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At least briefly, the Mets can finally field their big five

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — “Fab Five” was already taken by the 1991 Michigan men’s basketball team. As was “Dream Team,” by the famed 1992 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team.

Because Jason Vargas is slated to have surgery on his hand Tuesday, Zack Wheeler is widely expected to take his spot in the rotation. The Mets, then, will begin the season finally deploying the core rotation of the five hard-throwers they once dreamed would lead them to the promised land: Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Syndergaard and Wheeler.

“We need a cool nickname,” said Syndergaard, 25.

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson would not predict how long the team would be without Vargas, who is expected to be part of the rotation once he recovers. After the broken hamate bone is removed from Vargas’ non-throwing hand, he must wait until the wound has healed, the pain has subsided and his grip strength has returned before he can resume throwing.

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The Mets estimated that would be about five days after Vargas’ operation. The season begins March 29, and the soonest the Mets need a fifth starter is April 4. If the Mets are cautious, Vargas may miss only one or two starts. The most he has thrown in a spring training game is 60 pitches, while his fellow starters have reached 90.

“When you’re talking about five days, you’re not going to lose arm strength, especially with a guy like Vargas, who is going to rely on command,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said.

Although the operation is a slight setback for Vargas, it also could provide a fleeting but symbolic moment for the Mets.

“Something that I’ve been thinking about and wanting to do for a while,” Wheeler, who was fighting to make the opening day roster, said of the five starters all pitching at once. “Fans have, too.”

The Mets did not initially plan to build around their five talented starters, all of whom have fastballs in excess of 94 mph. While Harvey (in 2010) and Matz (in 2009) were drafted in the first and second rounds, the Mets traded for Wheeler in 2011 and for Syndergaard a year later.

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Catcher Travis d’Arnaud, not Syndergaard, was the centerpiece of a 2012 trade with Toronto. DeGrom, a ninth-round pick, blossomed into a top prospect for the Mets after converting from shortstop to pitcher.

But once Syndergaard and Matz reached the major leagues in 2015, the Mets dreamed big. Harvey was having a dominant season. DeGrom had been named the National League Rookie of the Year the season before. The only one missing was Wheeler, who had debuted in 2013 and was still recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2015.

“But we’ve all been hurt at different times, so it hasn’t come to fruition,” said Wheeler, who will start in Vargas’ place Thursday in spring training.

When the Mets lost the World Series to the Kansas City Royals at the end of that 2015 season, many believed the Mets’ potent rotation would keep them in contention for years.

“We’re here to stay,” Harvey said after the Mets clinched the 2015 NL East division crown. “We’re here to do this more often.”

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Injuries scuttled that plan. Harvey, a free agent after this season, hasn’t been the same since that World Series. Wheeler, 27, was supposed to return for the second half of the 2016 season but endured several setbacks. The Mets reached the 2016 wild card game although DeGrom, Matz and Harvey had surgery that year.

The closest the Mets ever got to having all five starters in the same rotation was last season, but Matz, now 26, landed on the disabled list with an elbow injury a week before the season began. Syndergaard, Wheeler and Harvey joined him there later in the season. DeGrom was the only Mets starter to play through the entire disappointing 2017 season.

And now, some of them aren’t so young by baseball standards: Harvey will be 29 soon, and deGrom will turn 30 in June.

Vargas, 35, was signed last month to a two-year $16 million contract to provide stability, but he was hit by a line drive on his right hand during a start in a minor league game last week. Doctors recommend the removal of the broken bone.

“This was the fastest way to get better,” Vargas said Monday after throwing a bullpen session with the laces of his glove loosened to fit his taped-up right hand. He then packed his bags to fly to New York for the operation.

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“Being my glove hand, hopefully we can get moving a little bit quicker and know I won’t have any issues when I go to catch a ball,” he added.

The specter of seeing all five starters in the same rotation, even once, elicited no nicknames or fanfare from Alderson.

“We’re past that,” he said. “It’s about winning games and being competitive.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

JAMES WAGNER © 2018 The New York Times

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