PORT ST. LUCIE — The six-man rotation will be a five-plus to begin the season.
Sean Manaea has been squeezed to the Mets bullpen for the first two turns through the rotation, manager Carlos Mendoza said Saturday, leaving the veteran lefty in a piggyback role.
Freddy Peralta, David Peterson, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga are aligned to pitch the first time through the rotation. Peralta is slated to return for Game 6 in St. Louis.
“Six guys throwing the ball really well and we were pretty honest with all of them at the beginning of camp that if everyone was healthy, we were going to have to make some tough decisions,” Mendoza said.
Off-days early in the schedule preclude the Mets from needing a sixth starter immediately. The Mets have nine straight days with scheduled games beginning on their second homestand, creating an opening for the sixth starter.
Manaea, whose velocity has dipped in spring training, was “not happy” with the decision, according to Mendoza.
“But he was very respectful and he understood,” Mendoza said. “Right now, it’s Sean doing it, but it could easily be somebody else, and they are well aware of that.”
Sean Manaea is the odd man out to start the season. Rhona Wise-Imagn Images
Manaea was a weak link in the rotation last season, pitching to a 5.64 ERA in 15 appearances. Manaea missed half the season rehabbing from a strained oblique and elbow discomfort caused by a loose body.
Manaea’s schedule to pitch will remain fluid, according to Mendoza, with no set spot in which he will piggyback a starter.
“I consider myself a starter and to not be that is frustrating,” Manaea said. “But I am just going to let my pitching do the work in whatever facet that is and then I will go from there.”
Carlos Mendoza said the Mets will start with a five-man rotation. Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Manaea indicated he didn’t plead his case to team brass.
“Ultimately it’s up to the team and what they see as putting the best version of this team out there,” Manaea said.
Manaea’s fastball has sat in the 88-89 mph range in his Grapefruit League starts, but the left-hander indicated he is confident his velocity will return with the adrenaline boost of pitching in games that count. Manaea averaged 91.7 mph with his four-seam fastball last season.
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The Mets have a final exhibition game Sunday and plan to hold an intrasquad scrimmage a day later before breaking camp. McLean and Holmes are slated to pitch in that scrimmage, with Senga remaining in Florida to pitch in a minor league game as a final tuneup before his start the following Monday in St. Louis.
“We have got six very good starting pitchers and at the end of the day that’s the best version we’ve got,” Manaea said. “I’m still pitching in the big leagues, so I can’t complain about anything.”
Mendoza said his rotation alignment, with McLean pitching the third game instead of the second, was a product of the World Baseball Classic, as the right-hander gets back on schedule following his outing for Team USA in last Tuesday’s final.
Manaea’s placement in the bullpen to start the season won’t affect whether the Mets keep a lefty reliever other than Brooks Raley, according to Mendoza. Bryan Hudson, a lefty, is among the considerations for the final bullpen spot. Another lefty, A.J. Minter, is rehabbing from lat surgery and won’t pitch for the team before May.
The idea will be to receive length from Manaea to keep him conditioned for the first time the Mets use a sixth starter.
“We feel very good with him pitching high-leverage situations — he’s going to start for us,” Mendoza said. “Hopefully [using him in high leverage] is the best-case scenario. The bullpen most likely is going to need a blow anyway, so those are the games that people probably will see that Manaea is going to pitch, regardless.”