The Mets Rotation Next Year: Not as Bad as You'd think

As I settle in to watch the great Oliver Perez and his 7.03 ERA take on his original team, the San Diego Padres, as any rational Met fan, I began to think about next season. Although our offense needs improvement, I think that some of that will come from regression to means, and health. The bullpen, with K-Rod, Putz in his option year, maybe even Wagner in his option year and Feliciano and Stokes rounding it out, shoudl be fine. My real concern, especially given the new park, is the starting rotation. And I was thinking that Oliver Perez' contract made the idea of a strong starting rotation next year an impossibility. But check this out.

Every good starting rotation needs 7 starters. Your first three are locked in, while your last two spots can rotate among three pitcher throughout the year, with one in reserve for the inevitable injury. Now, the Mets have the #1 slot filled, with Johan. Pelfrey has battled enough this season that I feel reasonably comfortable that he can be at least a good #3. Obviously, this means that the #2 slot needs to be filled. I think the perfect candidate is John Lackey (coming from a tougher league and division, and possibly injured, shouldn't be too expensive), but there will be trade options with teams looking to dump contracts. Or we could always go for an Erik Bedard or Doug Davis or Jason Marquis or Brett Myers.

So, that leaves two slots to be filled at the end of the rotation. Candidates for those spots include: John Maine, Oliver Perez, Bobby Parnell, Fernando Nieve, Coney Island native Nelson Figueroa, Jonathon Neise, and maybe even Brad Holt. Now, what do these pitchers all have in common? With the (notable) exception of Perez, they're all making at or close to the league minimum. So, if one of them wins the other spot behind Perez, the Mets will be spending $12 million on two rotation slots. With the average Major League salary about $3 million, not the ideal way to spend your resources, but not as bad as $12 million on one slot.

Now if only he could stop walking everyone on earth...