4
2011
Morning Grind: Why Is Gee Only Considered A Darkhorse For The Rotation?
An article by 
Hey everyone! Here is the Morning Grind!
While the back end of the rotation is somewhat up in the air the leading contenders appear to be newly acquired arms Chris Young and Chris Capuano. Chris Young seems to be a lock for the fourth spot but why is Capuano considered the leading man for the fifth? With a year of transition on the horizon and fixing the mess of the former regime, why not give the young guy, in this case Dillon Gee, a chance to start?
24- year old Dillon Gee, prior to 2010, was a prospect recovering from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for most of 2009. In 2010, Gee struggled in Triple-A with an unsightly 4.96 ERA before being called up to the majors to replace the ailing ace Johan Santana. Gee shined in his debut for the Amazins going seven innings and only surrendering one run including a no-hit bid lasting through five innings. Gee would finish the season with a dominant 2.18 ERA in five starts with the Mets. In the small sample of Gee we witnessed in the majors, I believe he needs to be more talked about for the 5th spot of the rotation.
The signings of players such as Young, Capuano, Harris, Hairston and others were done to fill the current major league roster until the prospects are major league ready. But Gee is different, he has showed he can have success in the majors last September. So if we have the young guy that is more or less ready, why not give him a shot? I say give Gee a month to start, if he pitches well, great, if he doesn’t, put Capuano in the rotation and ship Gee back to Triple-A.
With the Aldersonian Era, if you will, in place for the Mets, the goal is to have a core of players that can perform well and remain with the franchise for many years. Seasons from now, who is most likely going to be the bigger impact on the club? An up and coming prospect or a 31-year old signed to a one-year incentive laden contract?
Last spring there was the even competition with Fernando Nieve and Jon Niese for the 5th spot in the rotation. Niese, the rookie, won the job and had a splendid rookie campaign. I think Dillon Gee could be 2011′s Jon Niese if given his fair chance.
Happy Commenting!
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
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Yes, I liked what I saw of him last year. He reminded me of Rick Reed. Even has his number.
Remember it’s a long season. There will be injuries and ineffective starts. Who starts the season in the rotation does not have to finish the season that way.
Be patient. If Gee is sent to the minors (and he has options), he will be first in line for a starting spot.
I agree Danny. After a few seasons where we had no depth and few options, I take comfort in the fact that we have a capable Gee waiting in the wings should injury or just ineffectiveness strike. I feel the same way about Duda for the outfield.
Great point Dan. I was going to comment on here ranting how Gee should be the 5th starter, but the law of averages says he’s bound to be up at some point, and is an option with his… options.
I like Gee a lot and I think he has a great future as a big league starter. However, Capuano, when healthy is a very good pitcher, and he seems to be healthy again. If you think about it, the sixth and seventh starters get plenty of opportunities to start games during the course of the year, and cream will rise to the top. Gee will get his chances this year, and if he pitches well, he can pitch himself right into the rotation. In the meantime don’t forget that, after throwing 154 innings in 2008, Gee partially tore his labrum and missed most of 2009. Last year he came back and threw a career high 190 innings, but I wouldn’t call him a workhorse yet. Let the veterans start the season in the rotation, and see what happens. Gee is very valuable waiting in the wings. This is the kind of depth you want at the start of a season. But veterans that have had success and then fought back from injury to prove they are healthy, deserve first crack at it. Not some guy with 30 big league innings.
I agree with Danny, Joe and Pete Clayton. Most teams have 10 or 11 different pitchers make starts for them during the course of the season. Having Gee able to come here in mid season form would put him in the best position to succeed and if we went with him right off the bat would probably lose an arm who would rather hook on elsewhere than go to Buffalo. If we did lose an arm that way and Gee got off to a slow start we’d really have a problem, we’d almost be down 2 arms that way.
” I say give Gee a month to start, if he pitches well, great, if he doesn’t, put Capuano in the rotation and ship Gee back to Triple-A.” If you go that route, you’d waste one of Gee’s options. If you reverse the roles and try Capuano out there, and go to Gee if he fails, you don’t lose anything with Gee. I’d think you’d have more of a case if Capuano was stinking up PSL or was showing signs of arm trouble. As long as Cap is healthy and pitching well, that’s the guy.
Gee impresses me as the kind of guy who had to really learn how to pitch. He wasn’t able to get away with anything else like some of the higher ceiling prospects. You don’t make it to the Majors as a 21st round selection, without great stuff, unless you have a good plan and the ability to execute it.
My feeling about Gee is that he will be an excellent # 5 starter on just about any team. He’ll consistently get his 6-7 innings in and leave you with a good chance to win the game. If he demonstrates control and location he’s gonna get the call on close pitches and that’s gonna be the difference. It’s important that he have that good feel when he comes up here for good. He works quickly, works well with Thole and I believe he will be the first guy up called up.
Don’t forget that Mejia will also be in play for a callup if he shows well enough for a mid season call up.
Gee should have a shot at winning a start if he performs in ST. As others point out we have an awful lot of walking wounded out there in the mix and it is likely SOME pitcher is going to miss a game or two especially early in the season where some teams even resort to a 6th starter now and then to keep the guys on their rotation schedule.
He has plenty of pitches to work with so it’s not like he doesn’t have the stuff. his learning now is about pitch selection and that is something that is probably best learned facing ML batting with a ML Catcher guiding him. Gee would be a good guy to pair with Blanco calling the shots behind the plate. But if he isn’t a rotation guy thats not going to happen. (remember we both agree DEVELOPMENT is a key component. I just don’t believe it is the only component) and he is best served going back down and working to become a starter. You can waste a guy with some prospects faster by making lesser out of him that he could be (ie throw him in the pen like we did Mejia). Truth is Mejia is the more interesting watch this season, Gee is inconsequential at this point. Either he wins the start by beating everyone else out or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t he goes down until he does!
Capuano really is not suited to the pen either. He has never pitched back to back days, and it could be risky with his injury history to start yanking him around like that, and expecting him to get loose quickly.
so, the default goes to the veteran, and the younger guy with options starts in the minors, unless there is a serious difference in how they pitch (if Gee dominates and Capuano looks like crap, all bets are off.
plus, it was a small sample in the majors. If Gee can show in AAA that he has really gotten over the hump, and he kicks butt in Buffalo, he will be back soon enough.
Good point about the small sample size. Did he pitch against any team twice? Major league hitters make adjustments much quicker than rookie pitchers. And don’t forget the very young catcher, too The second time Gee faces the Phillies with their lefty-heavy lineup might be reminiscent of Johan’s debacle last year unless they’re smart enough to change their approach. Again, the veteran by default.
Even if he had X, it wouldn;t matter because he pitched in Sept when rosters were the full 40 and a lot of younger kids were being faced.
Only Philly and the Brave (plus other Div and wild card candidates) actually played more starters than sept call ups. Gee had success but he was not always facing a full ML only squad.
So it is really hard to say he would continue those numbers at a time in the season where minors are not being tried out and every bat is a veteran.
He should get a decent shot at the rotation though and I presume he will.
If not then Sandy will be making the same mistake Omar used to make in favoring his own signings instead of going on performance alone.
That’s also a good point, the lack of competition he faced. It seems to me, though, he is getting a decent shot. He’s getting his innings in, and if he pitches great and Cap pulls an Ollie, then Gee would get the nod, I’d think.
I personally think Gee has a place in our future. I know Capuano and Young are probably favorites at this point but their progress could be one injury away from being useless and thats when Gee will probably get his chance.
He has the pitches and I look at him a bit in the mold of a Rick Reed type.
Our park is perfect for him the question is how will he fare in those away game launching pads.
Someone always gets hurt or does not do well. If by chance EVERYTHING goes well with our starters, it means we have Santana and Gee still available. If one or two falter Gee can move in and hopefully Santana is back in late June or mid July. You never finish with what you start the year.