#5thStarterIssues

I believe the Mets to be good. Ya Gotta. 

I think what they have shown us so far is much more reason to be optimistic than last year's above-their-heads 11-1 start. The offense has had a fantastic approach, seemingly attacking in ways the opposition cannot continuously adjust around. Usually, when a team is making a run, the starting rotation is lucky to have two aces at the top with the other 3 pretty good to round it out. It is a blessing, of course, that we have 4 horses that could potentially in the long run be other team's best.

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Photo via amazinavenue.com

The 5th starter, however, is not supposed to be this freakin' awful. Many of us all offseason long were screaming that no matter how Jason Vargas seemed to get better in the 2nd half of the season last year, we all expected him to resort to the atrocious pitching he presented at the beginning of it. He wasn't all that good in his first start and he was skipped to keep our better pitchers (cough cough deGrom) on a regular pitching schedule with so many off days early on. So, maybe he was a little rusty, but excuses excuses excuses. This world hates them (no matter how hypocritical each of us are and how often we seem to make them) and you have to adjust to what is thrown your way. His throwing was so bad he was taken out in the 1st with clearly no faith he would get back on track.

Post-game, Jason Vargas made the excuse that he wasn't out there long enough to make an overall assessment of his pitching. Oh, please. This isn't the type of talk fans want to hear and most likely not the type of talk teammates or coaches want to hear either.

There isn't an easy fix, no matter how much we keep screaming for Dallas Keuchel. That would be INSANELY AWESOME. This is the Wilpons, however, we're talking about. They do not operate in the same operational plane that most successful teams do. Signing him would not only most likely sure up our potential success but prevent our divisional rivals from swooping in to counter our attack with the pitcher of topic. It's crazy that a former Cy Young award winner, and one who hasn't had a drop off in performance of Matt Harvey territory, is still out there on the free agent market along with an elite closer of Craig Kimbrel's ilk. At this point, give a kid down in Syracuse a chance instead of someone who wants to keep making these excuses. We all will make excuses, but we have to continue to check ourselves and make less and less of them as time goes on.

Maybe one day, the Wilpons themselves will heed those words as well.

GIVE. US. KEUCHEL.

LET'S. GO. METS.