The New York Mets‘ best pitching staff has exceeded expectations to start the 2025 season. Despite missing multiple starters to begin the year, they have posted a team 2.84 ERA, which leads major league baseball. Now, they are finally on the brink of getting three of those starters back.
MLB Trade Rumors, gave updates on the Mets pitchers’ return timelines earlier this morning.
Frankie Montas
“Frankie Montas saw his first proper game action of the 2025 season on Saturday, when the right-hander tossed 37 pitches over 1 1/3 innings for high-A Brooklyn in the first game of a minor league rehab assignment,” stated [He] was immediately sidelined at the start of Spring Training by a significant lat strain. Saturday’s game officially started the 30-day clock on Montas’ rehab assignment, and he’ll naturally need to further build up his arm strength over multiple outings before he is ready to be activated from the 60-day injured list.”
Montas was signed to a 2-year, $36 million deal by the Mets this offseason. Montas has had plenty of success throughout his 9-year MLB career. However, he hasn’t put up a quality season since 2022, due to injuries and lackluster performance. Montas was brought in to compete for a rotation spot. Once again, injuries have slowed him down, and now it’s questionable whether or not there will be an available spot for him when he returns.
Paul Blackburn
“Paul Blackburn should beat Montas back to the active roster, as MLB.com’s Jeffrey Lutz writes that the plan is for Blackburn to make his seventh and final minor league rehab outing before joining the Mets at some point in June,” claimed “Blackburn has missed the entire big league season due to right knee inflammation.”
The Mets traded for Blackburn at last year’s trade deadline. He struggled in New York last year, posting a 5.18 ERA over 5 starts. It’s hard to imagine Blackburn cracking the rotation with the quality of pitching the Mets currently have.
Sean Manaea
“Sean Manaea has also yet to pitch due to an oblique strain,” said “Manaea is throwing off a mound, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that Manaea’s projected timeline is about two weeks behind Montas.”
Manaea is coming off the best season of his career. He stepped up big time last season and filled in as the Mets’ ace with Kodai Senga missing almost the entire season. While his return is last on this list, he is the only starter who’s guaranteed his rotation spot back.
Expectations
The Mets’ starting pitching had many options heading into the year, and thus far, they haven’t been very hampered by these injuries. The current starting rotation of Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill, David Peterson, and Griffin Canning has been terrific. All five have sub-3 ERAs and have made their case to remain in the rotation.
It’s up in the air what the Mets’ rotation will look like when everyone is healthy. Manaea will most definitely be placed back in the rotation, but Montas and Blackburn have their work cut out for them.
The Mets could, and probably should, transition to a six-man rotation to keep their starters fresh for the postseason. The one thing that we are sure of is that they have enough pitching depth. At the end of the day, the Mets have the best problem you can have in baseball – too many arms.
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