Backup Plan

Tim Marchman of the NY Sun wrote a reveiw of the Mets starting rotation. Marchman makes the following comments on specific pitchers, for his conclusion see the entire column.

Atop the rotation will be Tom Glavine, good for his usual 200 excellent innings. The nominal no. 2 starter should be Orlando Hernandez, who was not only very effective for the Mets last year but more durable than he seemed, averaging just under 6 innings a start. Past them are John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Mike Pelfrey, three young pitchers who all showed just enough last year to raise expectations that they might blossom this year, and have track records just sketchy enough to raise expectations that they might all fail spectacularly.

Kicking around the fringes of the rotation will be Humber, who seems a decent bet to get the kind of midseason call-up Pelfrey got last year, and could conceivably crack the rotation out of spring training in the right circumstances; Williams; Pedro Martinez, who claims he'll be ready sooner than anyone expects after recovering from shoulder surgery, and the undead. In the fine tradition of David Cone's final year and Jose Lima's 2006, the Mets will bring Chan Ho Park and Aaron Sele to spring training. Park, who's actually on the 40-man roster, hasn't had anything approaching a passable year since 2001. Last year's tolerable looking 4.81 ERA was run up while pitching his home games in San Diego's pitcher-friendly park, and he somehow gave up 20 home runs in 136.2 innings. Sele will be brought to camp in a red box with a glass panel and a hammer.