Just Mets

The Mets have wavered back and forth about their plans to cut short innings and starts for their three young starting pitchers as well as managing the workload of the aging Bartolo Colon.

The Mets started in with their six-man rotation experiment on Wednesday when they inserted Dillon Gee into the mix. But after that start didn’t go well, Collins hinted the Mets might skip his start and go with five starters the next time through as they take advantage of Monday’s off-day.

Then on Thursday, Collins said they will stick with a six-man rotation, forcing everyone to go on six days of rest with the upcoming off-day.

But, it didn’t end there.

On Friday, Collins reverted back to his decision on Wednesday to go with five starters and possibly move one of the veterans – presumably Gee – into the bullpen as a long-man, swing-man and spot starter.

Collins said one of the reasons to go back to a five-man rotation is because he’s tired of answering questions about the plans for the rotation.

“It’s a pain in the [butt] — literally,” Collins said Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix. “I’m just tired of answering the questions, so we could be going back to a traditional rotation.”

There are plenty of baseball reasons to go back to a five-man rotation.

One is the pitchers don’t like the altered routine and potentially pitching with six days of rest with off-days and rainouts. They’ve been very vocal in the media about how they’re not fans of the six-man rotation, and its important they’re in the right mental and  physical state when they’re on the mound.

After all, it’s difficult to argue this is an effective measure if the pitchers themselves are not going to be effective throughout the effort.

Another good baseball reason would be that the six-man rotation has resulted in a shortened bench and the lack of late inning flexibility for Terry Collins.

But because the manager is tired of talking about it, defending the decision to to go with it in an effort to rightfully protect the jewels of their organization and rebuilding effort is not really a logical reason to go back to square one.

Right or wrong (and it may be right), it’s an irrational reason, and a concerning one at that.

It’s a similar concern to leaving Wilmer Flores at shortstop to avoid a media, “firestorm,” as Terry Collins put it on Thursday.

In the end, it doesn’t matter what people think or say. What matters is making a decision, sticking with it and maintaining consistency for everyone involved, most notably the pitchers in the rotation, the players on the field, or both.

With this unstable and make-shift group, the more certainty there is for the 25 players who are here, the better off they’re going to be.