Let me be transparent with my fellow Mets fans out there, I am sick and tired of Omar Minaya’s unyielding stubbornness! Here we are two weeks into spring training and we still have to deal with guys like Livan Hernandez, Freddy Garcia, Tim Redding and Jon Niese battling for a spot. That if Minaya had played his cards right there would be no contest. Minaya’s moves scream out the following argument. If “Unsteady Freddy” can recover from his shoulder surgery, then we could have a potential “Ace-In-The-Hole” in the words of our beloved GM. Or if ‘Livan the Large’ can recover from his knee troubles, maybe he can erase the memory of his putrid 6.05 ERA from his 2008 season. Or if ‘Tim the Terrible’ can duplicate his near 5 ERA from last year we could possibly get 180 innings of below average performances. Or lastly, just MAYBE ‘Jon Nubie Niese’ can make the jump from the minor leagues and be a successful starter at the major league level.
While I do like what I see from this promising young rookie, it doesn’t change the fact that he is still only a rookie with an average fastball ranging from 88-92MPH, who you would ideally like to see develop better command of all his pitches at the minor league level. Too often we have seen young pitchers try to learn their craft at the major league level and either get injured (i.e., Francisco Liriano) or get their confidence shattered (i.e., Jason Isringhausen) I think the latter is still seeing shrinks because of the Mets organizational blunders!
I’m sorry Omar, but your logic is completely nonsensical, especially when juxtaposed with your reasoning for not re-signing Pedro Martinez. Since you’re clearly indicating by your tepid interest that Pedro at 37 years of age may have nothing left or that he is too injury prone, I scream in response, Why the hell did you sign an alleged 34 year old 250lb pitcher with knee problems and a guy who’s had major shoulder surgery and was not half the pitcher Pedro was before the surgery to a potential 8 million dollar contract?
These personnel determinations display poor evaluation and decision-making skills Mr. Minaya! Why not roll the dice on Pedro as your No. 5 starter? The bottom line is that he has had only one poor season in his entire career and it happened to come last year a year that saw the death of his father and a delayed start to the season due to a strained hamstring. For any pitcher to be “right” his mind needs to be clear and he needs spring training innings under his belt to shake off the rust. Unfortunately Pedro’s last season was bereft of these two important elements of a pitchers game.
Let’s take a closer look at last season. After Pedro returned, June essentially became his extended spring training and unfortunately he got off to a rocky start. This is to be expected from a pitcher only one year removed from shoulder surgery. From July 07th through August 31st, however, in a span of 51.2 innings he pitched to a 3.51 ERA, a 1.28 WHIP and 42Ks. During this span Pedro exhibited signs of improved arm strength as his velocity increased from 83-88MPH in June to a peak of 93MPH in a game against the Phillies on August 26th. And as one would expect, Pedro bottomed out to finish the season, due to not having pitched for a full season and the mental strain that must have been afflicting him leading up the death of his father combined with a lack of conditioning due to not having a spring training.
I am not arguing that Pedro will ever be the pitcher he once was. What I am arguing is that Pedro clearly exhibited signs of being an above-average starter for a nice chunk of last season. That to me is a step up from the aforementioned grade-C starters. Already, Felipe Alou is singing Pedro’s praises as he pitches for the Dominican in the WBC, displaying a fastball clocked in the low 90’s and showing good command of his changeup this early in the pre-season. I fully expect Pedro, now 2 years removed from shoulder surgery to have a strong season for whatever team takes a chance on him this year. I just desperately hope that team’s our NY Mets! Let’s go Minaya, get on the damn ball!
Great Post! I agree 100% on getting Pedro, I look forward to your next article.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the proposed Mets line-up this year they are pretty much the same team as they were last year. You know the one I am talking about - The one that collapsed...again. This lack of acquisition, this stagnant situation, Minaya should take some heat for. His argument will probably be:
ReplyDelete"But I have improved the bullpen dramatically - so - last year if we won half the games they blew for our starters we would probably have been in the playoffs...Ya know what I'm sayin?"
But is it really Minaya's fault?
I am 100 percent convinced that Wilpon, hammered by his brilliant investment strategy of handing over hundreds of millions of dollars to some real character whose only talent is to make your money disappear, told Minaya to put on the breaks and stop the spending. That is why he is not signing anybody, especially Manny, who should be on this team. I think Omar, working around the new corporate edict of frugality, is going to get someone, possibly a big name, in the middle of the year when some teams start dumping salaries. This economy should make someone available pretty cheap.
As far as bringing back Pedro I agree that it wouldn't hurt - considering the clowns you mentioned that will be starting - but I disagree with you that he is going to come back strong. I think he is pretty much done.
What the heck is so surprising or shocking about that?
The reason why he is done is because he doesn't take steroids. Pedro is a man who is breaking down in his late thirties. That was the norm for a very long time but in the last twenty years we have come accustomed to seeing guys play into their mid forties. A situation that is completely artificial and drug induced.
Fans should definitely lower their offensive expectations in this new (hopefully) clean era.
Congratulations on starting your blog! I'll keep reading.
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ReplyDeleteLet's see, should we take our chances with Three Clowns and a Baby or the guy who is arguably one of the 10 greatest pitchers of the all time?
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more RCJ. It's not as if the guy has a dead arm. His velocity was good last year, it was his command that caused his problems. I disagree with you LarryB when you say he's done. I don't believe he's done so much as I believe his days of pitching 200 innings or 30 starts are what's done. I still think Pedro or a guy like John Smoltz (who I would have loved too) can give you 15-20 solid starts, which is plenty for a #5 starter. When Pedro breaks down you have the Three Clowns and a Baby as the stop gaps guys. Those four are what they are, stop gaps, not long term or even season long solutions.
I can't lie, I liked the Freddy Garcia pick up at the time but that guy sadly looks finished. Livan is a joke, I'd rather see Nelson Figueroa or Brandon Knight so that tells you all you need to know about him. Redding was allowed to walk away for very little money, from the pitching starved Nats. Doesn't that raise a red flag or am I missing something? Afterall they were ready to pluck down $180 miillion for Tex and signed Adam Dunn for $10 mil per season so they weren't exactly in cost cutting mode now were they? Niese and Parnell are talented but there isn't a sense around baseball that these guys are, without question, ready for prime time. If anything it's the opposite as most feel that they would both benefit from seasoning in the minors. No sense in rushing those two. Also while i'm not i favor of trading either guy keeping them in minors keeps their stock high. The last thing anyone wants to see is these guys get bombed on the major league level and see their value diminish, or worse, go into the toilet ala Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes.
I say bringing back a prideful guy like Pedro who is pitching with a purpose would be a smart move. I'd rather trot out a once legendary pitcher with something to prove than the band of washups that we've got in camp now. Great job RCJ