01-24-2005, 06:19 PM
Quote:# Do Beltran and Pedro Martinez make the Mets the favorite in the NL East? We haven't found anyone yet who thinks so.
"Their biggest offseason need, to me, was relief pitching -- and they haven't addressed that at all," said one NL assistant GM. "You look at their five starting pitchers. How deep into the game are they going to go? I wouldn't call [Tom] Glavine even a seven-inning guy anymore. Pedro is a six-inning guy. You don't know what you're going to get from Victor Zambrano. Benson has never been a given. [Steve] Trachsel is the only one in the bunch who gives them innings. So even if they have the best one-through-six-inning starters in the league, somebody's got to pitch the seventh and the eighth."
And here's the review from another NL executive: "That team still has some holes. [Mike] Piazza is still the catcher, and that's a defensive nightmare. You've got uncertainty in the middle of the infield. They're moving [Kazuo] Matsui to second base, and that's easier said than done. With [Jose] Reyes, you're not sure if you're even going to get him on the field every day. You don't know what's happening in the outfield besides Beltran. Pedro -- the arrow is pointing down. Glavine -- the arrow is pointing down. Zambrano, Benson -- you don't know what you've got there. . . . That's a lot of holes for a team that's spent that much money."
# One Mets development many baseball people will be monitoring is how often they're able to get Pedro an extra day of rest, because the difference in how he pitched last year -- on extra rest vs. normal rest -- was eye-popping.
Starts on four days' rest (counting the postseason): 7-5, 4.99 ERA, 9.4 hits per 9 IP.
Starts on extra rest (counting the postseason): 11-5, 2.91 ERA, 6.6 hits per 9 IP.