The Mets and Mike Pelfrey!

With the Mets trying to cut payroll they shell out $5.675M to Mike Pelfrey. I saw you guys said the best thing would be to non-tender him. Pelfrey has a good chance to remain in the Mets' rotation, but his 4.74 ERA and 7-13 record from last year indicate that his fantasy upside is limited. I heard the Rockies were interested in him but I guess that was a smokescreen. Why would the Mets do this?

I always love the argument, “he is what he is.” Or, am I hearing in this case, “he isn’t what he is!” I do see what the numbers say and, as I’ve learned in this business, numbers don’t lie. After 146 GS for the Mets and 876 2/3 IP, Pelfrey has a 493/314 K/BB, 965 HA, and a 4.40/1.46 ERA/WHIP. That’s barely the numbers of a #4 SP on a staff much less that of an Opening Day SP, as he was in 2011. I’ll give you this, Pelfrey has had his moments in the show but he’s maddenly inconsistent. Maybe he’s the Bret Saberhagen of our time. No, I don’t mean the pitching skill at all, but he’s had better seasons in even years (2008, 2010) and, if you believe in that stat, now’s the time to buy in. Because if he has a season like last year, we better not be having this conversation heading into 2013. Having said all that, if you can get him as your last SP on your NL staff for the price of one U.S. dollar, I would investigate that. But, please, nothing more than that. I actually would rather have seen the Mets re-up with Capuano for what the Dodgers inked him at, 2 years and $10-mil. The Mets did a good job last year in digging up some cheap, yet useful, starting pitching. But the Mets, as a franchise, have never been able to follow up a “good” thing. The Mets should hope that Pelfrey has a decent 2 months and then look to get something for him.