New York Mets Pitching: Fighting For The Five Spot

The New York Mets have a battle on their hands for the number five spot in the rotation. Five pitchers have legitimate shots to get that role—Tim Redding, Freedy Garcia, Livan Hernandez, Jon Niese, and Bobby Parnell are the leading candidates.

Conspicuous in his non-appearance is Pedro Martinez. It seems apparent, according to Omar Minaya, that Pedro is not in the Mets' plans for 2009. Personally I think it's a mistake and I hope this decision does not come back to haunt the Mets.

All of these pitchers have tremendous upsides but age, injuries, and other intangibles could still lead the way for an unknown, or not yet signed commodity to come in and compete for the last spot.

I would like to hope that the Mets could keep all of these guys because a lot of negatives can happen to the pitchers during the course of the season. Last year the Mets used 14 different starters. Hopefully this year will be better.

Tim Redding

Tim Redding comes to the Mets from the Washington Nationals, a team that won a total of 59 games last year. Redding won 10 games, or 16.9 percent, of their total. This is his last year and career stats.

2008 in Washington

W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR HB K BB
10 11 4.95 33 33 1 0 0 0 182 195 110 100 27 7 120 65

Career
34 51 4.92 149 147 1 0 0 0 702 767 431 384 96 28 476 287

Freddy Garcia

Freddy Garcia signed a minor league contract, but fully expects to make the team. He is a close, personal friend of Johan Santana and, if healthy, can be a dominant force to be reckoned with.

2008 in Detroit

W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR HB K BB
1 1 4.20 3 3 0 0 0 0 15 11 8 7 3 1 12 6

Career
118 77 4.04 266 265 12 4 0 0 1716 1669 822 777 206 57 1264 554

Livan Hernandez

Livan Hernandez also signed a minor league contract. He was the MVP of the 1997 World Series as a 22-year-old and has great stuff. He is, like Garcia and Redding, an innings-eater—something that the Mets are seriously lacking in.

2008 in Minnesota

W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR HB K BB
10 8 5.48 33 33 2 0 0 0 139 199 93 85 18 1 54 29

Career
147 139 4.37 382 381 45 7 0 0 2551 2806 1335 1240 296 67 1613 873

Jon Niese

Jon Niese will definitely be in the Mets' rotation for years to come. Most see him spending some more time in AAA developing his secondary pitches and hoping for him to increase the speed on his fastball. His one outstanding performance down the stretch was a clear indication of things to come.

Career (2008) in New York

W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR HB K BB
1 1 7.02 3 3 0 0 0 0 14 20 11 11 2 0 11 8

Bob Parnell

Bob Parnell has one major pitch at this time. A 98-mph fast ball and that is enough for him to receive consideration. His secondary pitches continue to need work and when those are improved his upside is unlimited. A strong spring showing could vault him to the starting rotation but most experts see him in relief or another year at AAA. Here is his stats.

Career (2008) in New York
W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV SVO IP H R ER HR HB K BB
0 0 5.40 6 0 0 0 0 0 5 3 3 3 0 0 3 2