Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Don't Rush

As 2008 begins the start of the spring training is in less than 2 months. The Mets have yet to make a trade to acquire a big name pitcher or any pitcher nevertheless. The Mets have not signed a free agent pitcher like Livian Hernandez. So the season is rapidly approaching, and I keep hearing that Mike Pelfrey, Phillip Humber, or even Kevin Mulvey should be the number 4 of 5 starter.

I have no problem with Pelfrey starting out the season in the rotation. Pelfrey will be 24 when the season begins and started 13 games last season and came out of the bullpen twice. He has matured a lot and I strongly believe he is ready to pitch for the Mets the entire season.

Humber will not start the year on the Mets due to Pelfrey being in the rotation along with the fact Humber needs a little more work in the minors. He has been plagued with injuries so even though he is older than Pelfrey he is not as ready to pitch on the major league level. He has made just 1 career start in the majors and in 2008 he will get some starts but will not be a mainstay in the rotation.

The idea to bring Kevin Mulvey up for 2008 and to pitch for the Mets for the majority of the season is ludicrous. Mulvey stayed in AA last season for all but 1 start. Sure he has a lot of potential and is one of our best pitching prospects and the closest one to the majors but the kid has just made 1 start in AAA and the jump to the majors is just too big for someone that struggled at the beginning of the season in AA.

In recent years the Mets have been known for brining there prospects up to early. This was the case in Mike Pelfrey, Lastings Milledge, and Carlos Gomez. Gomez played well when he was called up but often struggled on breaking balls. He had success but most of it was due to his speed. Most people believe he would have been better off staying in AAA. Both Milledge and Pelfrey struggled immensely when they were called up. Pelfrey had trouble executing his pitches and Milledge could not hit a breaking ball.

Because the Mets called Milledge and Pelfrey up too early it severely hurt their value on the trade market. At times Milledge could have been used to trade for players like Barry Zito and Manny Ramirez but do to his struggles he ended up being traded for two mediocre players in Brian Schneider and Ryan Church. What I am trying to say is the Mets can not bring Kevin Mulvey up in 2008. He needs to spend a full season in AAA in order to become the best pitcher he can be.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I could not disagree with you more on Pelfrey being ready. All 3 SP, Pelfrey, Humber and Mulvey should start and finish the 2008 season in AAA. None are ready! Humber has not been hurt other then the Tommy John and he has pitched a full year since then. Pelfrey is still working on his second and third pitch. Just the fastball will not cut it.
I do agree that the Mets has been rushing their pitching prospect. Milledge I agree was also rushed. But before we add Gomez to that list lets see where the Mets place him for this season. Should be in AAA as well.