Tim Marchman, in the New York Sun, discusses three off-season questions for the Mets. Among them is how creative they intend to get with their pitching staff.

Maine and Perez both perform better on long rest, El Duque cannot make more than 25 or so starts in a season, and Martinez will presumably need extra rest; but none of this need be a problem. Assuming the Mets sign Livan Hernandez, they could put Pelfrey, Humber, or even Aaron Heilman a clear shot at a job by running a six-man rotation for a month or two at the beginning of the season, saving their best pitchers’ arms for the stretch. Something like this could turn a weakness into a strength.

I completely agree with Marchman. I think the Mets should sign Livan whether or not they sign Johan Santana. The Mets secure themselves with Livan either way, and it also buys them some decent insurance if they fail to acquire Santana.

Livan has proven to be durable and reliable, pitching 200+ innings on a regular basis, and acquiring him would allow El Duque to move to the pen whether or not the Mets add Santana to their rotation.

The Mets need the pitching depth with or without Santana, because they cannot be assured that Pedro or El Duque will last, and they don’t know that Mike Pelfrey is truly ready.

The question, again, is how creative will the Mets get with their starting rotation? While I think Marchman’s idea makes sense, I suspect they’re unlikely to be this creative, unfortunately.

Hot Foot contributor Tommy Dee adds his reasons for why the Mets should sign Livan now…

Certainly Livan is a flawed pitcher, but there are a few other points why I agree that bringing him here makes sense.

I hate desperation starters: Is there anything worse than scoring tickets to a game only to see a Jason Vargas or Dave Williams penciled in as “tonight’s starter”? The combination of Vargas/Williams/Brian Anderson/ Chan Ho Park and Phil Humber managed a 3-8 record in their starts last year. A 5-6 record would have meant a playoff birth. The easy answer to the idea that Livan had comparable numbers to those guys, is that he managed to go deeper into games consistently. With this offense, the idea is to get a pitcher deeper into games is a huge relief on the bullpen. In 26 of his 33 starts in 2007, Livan pitched at least 6 innings. The other 5 starters mentioned managed to make it 6 innings twice. Take care of the front end and the back end will take care of itself.

He’s pitched well against the Phillies- Jimmy Rollins is just 9-51 (.176) while Ryan Howard is 3-18 with 3 HRs against Livan in their career. The idea that you can trot anyone out against a division rival is pretty silly. Livan can still get outs against the league’s top hitters, which you cannot say about average free agent, spot starting arms the Mets have trotted out over the past few years.

Send El Duque to the Pen- Let’s face it, one thing we love about El Duque, and even Pedro for that matter, is their propensity to take a summer hiatus. Who knows what they do, but odds are one or both of them will spend a few weeks away from the team on the DL, or fishing in the Dominican. Livan does not. Putting Livan in the rotation virtually guarantees the 200 IP that left when Tom Glavine departed, and allows El Duque to be the long reliever/ 6th starter, which should allow he and Pedro the time they need to be strong towards season’s end.

He can hit- Nothing is more underrated in the National League than a pitcher’s ability to handle the bat. Tom Glavine was great at sacrificing, moving runners along and getting on base, allowing Jose Reyes and the top of the order to have plenty of RBI chances. Just 7 strikeouts in 75 AB’s and a .231 average means that pitchers don’t have the luxury of pitching around Brian Schneider.

I can’t say I’m overly excited about the possibility of bringing Livan to Shea, but when you weigh (no pun intended) the positives verses the negatives, I’d sign Livan to a one-year, incentive based contract. He’s virtually a guarantee to replace Glavine’s innings and his presence takes some heat off Pedro and Duque,. As long as it doesn’t come at the cost of development of Mike Pelfrey, who we want to see get 35 starts, a one-year deal does make sense.

In addition, Hot Foot contributor Matt Matros makes his case for why the Mets should pass on Livan.