Before I get into my feelings, here is a brief history for those curious about the career of new Mets pitcher Tim Redding:
Redding was drafted in the 20th round by the Houston Astros in 1997. He was on the Astros major league squad from 2001-2004, where he started a total of 72 games . In ‘01, ‘02 and ‘04 he had an ERA easily above 5.00, while in ‘03 he had his best season as a starter going 10-14 with a 3.68 ERA.
Just before the season began in 2005, he was dealt to the Padres where he remained until mid-season when he was traded to the Yankees. In 2006, Redding pitched for the White Sox AAA affiliate, the Charlotte Knights.
The past two seasons, Redding has been exclusively a starter with the Washington Nationals. In those two seasons, he has a cumulitive 4.53 ERA with a total record of 13-17.
Personally, I am not a fan of this signing if Redding will serve as the team’s fifth starter. To me, Redding is an ideal “sixth starter” who pitches out of the bullpen as a long reliever type, but is a serviceable replacement once injury occurs. Somebody with a career ERA near five doesn’t strike me as an appealing candidate to pitch every fifth day for a team that hopes to contend for a playoff birth.
I would’ve preferred a little creativity out of the front office, such as seriously considering a Koji Uehara type, the Japanese starter who appears to have signed with the Royals. Perhaps the team would consider getting involved in the Kenshin Kawakami negotiations, although his price tag is likely a bit lofty for a fifth starter and it seems that the Braves have beat them to the punch.
Finally, I would’ve preferred Jon Garland, who despite his flaws is a proven innings eater that his won 10+ games in the last seven season and has thrown 190+ innings in all of those seasons. Garland, in these last seven seasons, has averaged easily over six innings per start, while Redding has average around five and a half over the last two years. So, not only is Redding worse and less reliable, but he also will stretch out the bullpen. Garland would certainly have been a few more dollars, but those few extra million would likely translate into a few more wins.
Now, the Mets appear to be in a situation with a weak fifth starter and a dearth of depth behind him, so that when injury does strike – and it always does – the Mets will be tragically unprepared.
On the bright side, perhaps Redding will be able to take advantage of the spacious confines at Citi Field. Redding was succesful in 2007 at RFK Stadium for the Nationals with a 3.64 ERA in 15 starts. Hopefully, the large dimensions at Citi will behoove him similar to the way RFK did that year. As a pitcher who gets a lot of outs via the fly ball, 41.0% groundball outs vs. 37.9% groundball outs according to Fan Graphs, a big field like Citi should work to his advantage by keeping the balls inside the fence.
Pete Lappin (3)
