Welcome, Tim Redding

(originally posted 1/10/09 on Preaching to the Choir)

In what is actually a rather astute move by the Mets, New York is set to add right-handed starter Tim Redding to the mix for the 2009 rotation.

Tim's record of ten wins and a 4.95 ERA for the Nationals in 2008 was not overly impressive ... until you consider what the Mets have been using for fifth starters the past few years.

In 2006, Mike Pelfrey, Dave Williams, Alay Soler, Oliver Perez, Victor Zambrano, Jeremi Gonzalez, and Jose Lima combined to make a whopping 36 starts for the Mets covering almost 185 innings, resulting in a 9-14 record and a bloated ERA of 6.53.

In '07, the fifth starter slot was even worse (if you can imagine that), featuring such luminaries as Pelfrey again, Brian Lawrence, Philip Humber, Jason Vargas, Chan Ho Park, and Dave Williams again. That group made a total of 24 starts--more than 125 innings--going 4-13 with an astonishingly bad ERA of 7.42.

In 2008 it wasn't quite so bad ... not quite. Nelson Figueroa, Claudio Vargas, Brandon Knight, a depleted Pedro Martinez, Jonathon Niese, and Tony Armas tallied 36 starts covering more than 225 innings. The 14-12 record and 5.38 ERA weren't too terrible for fifth starters, at least by 2008 standards. But remember, the Mets lost out on a playoff spot by just one game.

Tim Redding's ten wins for the last-place Nationals don't look too shabby in comparison now, do they? A performance like that from the fifth rotation spot may have provided a substantial improvement over the disappointing finishes of the past three years. Decide now that you're going to cheer him, Mets fans!