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!
