Inside The Mets

Former New York Mets pitcher doesn't have confidence in team's rotation

Former New York Mets reliever Trevor May thinks this is a bottom-half of the league rotation as currently constructed

Lindsay Crosby

New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga (34) warms-up during Spring Training.
New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga (34) warms-up during Spring Training. / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
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Despite the New York Mets spending nearly $150 million this offseason on their rotation, former Mets reliever Trevor May thinks the rotation, as currently constructed, is a bottom half of the league unit.

May, who pitched for New York in 2021 and 2022, is not impressed by the re-signing of Sean Manaea and the acquisitions of Clay Holmes, Frankie Montas, and Griffin Canning. On his YouTube channel, May rated all 30 rotations in baseball according to three different self-selected criteria: 'Depth', or the number of quality options a team had, 'Innings', the ability of a given rotation to go deep into games and cover innings across the course of an entire season, and the team's 'Playoff 3', the three starters the team would use in the postseason.

May did not think too highly of New York's rotation.

Given the accumulated grouping a C+ and placing them 18th out of 30 MLB teams, May was very blunt with his perception of the group's shortcomings, critiquing each player in the projected rotation.

For ace Kodai Senga, May pointed out his lack of innings last year as he dealt with shoulder and calf injuries. "Senga missed all year last year so we'll see how rusty he is." Senga, who pitched only 5.1 regular season innings, indeed did look rusty when he returned for the postseason.

Across three appearances (two starts), Senga allowed seven runs on six hits and seven walks, striking out just four in his five innings. But this spring, Senga has yet to allow a run or issue a walk in spring training, albeit with minimal innings in Grapefruit League action.

Read more: New York Mets reveal Kodai Senga's next step in pitching progression

When it came to the returning lefty Manaea, May was surprisingly complimentary, albeit brief in his remarks. "Sean Manaea is going to be great. I'm confident in him." The lefty recently began throwing again after being shut down in spring training for an oblique strain, although he recently resumed throwing and is on track to return sometime soon after Opening Day.

But for all the positivity that went towards Manaea, May was equally critical of free agent acquisition Frankie Montas. "Frankie Montas is now hurt and honestly, I'm not the biggest Frankie Montas fan. I don't think he has thrown near his potential in like four years."

May could potentially be referring to the slide of Montas in 2022 after being traded from the then-Oakland Athletics to the New York Yankees. Montas' ERA nearly doubled after the trade, from a 3.18 as an Athletic to a 6.35 as a Yankee before he then missed all but one start in 2023 due to shoulder surgery and had an ERA of 4.84 split between the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds in 2024.

Most surprising was May's comments about David Peterson, whose Mets tenure overlapped with May's two-year stint in 2021 and 2022. "Then we got David Peterson, who pitched really well last year but got a little lucky." May could be referring to the spread between Peterson's actual ERA of 2.90 and his expected ERA of 4.59, one of the largest spreads in the majors last season per MLB Statcast.

May was complimentary of Peterson's October, however. "He could be electric and he was a big reason for their big run, so I think he's going to be good too and I think he's going to set a record for his career in innings."

May closed the Mets segment by dismissing the ability of Holmes to eat innings this year. "Clay Holmes has been a reliever for like three years so we'll see." Holmes, who debuted two new pitches this spring, has been one of the most impressive arms in Mets camp this spring and vowed after signing to pitch 160 innings this year.

May did conclude the segment with a bit of hope for Mets fans, however, with his overall outlook and thoughts on the potential of the team to gel as the year progresses. "A great team, potentially, but again, it's kind of like going into last year. Some of these guys gotta pan out...and then they did pan out and then they went to the NLCS."

May finished his Mets career with an ERA of 4.00 in 87.2 innings, striking out 113 and walking 33. After spending the 2023 season with the Oakland Athletics, he retired at the age of 33 and now is a contributor to the podcasts Rates and Barrels, Foul Territory as well as hosting his own podcast, Mayday.

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Lindsay Crosby
LINDSAY CROSBY

Lindsay is a contributor for Mets On SI. He is an IBWAA award-winning baseball writer and podcaster living in the Southeast, covering Auburn University baseball since 2021 and the Atlanta Braves since 2022. He can most commonly be found in a baseball press box and you can follow him on Twitter/X at @CrosbyBaseball."

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