The Mets have made one decision regarding their starters this weekend.
Manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed before Friday's series opener against the Marlins that Clay Holmes will take the mound Saturday. The news comes just a few days after Holmes pitched an inning out of the bullpen in Chicago.
When asked what their plans for Sean Manaea are, and whether he can pitch out of the bullpen or even start Sunday's regular season finale, the Mets skipper was non-committal and is only thinking about Friday's game.
"We’ll see, we got to get through today and we’ll go from there," he said. "The only thing we know is Clay will start and we’ll go from there."
Manaea piggybacking off of Holmes' start on Saturday is on the table. It worked against the Padres in mid-September but was less effective against the Nationals when the Mets swapped their order last week. Both pitchers came out of the bullpen on Wednesday against the Cubs and had mixed results but Mendoza pointed to how they "bounced back" from that outing as the reason for Holmes starting over Manaea.
The questions for Mendoza were directed toward Sunday's game. Again, the team has yet to name a starter and the options are plentiful, but Mendoza remains focused on Friday's game.
"We’re not thinking about Sunday. We got to take care of business today and then take care of business tomorrow and see where we’re at," he said. "We’re not planning ahead. This is literally one day at a time here. We know Clay is going to start tomorrow and then we’ll see who‘s available. We got to get through today’s game and how many bullpen arms are going to be available after today’s game. There’s a lot of moving pieces here."
David Peterson, who would be pitching on normal rest if he got the ball for the regular season finale, is an option to start, but Mendoza didn't rule out Peterson coming out of the bullpen.
"We’ll get through today and see if we need him out of the bullpen tomorrow, or we’ll need him to start the next day. It’s literally one day at a time," he said."
Kodai Senga update
Senga's status for the rest of the regular season/postseason is still unknown. Mendoza confirmed the right-hander is still in Port St. Lucie and threw another bullpen. When asked if the team is considering shutting down Senga, Mendoza said, "We haven’t got there yet."
Earlier this week, Senga threw a live BP that produced some concerning results. Senga's velocity was noticeably down, but the weather was affecting him, so the team is unsure what to do with their third-year pitcher.
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