With Max Scherzer out, Mets may need to rely on internal starting pitching options

There were plenty of feel-good vibes at Citi Field after Pete Alonso cracked a walk-off homer Thursday afternoon against the St. Louis Cardinals. But even in the afterglow of a terrific 7-6 win, it was hard not to wonder if the whole tenor of the Mets’ season changed with the Max Scherzer injury news.

The Mets – already down one ace in Jacob deGrom – will be without Scherzer for at least six-to-eight weeks because of a moderate to high-grade oblique strain. The Mets are a season-high 12 games over .500 at 26-14 and have all kinds of October aspirations, and rightfully so. But they’re going to have to overcome serious rotation hits with deGrom, Tylor Megill and now Scherzer, their show-stopper offseason signing, all down, and whatever ripple effects might hit their bullpen without Scherzer, an old-school workhorse, gobbling up rotation innings.

They, of course, say they can.

“We’re just a bunch of resilient guys,” Alonso said. “We’re gritty and we love to win… We’re a group of tough men.

“It sucks to hear about Max, but we’re going to battle behind whoever is throwing the ball for us. We want him back as soon as possible.”

Added Chris Bassitt, who figures now to be an even bigger rotation figure than he already is: “We didn’t lose him for the year. It definitely sucks, but it’s more so next man up. We have the depth to withstand this.”

That, obviously, remains to be seen. If they do, a season that has been wildly entertaining, filled with comeback wins and strong play, rolls along. But if their depth fails, the Mets will need help.

Right now is an awkward time to search the trade market for a big-time pitcher, according to a front-office executive with another club. Even teams with lower hopes right now have to show their fans that they are still trying, the executive noted. If a club trades a significant pitcher now, they’re telling their fans to stop dreaming and, maybe indirectly, to stop buying tickets. The only way a team will stomach that is if they are getting an enormous premium in the prospects they are getting back in the deal.

Plus, every team in baseball knows the status of the Mets’ rotation, something that could only jack up the pitching price.

So while the Mets might have to wait for the trade market to evolve, they’ll likely look internally to supplement the now-top three of Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker. Buck Showalter acknowledged that several new faces are likely to join the Mets in Denver Friday for the opener of a six-game trip west. He wouldn’t say who they were, noting, not unkindly, “Good try. I’m not telling the Rockies.”

But he did acknowledge that Trevor Williams and David Peterson likely will be factors and the Mets will be “trying to match it around with the teams we’re playing.”

Williams threw four sharp, scoreless innings in a start against the Cardinals in the just-concluded series and Showalter praised him. Peterson has a 1.89 ERA in four games (three starts) in the majors this year and a 3.63 ERA in three Triple-A starts. Perhaps prospect Thomas Szapucki, who has a 3.00 ERA in six starts with Syracuse and has fanned 29 and walked nine in 21 innings, could be another option.

And, the executive noted, the Mets could trade for someone else’s depth, perhaps a low-cost starter they could ride in the short-term while hoping their offense can provide enough cover on the nights that pitcher starts.

Asked how he felt about his options, Showalter said, “If I didn’t feel good, I wouldn’t broadcast it.” Then he added, “Pete (Peterson) has pitched well for us. Trevor’s done a great job for us, a good job for us, and he’ll get an opportunity. We’ve been shuffling some things over the last 24 hours. We had an idea we were going to be without Max a while and now we know.”

Showalter also pointed out that the Mets have overcome other, similar challenges, saying they would handle Scherzer’s absence “very much like we did with Jake, with deGrom. Like we did with Trevor May. Like we’ve done without James McCann and (Sean) Reid-Foley and I’m probably missing a couple that you can remind me of.

“We’ve got some estimates on when guys will be back. But usually baseball throws you another curve somewhere along the way. You keep ducking and dodging and see if you can get to the end game.”

In reality, losing deGrom, who hasn’t pitched since last July, is the only proper comp to losing Scherzer. The Mets have played great for most of the season without their ace. But that was with Scherzer. Now they have to do it without both pitchers, at least until July and perhaps beyond.

And Scherzer hasn’t simply been a brilliant pitcher. He’s the kind of competitor credited with raising the standards in Queens, injecting intensity and fire. He’s not just an ace; he’s an influencer.

Give the Mets this, though – a lesser team might have let the Scherzer news hang over Citi Field Thursday like a rainless dark cloud. Who would have blamed them if they had bungled this game only hours after losing Scherzer? Especially after Edwin Díaz blew a save chance in the ninth and then the Mets fell behind in the top of the 10th, too.

But, to their credit, they never went away. They’ve got to keep that philosophy alive now more than ever. And their depth has to come through, again. Their dream season might depend on it.

“They’ve been through it so many times,” Showalter said. “This is kind of what you do. It’s a chance to shine instead of a chance to pull the dirt around you. It’s what you’re supposed to be good at.”