Gsellman & Montero & Lugo, Oh My!

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. By this time in the season, the Mets were supposed to have the dream rotation with a big sexy pitcher in the bullpen, ready to go at a moment’s notice. Instead, we get Robert Gsellman, Rafael Montero and Seth Lugo in succession. That is not the makings of a team ready to make a deep October run.

So what the hell happened? Well, Zack Wheeler never returned, likely missing a second full season following Tommy John surgery. Matt Harvey landed on the disabled list for the rest of the season. Steven Matz is on the DL (he was supposed to be activated to make the start on Thursday, but he is still in pain). Jacob deGrom needed to be skipped a start. Who knows how long we can continue to rely on Noah Syndergaard (bone spurs in his elbow) and Bartolo Colon (not young, not skinny).

We all knew the hitting was going to be suspect, which became more and more true after almost everyone in the lineup went down with injuries at one point or another. And that meant the pitching was going to have to be nearly perfect, and with most of the starting rotation sidelined, that is an impossible task.

So we are left with the law firm of Gsellman, Montero and Lugo. Not exactly the dream rotation, but maybe they can at least do what Montero did on Monday — pitch well enough to keep the Mets in the game, then wait for Yoenis Cespedes to win it.