Monday, March 16, 2009

Please No More Pedro

I've heard this topic debated from both sides and until now I haven't really cared. But now I'm ready to take a side (in case you care). The Mets should not get Pedro Martinez.

One person posed it to me this way: "Pedro Martinez at 60% is better than any other 5th starter option at 100%." If you said this in 1995, I'd say you're correct, but today, I don't think so. First off we won't be getting a 60% Pedro Martinez. More like a 25% Pedro Martinez.

Pedro's best days are behind him. We all know that he's going to be injured at some point during the season and for a long stretch you'd have to rely on a revolving door of 5th starters until he comes back. His fastball is non-existent. His changeup is losing movement.

I think it's time to burn that bridge. I love Pedro in the clubhouse, but I'm done seeing him on the mound.

At this point, I'd let Jon Niese have at it. He's young. He's got decent stuff. He needs to be tested to see if he's legit. Let him start the season in the 5th spot of the rotation with little pressure on him. If he works out, fantastic. If not, we were going to have a rotation of Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding, and a pitcher to be named later anyway, so it's not a huge loss.

Low risk, potentially high reward. The same can't be said about signing Pedro...again.

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