Updated 9/26
I thought some of the comments that came out of yesterday’s loss were worth sharing.
Mike Pelfrey seemed far from distraught from what I could see and matter of factly said,
“I wanted to finish strong and obviously this is the farthest thing from it. The year didn’t go the way I wanted. It’s unfortunate, but I can’t change that. I have to get back to getting the ball down. I gave up more home runs this year than I have in my life and I can’t pitch that way.”
Pelfrey only won once in his last 12 starts of the season. His secondary pitches still stink, his bread and butter pitch hasn’t been seen in over 18 months, and his confidence continues to regress much like his overall production.
Terry Collins said he would not give Pelfrey an Opening Day assignment again.
“I’ll take full responsibility if I put a heavy load on his shoulders by naming him the Opening Day starter,” Collins said. “I thought he earned it from what he did last year. I think it’s gonna be a work in progress for Mike to gather himself, he needs to start making pitches. He had a bad year.”
I don’t blame Collins for naming Pelfrey the Opening Day starter and I don’t think that had anything to do with how awful Pelfrey has pitched this season.
Maybe he was rushed to the majors to quickly as one of our readers mentioned, or maybe he was really never as good as everyone expected based on how high he was drafted.
If he wasn’t slated to earn about $6-7 million dollars next season, I’d say keep him as an innings eater and number five starter, but not even the Yankees would spend that kind of dough on this kind of skill set.
If Moneyball is about getting the most bang for your buck, Pelfrey is the antithesis to that.
Original Post 9/25
Before the game today Terry Collins said Mike Pelfrey had something to prove.
“I think today he’s going against one of the best in baseball and if he comes out today successful and I think it’s a huge step forward confidence wise for him,” Collins said. “That’s what we’re looking hopefully to do.”
To make a long and sad story short, Pelfrey lasted just three innings against the Phillies who torched him for five runs, all earned, on nine hits and a walk. It was as ugly a start as Pelfrey has had all season long. He even gave up a sharply hit single to pitcher Roy Halladay after intentionally walking the batter ahead of him. It was the last pitch he’d throw today.
Pelfrey earned $3.9 million in 2011, and is set to earn as much as $6-8 million dollars in arbitration this offseason. Any thought of non-tendering him have already been squashed by Sandy Alderson and the Mets. In fact, if Johan isn’t ready by Opening day, that assignment will most likely go to Pelfrey again.
Of course, Pelfrey has proven to be nothing more than an innings eater who hurls one brilliant start for every ten poor to less than mediocre starts he makes. In other words – Pelfrey is a bottom of the rotation pitcher and not somebody you EVER want on the mound in a big game.
It’s a shame that despite how well this team has performed offensively, not much will be done in the way of adding a top of the rotation starter this Winter according to recent statements by Sandy Alderson.
As I said last week, as far as the rotation goes for 2012, what you see now is what you’ll get.
If we were Royals fans of Pirates fans, we probably wouldn’t even care all that much, but when your team logo has the NYC skyline on it, you kind of expect more than what we’ve been getting and apparently what we’re gonna get more of next season.
By the way, the Mets are now down 9-0 in the 4th inning. Reliever DJ Carrasco, who will also be back next season, gave up four more earned runs in relief of Pelfrey.
