In his column for the New York Post, Joel Sherman says in light of the elbow injury to Rangers RHP Yu Darvish, the Mets should not be eager to deal from their excess starting pitching.
“Darvish’s injury should not have been a reason to think further about dealing Gee. It should motivate the Mets to keep him,” Sherman explains.
Sherman cites the arms current Mets starting rotation as examples of those who have dealt with significant injuries over the course of their professional careers.
I do think with the extra pitcher on the roster – whether that’s classified as Dillon Gee or somebody else – it creates a certain degree of awkwardness. After all, the primary topics in any media scrum surrounding Gee is whether or not he will be traded, or whether or not he can thrive in relief. Having the extra pitcher is also an inefficient use of the Major League roster spot, considering they already have an established swingman in the rubber-armed Carlos Torres.
However, I don’t disagree with Sherman’s point, either.
One thing we’ve learned with the Mets (and other clubs) is pitchers are so very fragile and without any notice, they could be gone for a full season with a snap of the finger. For any team, it’s a safe bet excess starting pitching will be necessary, whether its to replace an injured arm, give a guy an extra day of rest, or manage one or more doubleheaders due to rain outs.
For now anyway, the Mets are fortunate to have quality depth to mitigate those circumstances.
The Mets were fortunate last year in the sense they did not lose a big league starting pitcher to a major injury. But, as has been the case with Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Johan Santana, Chris Young, Mike Pelfrey, to an extent Jon Niese and countless others, it’s important for the Mets – who as a group are talking a lot about winning in 2015 – to retain as much experienced depth as they can.
Last August, I heard one of the reasons the Mets decided to retain Bartolo Colon was because they wanted him to serve as an insurance policy to both Harvey and Niese in 2015. Yes, Sandy Alderson said he was shopping some starting pitchers at the trade deadline, but he also said he couldn’t find the value he was seeking in return. Part of that value, in a way, was accepting a package worthy enough of assuming the risk of thinning out the pitching depth he has taunted over the last few years.
As you can see, trading an established starter or a prospect can be a double-edged sword. The Mets are clearly wary of dealing their veterans for risk of exposure, but at the same time they’re leaving themselves vulnerable in other areas of the roster. While the Mets have needs which have gone unfulfilled over the last year, there is no debating their cause for concern in the risks involved in filling them.
Read more: Sherman, New York Post
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