26
2012
MMO Mailbag: What’s The Latest On Dillon Gee, Will He Still Be In Rotation?
An article by 
Andrew asks:
Is there any news regarding Dillon Gee’s recovery from his arm surgery? Will he be ready for Spring Training and do you think he will be in the rotation next season?
Joe D. replies:
As far as his health and recovery is concerned, Dillon Gee is expected to be 100% by the time Spring Camp opens with no limitations. That’s the official Mets word.
However, on the day before Thanksgiving, Dillon Gee was with teammate Bobby Parnell at Citi Field where they participated in relief efforts for families that were affected by Superstorm Sandy. While he helped collect food and necessities for storm victims, Gee took a few minutes afterward to discuss his rehab and said his arm feels great and that he will begin his offseason throwing program this week.
“I finished the year throwing and everything felt fine,” Gee said. “I’ve been working out for like three weeks now and I’ve never thought about it.”
Gee, 26, had his season come to an abrupt end after they discovered a blood clot in his pitching arm. He finished the season with a 6-7 record and a 4.10 ERA, but don’t let the numbers fool you, Gee was much better than that. His loss to the Mets cannot be understated, and the proof lies in their 46-39 record after his final start – an eight inning, one-run gem – and their 28-49 record after that game.
Since Gee debuted in 2010, he has made 49 starts and has posted a 21-15 record with a 4.06 ERA. His one challenge has always been his high walk rate and bouts with wildness. But in 2012 the righthander made huge stride reducing his BB/9 to 2.4 from a career average of 4.1. The effect on his K/BB rate was dramatic and he more than doubled his career mark with a 3.34 BB/9 to go with an 8.0 K/9 – also a career high. Nine of his last ten starts last season were Quality Starts.
Barring any trades or injuries, the Opening Day rotation is expected to be R.A. Dickey, Johan Santana, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and Matt Harvey, so yes, I fully expect Gee to be in the rotation. I also expect him to build on the many positive trends he began to display last year. You usually don’t use the word crafty to describe rightys very often, but that’s exactly what Dillon Gee is. He’s also a thinking man’s pitcher who consistently challenges himself to pitch better.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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I like Gee. He is one of those guys who can be a solid back end of the rotation guy. I hope reports are true and he has no healthy issues going forward. I see him in the rotation with Wheeler in AAA.
Nice solid part of a rotation. Hopefully continues to grow.
I love the analysis, Joe. Gee is one of the most underrated player on the team and I’m glad there’s numbers to back it up.
He’s gotta be one of the best #5 starters in the league and his IQ on the mound is second to none. I love watching him pitch and I think he can be solid for a long time.
We are going to have a kick ass rotation next year. With or without Johan! I like Gee alot and reading that he’s going to be fine is the best news I’ve heard in the last few days.
Again, gotta give some props to Dan Warthen here as well. I know he’s not a popular figure on this site and I don’t know why, the Mets young pitchers haven been nurtured quite well under his guidance. I think a lot of people here don’t like him because of the failures of the bullpen and I think that has more to do with lack of talent to work with than Warthen.
He’s done a good job here.
You missed one point on the bull pen over use & not spreading out who is used when.
Gee doesn’t have the greatest “stuff”, but this guy is a battler and knows how to pitch. He will have his 3 or 4 starts where he doesn’t have it and gets hammered, but overall he mixes his pitches well, has a sneaky-fast fastball, and has continued to improve. Hopefully the health issue is behind him.
Just saw a report that the Dodgers are negotiating a $6-7 Billion dollar tv deal. I mean, don’t we own our own network to broadcast our games in the NYC area?? Obviously whatever the Wilpons and their SNY partners are “giving” the Mets to broadcast their games is no where close to market value. If it was, I bet we wouldn’t have our $100MM mid-market payroll. And before everyone goes all silly on money can’t buy championships, let me just say the Mets at $140MM payroll could add Upton and Hamilton to the OF and lock up Wright and Dickey (post 2013)…it might not buy championships, but that team would be pretty good.
Maybe it’s time to sell SNY and solve all the Wilpons cash flow problems. A boy can only dream.
The regional broadcasting deals are reviewed every three years by MLB to ensure they are getting fair market value. The three teams which ownership has a direct interest in the stations are the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox. The Mets get roughly $60M a year, the Yankees $80M, and the Red Sox, although they never stated exactly, admitted their total is less than the Yankees. The problem with the teams being short changed the contracts, in MLB’s view, is not the effect on the team but the advantage they gain in the revenue sharing pool. All regional tv deals are considered part of local team income and thus, in these three teams case, subject to about 1/3 input into the revenue sharing pool.
Hey Hank, thanks for the email about this, and I just posted a response. I agree with you.
Thanks Joe.
P.S. I love Gee too. I think he’s exactly the reliable, go out every fifth day, and go all out to keep his team in the game – kind of pitcher every ballclub needs. I hope his health problems are truly behind him and I look forward to seeing him compete in 2013.
That’s a good description calling him crafty. He often seems to figure things out to keep the team in a game if he struggles early. He provides depth in the rotation and in a pinch can pitch out of the pen. I agree that barring an injury or trade I would expect to see Gee in the rotation come 2013.
I don’t see him being traded yet either due to the injury. They would not get true value for him so I would expect to see him slotted as #5 regardless.
Yup, Gee is under appreciated by many and though he is still a work in process, one has to like how he has begun to develop into a dependable middle of the rotation starter. Got to like our entire rotation for it is a solid combination of youth and veterans. Like all teams, we need a sixth starter to eventually fill the spot of Santana and that might be Wheeler.
They are also accompanied by some good hitters in Davis, Murphy, Wright and possibly Duda and though he lacks speed at the top of the lineup, Tejada has a good glove and can get on base – he’s not Jose but at least he has plugged the hole caused by his absence. Though he would not be a first stringer for most other teams, Thole at least provides us with an adequate backstop for the time being.
Though not a closer, Parnell is coming along in late inning relief.
Though we have the promise of some good prospects coming up, they are still not enough to fill the holes created by our current general manager and those beneath him that counteracts all that we have to be grateful for. We have possibly Duda and no other outfield (though we could have had one with Duda, Pagan and Beltran) so that means we have to hope for two rookies to resolve that. We have had two different but equally pathetic bullpens the past two seasons and have no idea what the third attempt will look like and therefore cannot count on the young arms to just make up for it.
Yes, we got Wheeler, but doesn’t one trade to resolve a weakness instead of adding to a strength one already has?
Gee is a nice luxury to have at the backend for sure. Obviously pending Dickey the Mets rotation will depend tremendously on Harvey and Wheeler as Johan is just waiting his time.
Duda worries me a little though. If he was RH and could even play a competent LF he would be a huge compliment to the lineup. However, whiffing lots and lots from the LH side of the plate is already covered well enough with out him and his defense is appalling.
Just because Gee is slotted five in the rotatation doesn’t mean he is a #5 starter. The guy is a solid #3. A guy who gives you 180+ innings, an ERA around 4.00, keeps you in games, and most importantly wins 10-12 games.
Not in this thread but I have seen some worry about his ability to come back from surgery.
And I think those worries are ignorant to the fact that he didn’t suffer from muscle damage at all here. Those are the injuries and surgeries that affect your ability to come back.
All he did was have a section of vein removed and ends sewn back together to get rid of the weakened part of the vein from the bloodclot.
Due to the fact it would have been stretched tighter right after the surgery it was smart to not pitch him and let the natural growth of the vein to take the stress off the stretching and he should be as good as gold (provided he doesn’t have a relapse and get another blood clot) to pitch this year with the only affect being a bit rusty for not pitching for such a long time.
If he starts his regular off season regimen on time he should be fine and just as effective as he was when he left.
I happen to think a great deal of Gee I think he has the makings of a very good #3 or #4 rotation arm and a great complement to guys like Harvey and Wheeler who throw gas.
If we had a rotation of
Dickey (Knuckler)
Harvey (Gas)
Gee (Pitching Dirt)
Niese (Throws Everything with power)
Wheeler ( more Gas)
You could really throw a batting lineup into a funk because everyday would require a new adjustment and as soon as you made it would be forced to adjust again the next day.
Now that rotation order I posted is probably never going to happen but it would be the type of thing you want your rotation to do and showing different looks every day.
When I look at Gee I see Rick Reed and Bobby O myself.
Every pitching staff needs one pitcher like that to make thier power pitchers look that much more powerful.
This. People are acting like Gee won’t be effective again until June. There’s no reason for him to have any problems after this type of surgery.
It’s just the ignorance of people who think all surgeries means you are done when it really depends on what got operated on and how important it is to your mechanics.
Getting a Knee operation on your landing knee is nothing compared to getting an opeation on the knee you push off the rubber on.
Getting sugery to an artery does not affect the muscles needed (unless they have to cut them to get to it) to make pitches.
He was shut down as a cautionary measure to ensure he didn’t tear the artery and now that it has healed he should be right back where he started because your Veins are not important to your mechanics as long as they keep moving the bolld along.
In fact, Gee should be better than ever now that the numbness will be gone. I think he can step up his game and pitch at the level of Niese.
No I dout that…He hasn’t been pitching with numbness before….
He may get better but only based on where he would have progressed if he never had the clot in the first place.
As for him being at the level of Niese I tend to doubt that as Niese has much more power and even better stuff than Gee.
Very different pitchers.
Nah, he mentioned in an interview that he’s been feeling numbness for the past 2 years. I have no idea which one.
Just wanted to point out that Gee was already pitching and has been pitching with a slight tear in his rotator cuff for a few seasons. This other injury may have been the best thing to ever happen to him. Giving his shoulder a chance to finally get some rest and heal up…
Gee has always surprised me at times with upticks in velocity. That was due to the slight tear, which will cause instability and ups and downs in velocity. I look for a strong return from him..