching depth. The cavalry is light with Scott already joining them on horseback after a handful of starts in the minors. Who’ll replace him in the meantime and how do we feel about those options?

Three players who could replace Christian Scott in the Mets rotation

1) Kodai Senga

Are you ready for a roll of the dice? Kodai Senga is working his way back and after a promising rehab outing in Double-A, he could be one more appearance away from returning to the big leagues. He allowed a run on one hit in 6 innings of work for Binghamton. Other starts in Syracuse were far worse. It doesn’t matter much what the stat line says. Senga needs to prove he’s good for 5 innings or so against major league hitters. That’s not something we’ve seen consistently enough for more than a year.

Because they have to do something and the timing may work out well enough, this seems like a logical jump to replace Scott for a turn or two through the rotation.

2) Tobias Myers

Tobias Myers gets the ball on Monday against the Cincinnati Reds in what’ll be a start as an opener. If things go well, maybe the Mets force him into a similar situation over the weekend and ask him to give them an extra 20-25 pitches. 

Already on the big league roster, the way Monday’s game goes will impact if the Mets stick with Myers as a starter or not. Given how short-term the Scott injury is projected to be, another chance to extend himself might be for the best especially with all of the uncertainty around Senga as a performer and with his health. For Myers to actually replace Scott, we'd have to think of him as less of an opener and more as a starter with slightly smaller expectations.

3) Zach Thornton

We saw Zach Thornton make a start earlier this year against the Washington Nationals. Shall we ask for another? The lefty would get a chance to go against the Reds if called up quickly or the Philadelphia Phillies if the Mets wait until the weekend. In either case, he might have an advantage.

The Phillies are hitting .220 against lefties this year (27th in MLB) and the Reds aren’t much better at .229 (23rd in MLB). The Nationals, with a .270 batting average against southpaws, leads the league. Jack Wenninger seems unlikely at this point because filling up your 40-man roster with all of these starters just doesn’t seem practical. Jonah Tong? If we’re looking at lefty/righty splits, the Reds (.229) and Phillies (.231) are about the same. Tong has given up 8 runs in his last 9 innings spanning two starts. Now is not the time.

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