From Noah Syndergaard to now Seth Lugo, the Mets have battled numerous injuries in recent years. With a competitive divisional outlook for 2021, New York will need to stay healthy if it wants to break the Braves’ three-year streak of claiming the NL East.
Hall of Famer John Smoltz believes if health is on the Mets side, no team in the East is stopping them from winning its first division title since 2015.
“I’ve always said that if the Mets are able to somehow find a way to be healthy, and it looks like they have more depth this year, they are the team that did the most in the offseason,” Smoltz said on CBS Sports Radio’s The Zach Gelb Show. “I think the Mets have created a scenario where they don’t have many weaknesses.
The only weakness is if they can stay healthy. I think this is the year that they’ve given themselves the best chance for it to work out.”
The Mets were certainly bust this offseason, trading for superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor while bolstering the rotation by acquiring Carlos Carrasco in the same deal. The bullpen received help in the form of Trevor May and Aaron Loup, and while the rest of the relief core has its question marks, with Dellin Betances and Edwin Diaz hoping to bounce back in 2021, Smoltz believes it will be the rotation that leads the way to a division title.
“The team that wins this division will have the best starting pitching,” Smoltz said. “Period. It won’t be who has the best bullpen. That won’t work in a 162-game schedule.”
The Mets bullpen has ranked in the bottom fourth of the league in total WAR each of the past two seasons, but with Diaz showing signs of returning to his Mariners form last season and Betances coming back in his first full season since tearing his Achilles, Smoltz sees a chance for the relief arms to become an asset this season as long as the starters stay healthy and get the game into the late innings.
“I think there’s upside if they don’t rely on [the bullpen],” Smoltz said. “Baseball has gone too heavy into the bullpens thinking ‘We can just piece it together and use a lot of guys throughout the year.’ This year more than ever, because of last year’s gap of games, everyone is concerned about how do you cover those innings when pitchers haven’t thrown that much in a year and a half? That’s why you have to rely on your starters.”
The East figures to be one of the top divisions in the league this season with the Braves boasting a dynamic rotation of their own, while the Nationals added pieces like Kyle Schwarber to bolster their lineup that already includes MVP-favorite Juan Soto. But if the Mets can keep their key contributors on the field, they could be the team to beat.
“This year, the East is going to be about the attrition of the season,” Smoltz said. “It’s going to be a battle. It’s the best division in baseball. The Marlins are no slouch either. I think the team that wins the division is going to be the team that stays the healthiest.”
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