In the seven days since the Mets were supposed to open their season, they have postponed three games, lost four and won zero.
An unrelenting storm has pushed back two days’ worth of games and left the Mets with a doubleheader Thursday — which will begin a stretch of 15 games in 14 days for a team that is absent its ace (Kodai Senga) and its ace’s replacement (Tylor Megill).
The process of finding out how they can cover innings, find a fifth starter and perhaps win a game has begun.
The Mets agreed to terms with veteran Julio Teheran, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported Wednesday, a 33-year-old who did not make the Orioles’ roster out of camp and opted out of his minor league pact.
The longtime Braves righty was twice an All-Star (2014 and ’16) and owns a lifetime 3.83 ERA in 254 games, many of which irked the Mets.
Teheran owns a career 3.24 ERA in 30 starts against the Mets, a persistent thorn throughout the 2010s.
A shoulder strain ended his 2021 season after five innings, and he bounced around in ’22, from independent ball with Staten Island to the Mexican League, before making a comeback last year with David Stearns’ Brewers.
Teheran pitched to a 4.40 ERA in 14 games last season and statistically was solid (3.38 ERA in 13 ¹/₃ Grapefruit League innings) this spring with Baltimore before failing to crack the Opening Day roster and becoming a free agent on March 23.
Teheran’s longest spring start lasted 59 pitches, and he did not exceed four innings in an outing. The question will become how soon he can help a Mets rotation that could use a fifth starter.
Adrian Houser is expected to make his Mets debut and start the first game of Thursday’s single-admission doubleheader at Citi Field against the Tigers.
The Mets have not announced a starter for the second game. Jose Butto, who pitched Saturday for Triple-A Syracuse, is likely to get the nod as the 27th man.
It is also possible Jose Quintana, who was expected to start Wednesday, gets the ball.
Presuming Butto (or another call-up) makes the spot start and then is sent down, the Mets would need a fifth starter as soon as Monday in Atlanta.
The Mets could stay on turn with Quintana, Luis Severino and Sean Manaea for this weekend’s series in Cincinnati then would either need another starter or for Houser to come back on short rest.
Perhaps Teheran’s Mets debut would come against a Braves team he pitched for from 2011-19.
The Mets can call up Butto for immediate help Thursday but only as the 27th man in a doubleheader.
He was optioned to the minors before the start of the season and thus has to wait until at least April 12 to fully join the team, unless his addition is the corresponding move for a player placed on the IL.
Joey Lucchesi falls in the same category, unable to be called up until late next week.
The Mets also have top prospects Christian Scott, Mike Vasil and Dom Hamel in Syracuse, but none is on the 40-man roster.
Teheran — or really anybody — was needed as the injuries mounted. Senga is sidelined by a right shoulder capsule strain, unlikely to pitch before June.
In stepped Megill, who pitched four innings in a loss to the Brewers on Sunday before exiting early with a low-grade right shoulder strain that has placed him on the IL.
Other depth rotation options such as David Peterson (hip surgery) and Max Kranick (hamstring strain) also are healing.
After two days without games, the Mets have had plenty of time to debate how they can fill out their rotation during an early-season sprint.
Those conversations led to an old foe in Teheran, who is joining a team that is short on depth and wins.
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