Who replaces Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker if one is not ready for Opening Day?

Jordan Yamamoto and the field of possible Mets starting pitchers

Jordan Yamamoto would lead the charge from the rest of the field to get some starts. Trevor Williams, the team’s expected long man out of the bullpen, could be considered an option but it’s probably better to not go there unless needed.

The Mets have enough arms with big league experience, a spot on the 40-man roster, and option years left for them to not use Williams for a limited time. What happens when the next game they need him for a lot more?

Along with Yamamoto, Sean Reid-Foley and Yennsy Diaz are two options. The Mets seemed to prefer using those two as relievers last season so for either to even get a chance to start in the big leagues or Triple-A seems slim.

Waiting on the IL, the Mets have Joey Lucchesi and Thomas Szapucki. I’m only noting them for future considerations. Neither would get a spot on the Mets Opening Day roster. Both will need to rehab first.

Given the choices, Yamamoto appears to be third in line or maybe even ahead of Peterson. Both suffered injuries last year and we have to question the health of both.

The Mets can survive missing Carrasco and Walker for some time. However, trouble begins to brew once another arm goes down—an issue for all major league teams when their depth starts to grow shallow.