We Need Pitching Help

During this past off-season, I watched closely what the Mets would do in regard to their starting pitching problems. Would they try and sign Barry Zito (who ended up being heavily overpaid by the Giants)? Would they go after another pitcher in the free agent market? Maybe they would trade for someone? I, along with most Met fans, fully expected to see them do something. They didn’t.

Much to my surprise, when the season started, the pitching was doing remarkably well. Tom Glavine looked like he was getting younger, Orlando Hernandez pitched well and John Maine was looking more like an ace of the staff than a number three starter, who one year earlier when picked up in a trade did not seem like anything special. The most pleasantly surprising pitcher, however, was Oliver Perez, who seemed to return to the form he showed when he first broke in to the majors.

Now, as we are one series away from the All-Star game, the pitching is looking more like I thought it would early on. Glavine is looking shaky, at best. Hernandez is very inconsistent. Maine, after having a strong beginning is unreliable. While Perez has had a few rocky starts (no pun intended), he has looked pretty good. Now, however, he is on the disabled list. With the exception of the fact that he did not even make the team out of spring training, you can say almost the exact same thing about Jorge Sosa that I just did about Oliver Perez. Still, with those two pitchers on the DL, it makes it a little tougher.

I am not suggesting we hit the panic button. I Know Pedro Martinez is progressing nicely. I know Perez and Sosa will be coming back. Still, The front office needs to do something. Glavine and quite possibly Hernandez will not be around after the season, and even if they are they will be a year older and should not be considered reliable. Even Pedro will be questionable at best. That leaves us with Sosa, Perez and Maine, and I still have questions as to whether or not they are the real deal.

Like I did during the off season, I will be watching closely, hoping to see the Mets pick up a starter. The important thing here is, whatever pitcher they get, they need to be committed to signing and keeping for a while. I do not want a rent a pitcher. I want to see the Mets build a dynasty. They have some good young players to build around. They need a young, proven, reliable starter to go with the rest of the talent.

Regardless of what they do, or when they do it, hopefully things will go better in Houston than they did with the Rockies. LETS GO METS!