The Mets will roll with Jose Quintana, Christian Scott and Luis Severino, in that order, in the series at Citi Field that begins Friday against the Braves.
The team is “having discussions” how to proceed after that, manager Carlos Mendoza said Wednesday.
At the moment, the Mets have five starters in a rotation that does not include Adrian Houser, who was skipped the last turn through and replaced by Scott.
But the Mets have left open the possibility of a six-man rotation — and likely will have one when Kodai Senga is ready to return, probably in June — which means they will have a decision to make by Wednesday.
After this weekend’s series, the Mets would be in line to pitch Sean Manaea and Jose Butto on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, in a home set against the Phillies.
By the time the series shifts to Philadelphia on Wednesday, they would have several options: They could reinsert Houser; bring Quintana back on four days rest; or bring up another starter, such as Joey Lucchesi, who last pitched Wednesday with Triple-A Syracuse.
In the short sample size of two games, Quintana has allowed nine earned runs in 7 ⅔ innings (10.57 ERA) when pitching on four days rest this season.
The 35-year-old has posted a 3.76 ERA in five starts with at least five days of rest.
Houser, a veteran who has acknowledged he is in the worst funk of his career, pitched to an 8.16 ERA in six starts before he was at least temporarily demoted from the rotation.
The righty has been available out of the bullpen since Monday, but the Mets have not needed him yet, which means he has not pitched since May 2.
“There’ll be innings for him,” Mendoza said, though when or in what role those innings will come remains unclear.
Lucchesi, the lone non-rehabbing starter at Syracuse who is on the 40-man roster, has been strong in Triple-A this season and owns a 2.58 ERA through seven starts.
At least at the moment, Tylor Megill would not appear to be an option.
The rehabbing righty pitched four scoreless innings with Syracuse on Tuesday and is expected to continue to lengthen out with Syracuse on Sunday.
Megill is a bit further ahead of David Peterson, who also has pitched well in his rehab assignment and could be activated as soon as May 27.
Of course injuries can change the equation in a hurry, but the Mets have plenty of decisions to make with their rotation in the coming weeks, beginning with Wednesday’s starter.
“We’ll see where we’re at,” Mendoza said. “Whether we want to go six-man this next round. There’s a lot of factors that we need to consider — off days, bullpen and things like that.”
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