Mets fans are not happy right now.  There are so many question marks.  No one can even agree on who deserves to go north at the end of spring training.

As far as uncertainty goes, the starting pitching is the most suspect.  The performance of the Mets #2, #3, and #4 starters are not exactly helping raise fan confidence levels.  Pelfrey, Perez, and Maine have each been less than stellar.  Even Johan Santana has been sketchy in two of his three spring training outings.  The #5 job is totally up for grabs between Niese, Nieve, Takahashi, and Figueroa.  Ironically the latter two have pitched great but are the underdogs.

This leaves us with the question – Does spring training really mean anything?  Is it an indication of performance during the season?  Or just a time for players to prepare themselves physically and mentally for the long 162 game season.

Remember all those pitchers that were free agents during this past winter?  Mets fans wanted many of them.  But Omar said no to overspending on supposed mediocre talent.  Take a look at the spring statistics of these pitchers whom the Mets passed on. Yes, there are some achievers this spring, but it would have been a crap shoot to have picked the right ones in December and January.

Player                             IP     Runs     Hits      Ks    BB   HR   ERA

John Lackey                    9.0      0          5        3       0      0      0.00

Doug Davis                      7.0      1          6        6       0       1     1.29

Randy Wolf                    10.0      2        10        8       2       0     1.80

Brad Penny                     9.2      6         13        4       1      0      5.59

Joel Pineiro                     9.0       7        15        7       2       1     7.00

John Garland                   7.2      7          8         5       5       0     8.22

Rich Harden                  12.0     16         15       12     10      3    11.25

Jason Marquis               10.0     16        18        2        8       1   14.40

Ben Sheets                     8.1     19         20        5       5       1   17.28

Erik Bedard                    Has Not Pitched

While researching these pitchers, I came across the statistics of a few other stars.

Roy Halladay            ERA of 0.90 in 10.0 IP

Chris Carpenter         ERA of 10.00 in 9.0 IP

Cliff Lee                    ERA of  7.94  in 5.2 IP  – Abdominal Strain, Will Miss Start Of  Season

I’ll leave the analysis to the readers.  I will just say two things.  Firstly, the Mets aren’t the only team whose players aren’t impressing this spring.  Secondly, remember that the 162 game season is a marathon.  So don’t put too much credence into ten innings of spring training work.