31
2010
Is Rotation Shuffle A Sign Of Growing Mets Concern?
An article by 
According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, it will be John Maine following Johan Santana and making the second start of the season.
Maine will then be followed by Jon Niese, then Mike Pelfrey and finally Oliver Perez in the fifth spot.
The move may simply be a reflection of the Mets concern about exhausting the bullpen by having Perez and Maine pitching on back to back days. Both are notorious for expending too many pitches and causing the Mets to turn to the bullpen by the 5th or 6th innings.
In their last starts, Maine lasted just two innings and Perez didn’t fare much better himself.
The moves may also be intended and designed to send Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez a message that they need to step up their performance if they expect to hang on to their rotation spots.
This in no way should be looked at as a promotion or vote of confidence for John Maine or Jon Niese, both of whom have not impressed this spring either.
The Mets, and Omar Minaya in particular, are on record as saying that all the pitchers in their rotation were as good or better than any free agent pitcher available this off season.
With Opening Day less than a week away, they are scrambling and obviously frustrated by the fact that not one pitcher has done anything to distinguish themselves this spring. In each of their last starts, Pelfrey, Maine and Perez delivered their worst performances of the spring and allowed an alarming rate of homeruns, nine to be exact in about the equivalent of a nine inning game.
It’s no secret that the Mets are counting on all three to give them 180 innings each. But even if you believed that was possible, the real question is what will the quality of those innings be? Will they continue to pitch good enough to lose, or have any of them turned a corner and be able to pitch good enough to win? So far, the answer is pretty obvious and it’s also pretty obvious that the Mets are now concerned.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
Went to my first Mets game, a Mayors Trophy game at Shea, in '73. We beat the Yankees 8-4 and I was hooked. I marched in two Banner Day parades, and before the Grand Slam single, there was the "Hendu Can Do" grand slam - I was there. I've collected Mets memorabilia all my life and started Mets Merized Online to feed my addiction.
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Oh my f*ing gaaaaaaaaad!!!!!!!!
Oliver perez is a piece of s**t and it’s the worst pitcher we have signed since kevin appier!!!
And omar minaya as usual being as stupid and dumb as he is convince himself that oliver perez or maine or even pelfrey were better that lackey, piñero and marquis?? Has he been watching??
This team each day amazes me, I don’t blame manuel for doing this, perez is garbage and if it was up to mets fans he’d be a long relieve pitcher or in triple A, 12 million dollars for a garbage that’s gonna walk the park, can’t get past the 6th inning and is usually in the high 4+ ERA, great f*ing job omar minaya!!!!!!!
Ugh…
Do you feel better now that you got all that pent up anger out. Now take a deep breath and remember, this is what we got, it’s not great, but it’s what we have to work with. B&tching and Moaning about “could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve” wont change the 2010 starting rotation. Right now the Mets need to find a way to make this work.
The smart move would be to give Nelson and Neive a shot at starting and put big Pelf in the long ball spot. Send Parez home!!!! Pay him off and say goodby. Our payroll is down 25 Mill from last yr. Go get a picher!!!
I am calm, but is pathetic to have our big 2009 acquistion as a pitcher be our #5 starter, being pass ahead by a rookie and 2 pathetic starter, it speaks for the job omar minaya has done the last few years for thos who like defending him take a look a what ur architec has done with 150 million payroll
Alex, I’m not defending Omar’s signing of Perez to a 3 year deal. I think Omar felt he needed a lefty (for the Phillies) and that his back was against the wall and signed Perez as an impulse move in fear of that being able to get that left-handed starter.
I am guilty at times for putting to much faith in Ollie to shape things up and be what we need him to be.
That being said, I find it hard to jump on Minaya for not being impulse this offseason by throwing money at pinero or marquis, or … (Lets face facts, Lackey was never an option, he didn’t want to play here, no matter how much cash we coughed up).
Granted Pineiero, Marquis, Garland, and other offseason free agent pitchers could be considered better options than the current hit or miss staff, but I think you can agree that they were not “Significant” Improvements over the current rotation.
Here is what I ask of you… Wait till the entire body of Minaya’s work comes to an end. If he didn’t sign these “B” grade pitchers because he is planning on doing some damage at the trade deadline, then not pulling the trigger in February and March might end up being a good thing.
But, if he sits on his hands and come season end, he did not make any mid-season impact moves, nor did he acquire the free-agents at the beginning of the season, THEN he rightfully deserves every blast, comment, and explicitive you can dish out (And I will be right along side you).
I am willing to give Minaya to entire 2010 season to 1) either improve this club to make a run at the playoffs, OR 2) improve this club for a definite playoff run for 2011.
But like I said, if he does nada between now and October, Hasta La Vista baby.
You are such a homer!
Scott
Since 2005 can u name me one move that omar has done to help the team at the deadline that makes u say wow, he improved the team
2005: nobody
2006: mota on steroids and sean green at 38 years old from waivers
2007: nobody when we clearly needed a pitcher or some bullpen help and who does he gets??
Luis “the guy mets nation hate the most” castillo
2008: nobody when we needed bullpen help
2009: francour (john ricco pushed for that trade)
He clearly doesn’t know how to make a deal at the deadline, he’s not that smart, he’s one of the worst gm’s when it comes to a lot of things but signing old players to ridiculous contract..
What u see in this roster, is what u get, and if u see some changes and moves is most likely coz minaya is gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Mets rotation is like a bad ace high poker hand that will go down against a pair of deuces.
The change in the rotation was to take advantage of the success of niese and maine against the Marlins(by success I mean they have pitched better previously). Do not give Manuel too much credit,he does not make decisions without approval from Minaya.This has been proven throughout ST,manuel says something and Omar contradicts.As for the pitching staff it is time to get rid of Perez and Pelfrey-problem is no other team rates them like the METS do.That in it self reveals a lot. There are a lot of overrated players on this team!!
Rich
Agree with you Rich. Pelf has not done well against Fish and maybe a good start against Nats regardless of their past record, they seem to have a better team this year, will help Pelf get past the mental part of his new pithces and a new year. Ollie will just have to pitch and earn himself a head to head against a better team and pitcher with his work on the mound.
It doesn’t matter who pitches when cause the only time match ups count is in playoffs and important series. So no big deal about shift even though Marlins have a heavy RH hitting line up so this will be a test for Niese.
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