I could hear fans thinking aloud last night: How did we not get this Robertson guy? And why didn’t we do something about the rotation during the off-season anyhow?
Answer: They couldn’t. And considering the market, they shouldn’t have. The conscience decision was made to see just what they had in John Maine, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez.
Fortunately, the Mets wanted Jon Niese to make the rotation and he did. He demonstarted last night that he is a fine alternative as a third or fourh starter. But unfortunately, the rest have shown no reason to feel they are even remotely worthy of a number two slot behind Johan Santana.
Maine’s start illustarted the concerns the club has had about him for some time. He couldn’t thrown many first pitch strikes and often fell behind 2-0. Coupled with less than desirable velocity, this is not a template for winning.
Fans have similar lack of faith in Perez and Pelfrey. More so the former than the later. We’ll see Pelfrey tonight and hopefully he performs much like he did in his last spring start. It’s going to be hard enough to withstand the early season failures of Maine and Perez as it is.
But the Mets may have anticipated this scenario and are prepared to make the year a psuedo rebuilding season. Are their replacements already on the current staff in Fernando Nieve and Hisanori Takahashi?
Tobi Stoner was effective in his rain-shortened start last night in Buffalo. It may be telling that he got the opening night start in AAA.
Still, the names Stoner, Takahashi and Nieve are not part of any reasonable calculus ending with a Mets play-off run this season.
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This post was written by bobsikes on April 9, 2010
