It is likely downright painful for the Mets to consider how the season would have been different if Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey had been in the rotation all year. The thought will hit home Saturday night when the two of them will be on the same mound in the same game.
In an unusual bit of scheduling, Syndergaard will pitch the first inning against the Nationals in his return after more than four months on the disabled list with a torn lat. Then Harvey will begin his scheduled "start" in the second inning, as he continues his anguished comeback from a stress injury to his scapular bone.
The Mets scheduled it this way, general manager Sandy Alderson said, to make the circumstances seem more natural for Syndergaard.
"We felt that was important, given the circumstances," Alderson said before the Mets played the division champion Nationals at Citi Field. "We just want to get him back on the mound, if for only a moment relatively, before the season ends so that he's back out there, is re-familiarized with the circumstances and the fact that he's in a big-league game and he goes into the offseason with a little bit of that additional confidence. We told him today if it's 10 pitches, it's 10 pitches. If it's 20, it's 20. Partly that is in recognition that Matt needs to be able to know more or less when he is coming into the game.
"We certainly consulted with Matt to make sure he's comfortable with this," Alderson said, adding that the original plan was to have Syndergaard hand off to Robert Gsellman, who was scheduled to start Saturday night. But the latter was moved up to Friday night as a replacement for Jacob deGrom, who is getting over a stomach ailment.
The club acknowledged Harvey's struggle since returning from the disabled list, a year after major surgery. Alderson and Terry Collins insisted that Harvey is making progress, regardless of how downcast he has been after his past two starts. But it is clear that, for today, Syndergaard is the priority. He desperately wants to have at least one major league appearance before the offseason, as vindication for his rehab.
"It is a grueling process, make no mistake. This is what they do, this is what they like to do. Noah has been very patient with some of the add-on things we've had him do, like the simulated game the other day," Collins said. "I'm going to be really happy to see him, especially if on Sunday morning he comes in and says, 'Boy I feel good.' That will be a relief."
Mostly, the focus is on 2018. Alderson said he wants to find a healthy, experienced starting pitcher to be "a bridge" for a rotation filled with starters returning from injury. He said he will be looking to improve the bullpen, the defense and general health. He said the club is looking at ways to prevent the rash of injuries.
Still, it is hard not to look back at what might have been.
"Yeah, it's in the back of your mind, 'If we could have had these guys ... ' But you didn't. That's the reality of it all," Collins said. "This whole process right now is making sure these guys, starting on October 2, can go into the wintertime knowing that they're healthy and can get themselves ready for spring training and hopefully have a successful season where they can run out there 30-some times."
What manager will be naming that rotation is an open question. When he was asked about Collins' status, Alderson said: "As I've said before, that situation will be resolved very shortly after the end of the season. And beyond that, we're just not getting into a public conversation about it."
