Comments on: Buzz: Mets were Shopping El Duque

By: gomets019

gomets019 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:23:37 +0000

Let me get this straight. You’re all recommending signing Kyle Lohse to keep him away from the Phillies. What the F*#cking F#*k? Did you invent stupid? WOW! Guess we’ll have to sign Jeff Weaver, Russ Ortiz, Odalis Perez and the rest of the free agent “class”, Let’s not forgot to pre-emptively trade for Carl Pavano and lock him up long term. He may get healthy one of these years and unlike Lohse, he has a chance, however small, to post an era under 5. Better not let the Phils get him. The phils and Lohse are not on terms anyway after lohse spurned an offer of twice what he will get now. Even if they could still do a deal let em. It’s kyle f*#king Lohse, not Brandon Webb. Why do you think hes still available after the start of Sping Training? They’d be doing us a favor by wasting their budget and roster flexibility on that chump. You guys are probably the first to blast Minaya for what you feel are “stupid moves”, shame on you. By the way, has everyone forgot how good El Duque iswhen he plays? He really is the equivelent of Moises Alou and no one questions his value. El Duque is OFTEN DOMINANT. With him, our entire rotation is OFTEN DOMINANT. No other team in baseball can say that. And Pelfrey and even Armas jr are better pitchers than lohse is now and figure to improve more than he ever will.

By: WrightOn

WrightOn — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:14:11 +0000

While I understand your concern, I think Duque costing us the pennant in ’06 is a bit of a stretch.

By: therealsince86

therealsince86 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:41:25 +0000

This is exactly right. Even if Elduque only gets the same amount of starts as last year, if you average his numbers with what Pelfrey should get in the fill in spot it will still be better than Loshe’s numbers for the year.

Besides, I can’t understand why everyone is debating this. This is just media junk. It has never been mentioned by the Mets. Every converstation has had Elduque as a starter. In fact, he may not even be the #5.

By: Another Matt

Another Matt — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 05:05:36 +0000

Totally with you on this.

If Duque makes 20 starts, you could run your grandmother out there for the rest of the year and your #5 spot would still produce more over the year than the league average… by a lot.

If Duque goes down in June and Pelfrey comes up and performs – it’s still fine.

If Duque goes down in July and Pelfrey’s not looking ML-ready, Garcia could be a good option.

The only worry would be Duque and Pedro being down together. But what MLB club can afford to pay 7 genuine big-league starting pitchers? Neither the Yanks or the BoSox can say they have 7 genuine MLB starters on their books right now… at least, not 7 healthy ones.

If the need arises in the season, the odds are an option will be available. There’ll be a price-tag attached… but the odds are the gamble’s worth it.

By: stickguy

stickguy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 01:41:21 +0000

I have gone back and forth on this. if they really had 5 better options, and some depth, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just stick Duque in a reserve role. But, i don’t think they have that.

So, I will stick with what I said before. Put Duque in the rotation, and keep running him out there until he breaks. Get as many innings out of him as possible. With any luck, he will be back for the stretch run and playoffs!

What they do need then is some more back up that actually could be good if called on.

Assuming the starting 5 break camp healthy (Duque can have 2 extra weeks), then Pelfrey can go down and perfect his stuff in AAA, and will be the first man up when someone else goes down. And when he comes up, it should be to stay.

But, what happens if they need another guy? I had hopes for Armas, but Garcia by mid season could be perfect. If not, they are going to have to pray Sosa can do it again for a while, or a rookie bursts onto the scene (like Kendrik last year for the phils, or what’s his name on the Yanks).

By: KinersKornerman

KinersKornerman — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:05:14 +0000

Damn, I can almost hear it now.

OH MY GOODNESH…FWEDDY GAWSHIA IS IN JAWJEZ BAWX!!!

By: Gland

Gland — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:39:58 +0000

Thank you. When El Duque pitched he was the Mets best pitcher. Geez everyone forgets that “little” point, don’t they?

Let him pitch when he can but be ready for when he inevitably breaks down. Sign Lohse, stick him in the bullpen, (and simultaneously cock block the Phillies) and let Pelfrey start in AAA.

By: foul bunt strikeout

foul bunt strikeout — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:10:12 +0000

I think I’d rather have Chet Steadman than Kyle Lohse pitch in the 5th spot of the rotation.

We’d get some cheezy electric guitar riffs when he throws the heater!

By: jamie

jamie — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:10:06 +0000

and because some of us thought he showed improvement in performance and demeanor when he came back. (obviously subjective, though)

By: gowrightgo

gowrightgo — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:08:05 +0000

Cool papa has it right. Lohse is not worth having. Pelfrey needs the space to develop and he is every bit Lohse’s equal now with much brighter upside. Garcia is a good fit for a number of reasons not the least of which is some rotation protection next year when we are poised to potentially lose Op, Pedro and El Duque. Further…Garcia is coming back by mid season or the latter part of the season and he will be fresh and ready at a time when we may need him.

I vote for a 2 yr deal with Garcia, stay away from Lohse and let Pelfrey develop either up here or down in AAA depending on Duque’s health.

Also, lets relax a bit. Spring Training is not even one week old. Pitchers are nowhere near ready. Duque was exceptional at times last year. Our best pitcher at times. He is not a bullpen guy. He has the ability to be a terrific starter and the best #5 starter in the league. Even if he gives you just 20 starts. 15 of them will be very solid and give the team a real chance to win those games.