Although Livan Hernandez may have been the last pitcher to join the competition for the fifth starters job, he might have moved one step closer to claiming the job after tossing two no-hit innings against the Nationals on Saturday.
Livan got a leg up on the job after the Mets announced that Tim Redding would start the season on the disabled list with a sore shoulder.
Freddy Garcia has struggled to regain his velocity and his control has been all over the place as he continues to battle for the job while trying to comeback from surgery. Chances are that he could be close to being cut unless there is some drastic improvement.
Only Jon Niese stands in Livan’s way, and most believe that Niese is a lock to start the season in AAA Buffalo. I’m not one of them.
Ideally, I would be happy to see Niese win the job and not just based on his tremendous upside. I want him to wrestle the job away by outmatching his competition this spring and earning his place in the rotation.
Still, there is no disputing the fact the Hernandez took a small step forward yesterday and now it falls on Niese to respond in kind.
