The Mets already turned one reliever into an Opening Day workhorse. Now a Cubs breakout may be daring them to try it again.
The New York Mets didn’t just dabble in the “reliever-to-starter” experiment last winter — they dove in headfirst and stuck the landing. Clay Holmes arrived in Queens with a reputation as a late-inning hammer, and all he did in his first full year as a starter was take the ball on Opening Day and grind through 165 2/3 innings with a 3.