PORT ST. LUCIE — It is the equivalent of theorizing what you’ll do if your patent for an edible steering wheel ever gets approved.
You don’t bet on it happening. Yet you want to be prepared just in case.
Less than three weeks remain before Opening Day, and the Mets have six veteran starting pitchers who are somewhat healthy, not to mention depth guys Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo and Rafael Montero. Can they last this way until the starting gate so that they have an actual decision to make?
If they do, then here’s the decision they should make:
A modified six-man rotation.
Quite simply, when the Mets play six or more days in a row, they should deploy six starting pitchers, provided enough with high upside stay upright. When they don’t, they shouldn’t.
Steven Matz quieted the noise around him Friday by throwing four shutout innings against the Tigers in far-away Lakeland. Like his fellow Prodigal Five members, the southpaw still has frontline starter’s potential, with new arrival Jason Vargas contributing veteran reliability. Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler all have offered flashes of encouragement in these first two weeks of Grapefruit League action, and Jacob deGrom hopes to put his back problems behind him when he starts Sunday at First Data Field, against the Astros.
A six-man would not occur “out of the gate,” manager Mickey Callaway said Friday, due to the days off. Agreed. So assuming continued good fortune in Mets Land, let’s break down the first week of the season and beyond.
The Mets open on March 29 at home against the Cardinals. That will be Syndergaard’s assignment. Then comes a day off, allowing for weather problems on March 29. From March 31 through April 5 comes a six-day stretch. How about this?
March 31 vs. Cardinals: Harvey
April 1 vs. Cardinals: Vargas
April 2 vs. Phillies: Wheeler
April 3 vs. Phillies: Matz
April 4 vs. Phillies: Syndergaard
April 5 at Nationals: deGrom
This breaks up the lefties Vargas and Matz; sets Syndergaard to go on five days’ rest; and pits deGrom for the season series opener against the rival Nationals. Begin with DeGrom on the 10-day disabled list, which can be backdated to March 26, to afford him a little more preparation time in light of his late start.
After a day off on April 6, the Mets play five straight days, so someone would skip a start and convert to long relief — or heal a minor condition on the DL — until the next long stretch, April 13-22. And so on.
If the injury epidemic hits again, or if someone pitches his way into the minor leagues, then the Mets can switch back to a five-man rotation. Perhaps, though, that bug won’t be as prominent if five days’ rest between starts becomes the new normal. Montero (who is out of options) and either Gsellman or Lugo can work as long relievers, with the other of the latter two starting at Triple-A Las Vegas.
This plan would require both talented juggling and a buy-in from everyone involved, and the trade-off would mean fewer starts for Syndergaard and deGrom. Yet as Callaway told The Post’s Kevin Kernan last month: “I pitched over in Asia, and when you start pitching every sixth day, it is a hundred times easier. It really is. I think we have enough depth to make those adjustments.”
They do at the moment. The Angels are going with six starters as a concession to high-profile rookie Shohei Ohtani, who pitched once a week in Japan. The Mets can try it as an acknowledgment of both their surplus and that surplus’ injury history.
“I think we’re all aware of the situation we have here,” Matz told reporters, including The Post’s Dan Martin, after his start Friday.
“It’s a really good situation for the New York Mets.”
It is, as long as it lasts. The Mets might as well let it ride.