Note: Maine, Perez and Pelfrey are not Wagner
Prior to yesterday’s game, Jerry Manuel essentially told reporters that he will not use one of his starting pitchers as a replacement for Billy Wagner as the team’s closer, adding:
“John Maine was really a guy I was thinking about, but I think he needs more rest. He needs those days off more than he needs to be a bullpen guy right now. I thought I’d see it a little differently when he came back, but the days off do him a lot of good.”
Meanwhile, according to Manuel, Oliver Perez has been pitching too well to remove him from the rotation, and he does not feel Mike Pelfrey has enough experience to handle the adjustment in the middle of a pennant race.
Nevertheless, in the New York Post, Joel Sherman explains why Pelfrey would be the ideal candidate, writing, “He has the best combination of skills to re-enact for the Mets what Chamberlain did for the Yankees last year: essentially flip from the rotation to address an area eating at both the Mets’ confidence and success.”
By the way, the Mets are 12–3 in Pelfrey’s last 15 starts.
