9
2011
Let’s Face It, Mike Pelfrey Has Maxed Out As A New York Met
An article by Former Writers
Last night was just another example of Mike Pelfrey being Mike Pelfrey. After cruising through the San Diego lineup for the first five innings allowing just one run, it all came crashing down on the right-hander in the sixth. The 27-year-old allowed three runs on four sharply hit balls and a sac fly. The Amazin’s so called “ace” left after 6 1/3 yielding 9 hits, allowing 4 runs (all earned), 2 walks, while striking out 4, against a lackluster Padres lineup. Did I mention the Mets gave Pelfrey a 4-1 lead, but as is frequently the case with Pelfrey, he found a way to give that lead up.
Now, to me, the biggest difference between the great pitchers or even good pitchers and the mediocre ones is their ability to hold down the fort when given leads. In Pelfrey’s case he just hasn’t demonstrated the killer instinct you’d like to see from a number 1 or 2 type starter and has trouble controlling the damage, turning minimal innings into game breaking innings. When is it time to say enough is enough already? This is now Mike Pelfrey’s fourth full season in the rotation, and I’m tried of hearing the same old excuses again and again.
Besides the fact that Pelfrey just hasn’t been able to figure it out mentally, the most alarming thing to me more than anything else, has been the mental lapses we’ve seen from Mike throughout his career – the implosions. This is a guy who balked three times in a game last year against San Francisco, yes, that’s right - three times. This is also the same guy who struggles as much as any pitcher in baseball when it comes to pitching with runners on base.
Going back to last night’s performance, with Jesus Guzman on first base and Pelfrey standing on the rubber, Guzman broke early for second, and instead of stepping off and throwing to second, Pelfrey turned and fired a bullet to Lucas Duda at first, allowing Guzman to slide in safely with a stolen base. The game just seems to completely stop for Pelfrey with runners on base, he’s always going to his cap, wiping his brow, and who could ever forget the infamous mouth guard Pelfrey grinded his teeth on during his early years.
The benchmark in which many young starting pitchers are measured is through their first 100 career decisions. Since being inserted as a regular into the Met rotation in 2008, the Wichita State alum is just 49-50 in 99 career decisions with a pedestrian 4.34 ERA.
When the Mets drafted Pelfrey back in 2005 he was envisioned as a future ace of the Mets rotation, considering he was a top 10 pick after all. At this point I just have no hope for the Ohio native. GM Sandy Alderson is going to have to realize Mike Pelfrey is what Mike Pelfrey’s numbers say he is, which is a number 4 or 5 starter at best. Whether that is as a New York Met or not remains to be seen. Pelfrey will be arbitration eligible at the end of the year, and it’s expected that the tall right hander will get a pay raise from his $3.93 million number from this season to somewhere between $5 and $6 million for 2012.
It’s time to face reality and face facts, this is what Mike Pelfrey is and we have to live with it for the time being.
About the Author: Former Writers
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Instead of a mouthguard, they should get him a pacifier.
Pelfery and Parnell-The Pallbearer boys carrying us to the graveyard!
I agree they are both the same, all the talent in the world and mental toughness of 5 year old girl. Dillon Gee has 1/4 the talent but at least he has a heart
Getting rid of him is the easy part, who replaces him that will be better and consistent? Otherwise why get rid of him?
If Pelfrey was with another team and non tendered he’d be a guy we would all be looking at and saying, “hey we can get him for nothing, he throws 200 IP every year which helps the pen, never gets hurt, has had periods a few times where he’s pitched real well for 10-15 starts, we could do a lot worse.”
You can’t help but be disappointed with him but to just give him away and then replace him with who knows doesn’t make sense. I’d prefer to bet on his walk year, see what he could nab at the deadline or return in the draft if we kept him all year.
We cannot continue to sell low with every asset. There’s a great chance that he won’t be any better than this year but if he were to put together 20 good starts could get us another potential piece of the puzzle.
That would depend on what else is potentially available of course and at what cost in terms of prospects and what not but barring anything really worthwhile that will be here for 3-4 years and I’d just as soon keep him and see what you get on the field.
I dunno. Even with his bloated contract (estimated at 6 Mil post-arb), he still has value, just not a whole lot. But as you said, there isn’t really much to fill his spot with, FA-wise. I think Alderson has to kick the tires and turn over rocks to see what takers would offer for him and if he isn’t getting back what he wants, we’ll see Big Poof back in the starting rotation.
And Pelfrey is much closer to a 5 in the rotation than an ace, for sure.
i remember this guy had like 4 wins in 2009, and someone here posted an article about signing him long term…. I’D SAY “LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!” to that!!!!!!!
I actually would not offer arbitration to him. I cannot stand seeing mediocrity overpaid. If he is going to get 6 million for this year then we are wasting out time, unless our “experts” actually see an upside. They can get a cheaper version of Pelfrey. Or a better version for the 6 mill.
He has value to someone, so you can’t just non-tender him. He’s not yet 30. I mean, hell, Millwood got play from teams even now, so someone would trade for Pelfrey.
And I don’t see much in the FA pool at all, unless you want to pay some $$ for the FA to be from the Rangers (can’t remember his name). Or even Cap, who I’m sure is going to see a nice raise from whichever team pays for his services.
true ….. there is not much out there/
I’d rather pay Capuano $3 million than Pelfrey $8 million anyday. If we can get something for him fine, if not then non-tender him and lets move on.
I too think that Mike Pelfrey should be traded. He just doesn’t have the mental toughness that is needed. As far as giving up leads…..it really is a bogus idea. When a starter who has good stuff cruises through a lineup twice and then all of a sudden can’t get out a high school hitter…there is something wrong. Winning games when a atarter gives up 4 runs in one inning requires having a good offensive team that can keep scoring runs because the starter is more than likely to continue getting knocked around!
Sayonara Mike
Few things and a disclaimer…I am a Mike Pelfrey homer (I just want to see the kid do well and succeed), but I am realistic and can attend to his limitations as well. First – he was thrust into the “ace” role which, let’s be realistic, wasn’t much to go by for Terry Collins since his “true” ace (Johan) was a longshot to pitch in 2011 and Pelf got it by default for this season b/c – who was going to be the #1 starter – Dickey? so I think a lot of what our expectations are for Big Pelf are what Collins may have inadvertently set when he announced Pelfrey as the opening day starter. Next is that I can even agree he’s not “ace” material – specifically when he’s a starter for an NL East and has abysmal stats against the very teams he needs to beat, the NL East especially on the road. Next is his swoon especially something like last night – my friend Joe Janish from Mets Today employed a sports kinesiologist (I don’t think I spelled that right) who talked to a flaw in Johan Santana’s mechanics which may have contributed to his shoulder wear and tear and subsequent injury…then pointed out that Pelfrey has also lost some velocity and has a similar mechanical flaw. Pitching coaches (outside of Rick Peterson) don’t pick up on that, and just try to get them to throw “better” essentially. So Pelfrey *could* in fact be damaged. That’s not to say all is lost — he’s got value, as others have pointed out, but I feel like he could be a trade bait for a smaller market team. I want Pelfrey to succeed, even if he would fare better not in NY, I’d still support him (as long as he wasn’t facing the Mets, then all bets are off)