Tuesday, September 15, 2009

It's Not that Hard to Defend.

A lot of people seem to be making a big deal over Pedro Martinez's victory over the Mets on Sunday night. Pedro threw a great game, no doubt, with 8 shutout innings in which he allowed just 6 hits, while striking out 7 and walking just two. He also lowered his ERA to 2.87 and received the victory to improve his record to 5-0. Not bad. In fact, with numbers like those combined with the fact that Johan Santana's on the disabled list, Pedro would probably be the Mets best starter.

But if you ask me, it's pretty darn hard to blame the Mets for not signing him when he became available this summer.

1. He wouldn't be helping the Mets anyway. You know that. Give the Mets five more wins, and they're 15 games out of first place. And that's besides the fact that with the Mets anemic offense and with the actuality that the Mets don't have any pitchers who are 0-5, he's not giving them five wins anyway.

2. He stank last year. Did you forget. After an encouraging five games after he returned from surgery at the end of the 2007 season, Pedro pitched terribly in 2008. How badly? 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA.

How bad is that?

Let's put it this way. When Livan Hernandez was released by the Mets this year, his ERA was 5.47.

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