PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Mets owner Steve Cohen, honest to a fault, admitted that he’d heard the doubts.
On a recent tranquil morning at Mets spring training, the richest man in human history to ever wear a hat with a sunglasses-wearing-cartoon-baseball-person logo held court with members of the media. The question-and-answer session touched on all corners of the organization, as the unmistakable wave of optimism permeating the camp took focus via Cohen’s comments. Two days prior, Juan Soto, the $765 million man, had arrived for his first day of work. Understandably, most everybody in the Mets’ extended universe was in a good mood.
But when asked for a 10,000-foot view of the club, Cohen at least acknowledged one area of concern: the public perception that his Mets don’t have a World Series-caliber pitching staff.
“I think our pitching is going to surprise people,” the bespectacled billionaire declared, “even though there’s a lot of talk about our starting pitching.”
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That statement, in and of itself, was recognition that the baseball industry writ large has serious doubts about New York’s starting rotation. And on Monday, those whispers grew louder with the news that Sean Manaea, New York’s best pitcher last season, is likely to miss the beginning of the regular season due to an oblique strain. Manaea won’t throw for two to three weeks. The likable left-hander, who re-signed with the Mets over the winter, was the front-runner to start on Opening Day.
It’s the Mets’ second starting pitching injury of camp. The team will also be without free-agent addition Frankie Montas until at least late May after the right-handed starter suffered a high-grade lat strain earlier this spring.
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Even before Manaea and Montas hit the shelf, New York’s staff was shaping up to be a potential Achilles’ heel for a team with championship aspirations.
Last season, pitching was indeed the downfall for a Cinderella Mets team that stormed its way to the NLCS. In that deciding series against the Dodgers, the Mets surrendered an average of 10 runs in their four losses to the eventual World Series champs. Manaea, clearly exhausted, got shelled in the Game 6 clincher. Everybody knew the Mets needed more arms.
And so it was compelling when, in the offseason, Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns opted to add depth over…