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Time To Give Niese A Shot?

By Rob Harding on July 4, 2009 at 10:00 pm  

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With Fernando Nieve struggling with his command for the second straight start, is it time to think about calling up Jon Niese? John Maine is no where near ready to coming back tothis team, and it could be awhile before Maine could make an impact. With that being said, I believe it makes sense to give Niese a shot. In his last five starts for Triple AAA Buffalo, he has allowed five runs in 34.1 innings. In those last five starts Niese also has a 29-8 K/BB ratio.

Nieve has been a great story, but is he really the answer to the rotation? No, which is why I think he would be better suited for the pen, and would give the Mets another setup arm while JJ Putz recovers from elbow surgery. Of course, all of this means nothing if the Mets can’t acquire any offense (hint, hint Omar).


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  • It's definitely plausible and not a poor idea, but we already have to give Oliver Perez the same type of evaluation this coming week. His horrid pitching performances (nothing has really struck me as $36 million stuff) hasn't convinced me he's at all ready to be in our rotation. After Perez sieves through, I'd give Niese the shot.
  • cver
    Hi Rob! I think Niese is actually 4 for 5 in starts, which is probably better than anyone we have right now, even though it's obviously a small sample. You've got to keep Nieve with us, until proven otherwise. The big question is what to do with Ollie. A lot of us don't ever want to see the guy again, but he's got that contract. Of course, I felt that way about Castillo and he's earned back some confidence from me. That said, Castillo worked hard and apologized for his poor performance, while Ollie seemed at least to be a bit lazy. Other questions are what's gonna happen to Redding and what can we expect from Livan in the second half, who was a very pleasant surprise, until his last outing. We need bullpen help and offensive help from outside "maybe". It's not impossible that our starting rotation could come together with some juggling, but it's hard to say. It depends a lot on the status and abilities of Maine, Perez, Nieve and Niese. If Santana, Pelfrey and Livan can keep it up (especially if Pelf can step it up a little) and we can get 2 of those other 4 to pitch well, we'll be OK with the starters. The bullpen has Feliciano (usually good, but not always), K-ROD (nearly automatic), Green (has his great moments, but definitely can't be penciled in as the 8th inning guy), Putz (hurt), Wagner (hurt), Parnell (Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde - maybe the Joe Smith of last year), Stokes (flashes, but generally unreliable), Misch (not bad - a good chance now to see what he's made of), Dessens (cut). One big problem which has been looming since before the season started is that now that Ollie is supposedly healthy (I wonder if he was really injured, but apparently so), when he comes up, you can't send him down again really. So, he's gotta be good or he'll just be wasting a roster spot (the expensive version of Marlon Anderson).
  • cver
    Whoops, sorry - I mean Nieve is 4 for 5 - and a belated Happy 4th to the Hot Foot Gang!
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