John Smoltz: Mets' Young Starters 'Way Better' Than '90s Braves
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- This is some SERIOUS praise.
Hall of Famers John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine formed one of the most dominating starting rotations in baseball history in the 1990s, but Smoltz believes that the Mets' current crop of starters have more talent than the Braves' starters ever did.
"They're way better," Smoltz told the New York Daily News in regard to the Mets' rotation. "They've got more talent than we could ever have."
Smoltz -- who will be inducted into the Hall next week -- is of course talking about co-aces Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey and rookies Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz. Zack Wheeler, who is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, is also part of the heralded young crew.
But can the Mets be as good as those Braves teams were? That's far from a sure thing.
"The opportunities that exist today won't allow a lot of staffs to find out what kind of staff they can be," Smoltz told the newspaper. "That's the shame of the game. The injuries have taken over, the inability to learn how to pitch (and) fast-tracking a lot of kids. There's no doubt that the dynamic arms are way better than we've ever seen.
"And the issue is how long can we keep them healthy and how long can they stick together financially? What we did in the era that we did, we take a lot of pride in it. We worked really hard and we didn't miss a lot of starts. We've anointed people a little too quickly in this game.
"And they don't have the ability to wait and learn and have a fair shake at the game ... Everybody wants quick results, expectations through the roof. And that's what these guys are fighting today. They're not giving them a chance to fail too often. And when they do, what happens?"
These young Mets pitchers attack the zone, consistently challenge hitters and rack up strikeouts. Harvey, who started the All-Star Game for the National League in 2013, is 8-6 with a 3.07 ERA. All-Star deGrom, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, is 9-6 with a 2.14 ERA.
Syndergaard is 4-4 with a 3.11 ERA and Matz, currently on the disabled list, has won both of his major league starts.
