Ranking the Mets starting pitcher depth chart behind the starting 5

With the New York Mets adding Luis Severino, Adrian Houser, and Sean Manaea to a rotation that already consisted of Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana, they essentially have completed their 2024 Opening Day rotation.

A surprise move can happen if the price is right, and injuries always happen, but assuming no shenanigans are involved, the rotation will consist of those five players. It's a rotation that has a clear ace in Senga, some upside with pitchers like Severino and Manaea, and consistent arms like Quintana and Houser. The ceiling isn't particularly high, but the floor with four of the five starters should be decent enough.

A big issue the Mets have had in recent years is pitching depth, or lack thereof. The Mets build rotations capable of competing, but fall short when it comes to depth. Fortunately this offseason, it appears that the Mets have quite a bit of starting pitching depth with four decent options behind the starting five. This is how those four starters should be ranked.

4) Jose Butto

Jose Butto got his first extended action in the Mets rotation and wound up making the most of it, forcing himself into the conversation to see more MLB time in 2024 either as a starter or as a reliever.

Butto made four appearances through the first five months of the season but in September, with the team looking practically unrecognizable, Butto found himself inserted into the regular rotation as one of the six Mets starters. He made five starts in September, pitching really well in four of them and undoubtedly opening some eyes.

The right-hander posted a 3.29 ERA in those five starts and allowed two runs or fewer in five or more innings in four of them. Butto pitched really well against playoff teams like the Diamondbacks, Marlins and Phillies. He wound up posting a very respectable 3.64 ERA in his nine MLB appearances (seven starts) this past season, proving that he can indeed get MLB hitters out.

Butto's lack of a sample size has him at the bottom of the depth chart rankings, but he can easily make his way up if he continues to pitch well in his next opportunity. Knowing the Mets, that opportunity might come sooner than later.

2) Joey Lucchesi

Joey Lucchesi's Mets tenure got off to a rough start but he posted a 1.19 ERA in his last five starts in the 2021 season before needing Tommy John Surgery. That knocked him out for not only the remainder of that season but for the entire 2022 season, making him somewhat of a forgotten man in the minds of Mets fans.

Lucchesi stuck around with the Mets and had four different stints with the MLB team in 2023. He never quite stuck but he certainly pitched well enough to, posting a 2.89 ERA in 46.2 innings pitched on the year. He had a pair of dominant outings in San Francisco and against the Diamondbacks which saw him get through seven innings without allowing a single earned run, showing that he can compete at this level.

The stuff isn't anything to write home about, but he's fun to watch with his "churve" and funky wind-up, and the results were certainly good enough for him to warrant more of a look in the 2024 season.

The 30-year-old has had success primarily as a starting pitcher but has also pitched out of the bullpen in his MLB career. He feels like a solid option to succeed in either role. Thanks to his efforts this past season and his time in San Diego, Lucchesi has shown enough to slot ahead of Megill, but not quite enough to be at the top of this list.

1) David Peterson

It's no secret that the 2023 season went just about as poorly as it could've gone for David Peterson who began the year in the Mets Opening Day rotation following Jose Quintana's injury but struggled really from the onset.

Peterson's 8.08 ERA through his first eight starts earned himself a ticket to Syracuse. Mets fans hoped that ticket was going to be one-way, but more injuries to the starting rotation practically forced New York to bring him back.

In his 19 appearances (13 starts) dating back to late June through the end of the season, Peterson posted a 3.38 ERA in 72 innings pitched. Peterson didn't go particularly deep in most of his outings, but he earned a chance to start games following the Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander trades and made the most of it. The way he finished the season gave Mets fans reminders of what they had seen from this southpaw in the 2022 season, when he wound up being incredibly valuable.

Unfortunately, Peterson did undergo hip surgery this offseason which will likely knock him out of action until May or June. That injury gives chances to other people on this list to get some action in a depth capacity but when Peterson returns, he should step in as the Mets defacto sixth starter. He's shown enough throughout his career and pitched well enough down the stretch to earn it.