When Jacob deGrom went down with a shoulder injury, Max Scherzer was the obvious candidate to take over Opening Day duties, at least before he started dealing with an issue of his own in the form of a hamstring "hiccup."
Scherzer will have to undergo a fielding test on Opening Day to determine whether he can pitch on Friday, while manager Buck Showalter said he wanted to keep the trio of Chris Bassitt, Carlo Carrasco, and Taijuan Walker in their originally scheduled slots of games three through five of the regular season.
So, who will be on the bump when the Mets open the 2022 campaign?
Showalter said Tuesday that it's "fair" to assume it will be one of Tylor Megill, David Peterson, or Trevor Williams.
"I think that's fair to consider that, yeah," Showalter said.
Peterson saw plenty of action last season with injuries to deGrom and the pitching staff, pitching to a 5.54 ERA in 66.2 innings after a promising 2020 in which he posted a 3.44 ERA in the pandemic-shortened season. Megill was superb to start his rookie campaign last season, posting a 2.04 ERA over his first seven starts before struggling badly down the stretch, allowing 22 runs in his final 29.1 innings.
Williams made just three starts last season and pitched only 32.1 innings, though he did finish with a 3.06 ERA. He could serve as an opener in a bullpen game, which Showalter hasn't ruled out either, though an opener would most likely be Megill in that scenario.
Of course, with heavy rain in the forecast on Thursday, the Mets could wind up giving Scherzer the ball on Opening Day after all if it's pushed back to Friday.
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