Mets Monday Morning GM: 3 flavors of David Stearns Kool-Aid worth sipping from

2) Mets fans can sip from Strawberry Kiwi Starting Pitching Grape Gamble

As down on the Mets starting rotation as many may be, there wasn’t much else they could’ve realistically done. Sign Blake Snell? It was never going to happen with his contract demands plus the loss of a draft pick on top of it. That’s the kind of move you make if you’re ready to win now and don’t care much about 2025 and beyond.

The additions the Mets did make to the starting rotation are gambles in their own way. Sean Manaea is very mid-level while Luis Severino’s biggest issue isn’t how many runs he gave up last year but how much time he has missed. If one of those free agent additions works in favor of the Mets, things are already going their way.

Adrian Houser is the third starting pitcher added to the group. Capable of pitching in relief as well, he’ll be a more than acceptable fifth starter for this ball club. Add all three of those guys in behind Kodai Senga when he returns and a hopefully equally as effective Jose Quintana, and the Mets rotation has a ceiling separated enough from the floor to get the job done.

If there is any complaint to make about the starting rotation it may be how many gambles they are taking. The Senga injury doesn't make us feel quite as good about the situation with all of the uncertainty about everyone else. Even a more average yet consistent arm might’ve had us feeling better.

This might not be a flavor of Kool-Aid everyone is willing to down. Give it a try.