Monday, September 8, 2008

Two Birds, One Stone?

With Billy Wagner going down for the season and Pedro Martinez getting beaten like a red headed stepchild, Josh Levitt at the newish baseball blog Jorge Says No! has a suggestion:

To me, the only way for the Mets to contend for a championship this season without Wagner is to put Pedro Martinez in the bullpen for the rest of the season. The move would obviously be a risk considering that Martinez has never consistently worked out of the bullpen before and his performance this season has been shaky at best. Not to mention that hitters are hitting .353 in the first inning against Pedro, which obviously does not enhance my argument.

But here's the thing, what other option do the Mets have?
I'm not as up on my Metology as many so (a) I really don't know what the other options are; and (b) that early-inning BA against may make the whole idea ludicrous, but I do know this much: Pedro-as-closer would be a hell of a lot of fun for the average fan. Indeed, if he was tried in that role this month and the Mets actually make the playoffs, I would have to consider doing the unthinkable and rooting for New York in the playoffs.

Wishcasting, I suppose, but I like Pedro an awful lot, and I really don't want to see his career end in a flourish of weak, ineffective starts.

1 comment:

TC said...

For the record, Pedro was a relief pitcher way back in the heady days of 1993. For the Dodgers.

That said, I wonder who they expect to take his place in the rotation. And why they think that there's no one in the organization capable of pitching one inning effectively (other than Pedro), but there is someone who can handle 6.

It would be absolutely wild to see what this version of Pedro could do in short relief. Does he have it in him to throw a real fastball, if he only has to throw 15 pitches?