Hello again fans, welcome on back! Well, in 2 more weeks, the training wheels of 2010 will be removed and the regular season will be underway. But before that ends, there is still some more Grapefruit League action to be had. I’m getting pretty pumped for baseball as I’m sure all of you are too! Though all 25 pieces of the Mets roster puzzle aren’t exactly in their proper places yet, all we can do is hope that the higher-up’s pick the right players for each vacant job. Like the 5th starter slot for instance, the spot on the roster we’ll shine the spotlight on here in this post.
Now I’m from the school that believes that the 5th starter is far from one of the more important roles on a ballclub. This guy never gets a postseason start, he’s always shoved into the bullpen as an extra arm, and for the most part clubs can get by during the regular season with a 5th starter who goes maybe a half a handful of wins over .500 with an ERA a couple of shades north of 4. However, that doesn’t mean that teams should just place anybody in that spot. Though it’s not as essential as a corner outfielder, or a closer, I hope that the Mets fill the 5th starter spot with the best possible candidate. The 5 primary candidates to fill that slot at this point in the spring are Nelson Figueroa, Jon Niese, Fernando Nieve, Pat Misch, and Japanese import Hisanori Takahashi. And that being said, let’s analyze the race and see who should be heading north with the team if camp broke today.
We’ll start with the 2 guys who more or less have pitched their way out of the sweepstakes with lousy springs. That duo would consist of Fernando Nieve (9 IP, 6.00 ERA, 1.89 WHIP, 2 K’s) and Jon Niese (7.2 IP, 7.04 ERA, 1.83 WHIP). What can I say? If this competition doesn’t feature any nepotism and is fair and square for every man involved, then these two don’t deserve to be at Citi Field come April 5th. I know that Jon Niese was the man Jerry Manuel wanted to win, but come on. He doesn’t deserve it. I suppose the best thing for him is to head back to AAA, and hopefully go on an incredible stretch run and force the Mets to call him up at some point. He’s still young at 23, hopefully one of these days he’ll be contributing on a permanent basis for the Mets. As for Nieve – who is out of options – I would not be devastated to see him be let go. He struck me as more of a "lightning in a bottle" kind of guy, and I wouldn’t advise someone to bet the house that he’d duplicate his 2009 success again this year. Or maybe the Mets go and demote either Sean Green or Bobby Parnell and give him a job in the 2010 bullpen if they really want to keep him. It’s too soon to tell, but Nieve really doesn’t deserve a role on the 2010 Mets.
Now as for the other 3 candidates, they’ve all had killer springs. There is absolutely no clear cut winner in this competition, it’s still in my view a 3-horse race. The numbers: Pat Misch (10 IP. 0.90 ERA 1.20 WHIP), Nelson Figueroa (8 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 9 K’s) and Hisanori Takahashi (8.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 10 K’s) Here’s how I see it. All 3 dudes have had extraordinary springs. And all deserve some kind of role on the team. But as for the 5th starter competition, hopefully a fair and square competition based on who’s performed the best and has posted the best numbers, at this point you’ve got to declare Takahashi the frontrunner. You’ve just got to. 4 hits, 0 walks, while striking out 10 in 8.1 IP? I know these are meaningless spring training games, but this guy has been the best the team’s got, and if camp broke today and he wasn’t the team’s 5th starter, I would be aggravated at the lack of fairness and equality the Mets would have displayed. Plus, he’s had success pitching in the Nippon Baseball League. I know Japanese imports are risky, but this guy has been the frontrunner this spring and deserves the shot. It’s too soon to call the winner of this one. Anything can happen, and it may even come down to the wire, but right now Takahashi has been the #1 guy, and he’s earned that blue ribbon to go along with his plane ticket to the Big Apple.
I wouldn’t fret so much over Figgy and Misch not winning despite their awesome springs. The Mets will likely give Nelson the long reliever job. That spot in the bullpen is currently vacant and Nelson has certainly deserved that role after pitching so well this spring. He’s out of options, so the Mets will probably do this in order to keep him in the organization. And with Sean Green having such a mediocre spring, I wouldn’t be shocked one bit to see Pat Misch take over the right handed specialist job over him, since Pat is also out of options, making this a solid way to keep him in the organization. Green didn’t do much last year, and hasn’t done much this spring. He’s got options, so I feel the Mets should stick him in AAA rather than lose either Figueroa or Misch. He just hasn’t done enough to earn a spot on the major league club.
What do you guys think? If you were in charge would you grant Takahashi the 5th starter spot, and also hand out major league jobs to Figueroa and Misch? Would you send Green and Niese to AAA, and give Nieve his walking papers? Or would you things differently than I would? If so, what would your blueprint look like? Reveal your thoughts in the comment section below, and as always my friends, thanks for stopping by to read my blog!
