The playoffs should encourage the Mets they are following the right path trying to accumulate as many high-end, young starting arms as possible, and scare the heck out of the Yankees.
One theme that has emerged this postseason is quality young and prime-age starters appear as valuable as ever — at least if you want to be playing in October — and the trust in even the most inexperienced of those arms is arguably larger than before.
It is possible that, counting the Rangers-Rays play-in game, nine rookies will start before the Division Series round is completed. That would be a record in the Division Series era. And it feels like this is a trend, since the previous record was six from last year — Yu Darvish, Miguel Gonzalez, Wei-Yin Chen, Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone and A.J. Griffin (Darvish and Chen skew this a bit because they were rookies with pro experience in Asia).
Between the play-in game (which is actually a regular-season game) and the completion of the Division Series — assuming no sweeps — 35 different starters likely will be used this year. Twenty-nine will be 30 or younger and 17 will be 26 or younger.
You can understand why this has the Yankees in the hoping and praying business that Ivan Nova, 26, legitimately matured in the second half, and Michael Pineda, 24, and Manny Banuelos, 22, can get healthy and productive. Still, because of lack of attractive sub-30 alternatives, the Yankees will need CC Sabathia, 33, to rebound and Hiroki Kuroda, 39 in February, to return — and will feel the retirement sting of Andy Pettitte, who at 41 was the majors’ oldest starter last year.
The Mets, meanwhile, have immediate worries whether or not Matt Harvey, 24, needs Tommy John surgery. Still, he projects as a long-term ace. Jonathon Niese doesn’t turn 27, the same age as Dillon Gee, until later this month. Zack Wheeler is 23. Noah Syndergaard will be ranked among the best prospects in the majors going into next season, Rafael Montero will be on most top-100 lists, and pitching depth up and down the system is viewed as the Mets’ strength.
Still, the playoffs are a reminder the Mets are behind because other teams already are playing in October thanks significantly to quality young starting, and that it is a gift that should keep on giving.
For example, the Mets are going to have to compete with a Braves team that survived the loss of veteran Tim Hudson because Kris Medlen, 27, Mike Minor 25, and rookie Julio Teheran, 22 — who will start the first three playoff games — excelled. Plus, in rookie Alex Wood, 22, and Brandon Beachy, 26, Atlanta has two other arms with major league experience ready to try to help defend the NL East crown next year.
The Cardinals are fronted by Adam Wainwright, 32, who will be followed by Lance Lynn, 26, Joe Kelly, 25, and one of two impressive 22-year-old rookies, Shelby Miller or Michael Wacha. St. Louis’ elite feeder system continues to set up the team well now and in the future — 10 players on the Cardinals’ 25-man roster are rookies.
Three of Pittsburgh’s four starters are under 30 — rookie Gerrit Cole, 23, and Franicsco Liriano and Charlie Morton, both 29. They could be joined next year by Jameson Taillon, 21, who is going to be in the conversation with Syndergaard for the best pitching prospect in the sport.
All four Dodgers starters are 30 or younger, with the youngest actually being Clayton Kershaw, 25, who is 14 months younger than Nova. He is a free agent after next season, and though Zack Greinke, 29, and rookie Hyun-jin Ryu, 26, would form a strong 1-2 rotation punch moving forward, Magic Johnson said his organization will do what is necessary to retain Kershaw — which the Dodgers owner said means not pursuing Robinson Cano.
The one-and-done Reds started Johnny Cueto, 27, and he actually is the old man in Cincinnati’s projected 2014 rotation with Homer Bailey, Mat Latos, Mike Leake and Tony Cingrani. The one-and-dones in the AL both started rookies: The play-in Rangers (Martin Perez) and the wild-card Indians (Danny Salazar).
Perez, Yu Darvish, Derek Holland and Matt Harrison (assuming a return from back surgery) are all 28 and younger. The Indians had 159 of their 162 games started by pitchers 29 or younger, but Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez can be free agents.
The Athletics have the oldest starter in the playoffs (Bartolo Colon, 40), then three 24-or-youngers: Jarrod Parker and two rookies, Dan Straily and Sonny Gray. Two of the rookies from last year — Griffin, 25, and Milone, 26 — didn’t even make the postseason rotation.
The Tigers are the prime-age rotation with Justin Verlander the old man at 30, and Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez and Doug Fister all 29. Rick Porcello, a 13-game winner and still just 24, is in the playoff bullpen. All are under control next year.
The Red Sox are the only playoff team that will start two pitchers over 30 — Jake Peavy, 32, and John Lackey, 34. Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz are both 29. All four are signed for next year, as are Ryan Dempster and Felix Doubront. So while they might not be blessed with an overabundance of youth, the Red Sox have stability.
The Rays have both youth and stability. The oldest pitcher Tampa Bay will start in this postseason is David Price, 28. Matt Moore, 24, will open the ALDS vs. the Red Sox, and Alex Cobb, 25, will start Game 3 after winning the wild-card game. The Rays are deliberating between rookie Chris Archer, 24, and Jeremy Hellickson, 26, for Game 4. As the Rays did with James Shields last offseason, Tampa Bay could consider dealing Price this winter for a pile of rejuvenating prospects.
The Rays still would be able to start a rotation with Moore, Cobb and Archer — none drafted before the fourth round — to continue to demonstrate annually to the division rival Yankees the value of high-end young starters.