Is Adding Ollie Enough?

Now that Derek Lowe has taken the bucks to sign with the Braves, the Mets are expected to make an even bigger full court press for Oliver Perez.

Perez, a lefthander with stunning stuff that confounds even the best hitters, is in Omar Minaya's scope and locked in as Priority Numero Uno.

The numbers will surely have to include a fourth year, and the overall tag will be in the $44-$48M range.

While this is a move Mets fans insist has to happen for the team to contend in 2009, the question begs: is it enough?

With Ollie in the fold the Mets rotation will look like this:

Johan Santana, LHP, 16-7, 2.53, 206 K, 1.15 WHIP
John Maine, RHP, 10-8, 4.18 ERA, 122 K, 1.35 WHIP
Oliver Perez, LHP, 10-7, 4.22 ERA, 180 K, 1.40 WHIP
Mike Pelfrey, RHP, 13-11, 3.72, 110 K, 1.36 WHIP
Tim Redding, RHP, 10-11, 4.95 ERA, 120 K, 1.43 WHIP

It's not a "bad" rotation, but is it truly a good one?

It features a dominant Ace at the head of the ship and tons of potential in the 2-4 slots, but it also features a young pitcher coming off injury in the #2 slot, a very young pitcher in the #4 slot who found himself after struggling mightily, and a #5 starter with a career ERA+ of 89.

Then again, it also looks a heck of a lot like last year's rotation with a more dependable #5 starter.

With the improvements to the bullpen, and a healthy year from all five starters, those 10, 13 and 16 win seasons could improve by 2 to 4 games per pitcher.

And the Mets would have themselves one heck of a starting rotation.