NY Sports Dog: How Bad was the Redding Signing?

Saturday, March 14, 2009

How Bad was the Redding Signing?

As Adam Rubin of the Daily News reports:

Omar Minaya said Tim Redding will start the season on the disabled list with shoulder fatigue.

Redding has a guaranteed contract for $2.25 million, and was headed for the long-relief role. The GM said the 31-year-old righthander is not experiencing pain and does not need an MRI exam, since images were taken before he signed Jan. 12.

"He just doesn't feel strength in the shoulder area," Minaya said. "The fact that he doesn't have strength in the shoulder area, we are going to pretty much shut him down now for a little while. He'll be rehabbing before he gets on the mound again."

Loyal readers know that I was against this move from the start. Here is my most "positive" piece on Redding:
Reasons to love him:
Reasons to hate him:
So all in all we have a few more reasons to love Tim Redding than to hate him.

Sure he's no Pedro, he's not really good, he's never had a plus pitch, or pitched in the postseason, but he's a Met....sort of.

So let's bottom line this thing:

The Mets are not winning a championship trotting Tim Redding out there every 5th day. We have a pretty big sample size out of him in 7 big league seasons, and the vast majority of his career, including the second half of 2008, has been marginal to awful (and I'm being kind), but he could help...at least Omar thinks so.

My hope? That he loses the 5th starter spot, but still helps the team...Omar Minaya has stated that he plans on having 7-8 candidates for the 5 starting spots and he wants it to be a competition.

Given that Redding pretty much has a roster spot guaranteed at that money, he could surprise us as the long man/spot starter....that's the hope anyway.

Don't you wish you had your jersey retired from Monroe Community College?

I need coffee....Tim Redding is a Met....holy crap......Love, Hate.....
The worst part is we really need him right now, especially with the uncertainty surrounding the 5th starter role.

What this does do is open a roster spot for either Stokes, Parnell, or O'Day, though it also muddies the situation down the road.

Does this move to the disabled list in any way jeopardize the Mets season? No, of course not. But it also adds fuel to what has thus far been a disastrous fight for the 5th starter position.

Many of us have been saying it all along, and at the risk of "piling on" I will say it again--one year of Pedro is worth whatever risk is involved--physical, financial, whatever...bring him in.
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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brutal signing.

Anonymous said...

Don't you think we ought to wait till the end of the season to ask a question like that? If Redding doesn't help, then yes, it was a bad signing. If he does help, then you're asking now looks kind of silly. Patience my friends, patience.

Dave Singer said...

Better yet, why not wait 2 years? Why even talk about this now?

All you need to do is look at Tim Redding's career numbers to realize he has never pitched to the caliber you want in a team with enough stars to win the whole thing.

There were better options than Redding--that's the point.

Look at his second half of 2008; look at the fact that he had surgery; look at the fact he gave up 13 HRs in his last 51 innings pitched prior to 2009.

So yes, I will agree with you that a better evaluation can be made after the season, and I will also say that Redding was a bad signing (in my opinion).

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with the second comment above, despite your rebuttal, Dave; I think you need to wait until after the season ends (or at least until after the season begins maybe?) to properly evaluate this deal.

What's funny, though, is that you claim that the Redding signing is a bad one and you think that signing Pedro is a good idea. Yet the evidence that you use to support your stance that the Redding deal is a bad one can just as easily be used to support the stance that a Pedro deal would be a bad one. For example, the fact that Redding will open the season on the DL; well in the last three years, has Pedro suggested that he can be any more reliable, health-wise? "Look at [Redding's] second half of 2008"; well maybe you should look at Pedro's second half of 2008, which was pretty crappy. "Look at the fact that [Redding] had surgery"; well look at the fact that Pedro has recently had multiple, more serious surgeries. "Look at the fact [Redding] gave up 13 HRs in his last 51 innings pitched prior to 2009"; well Pedro gave up 19 HRs in 109 innings last year, which is hardly much better than Redding.

I think by the end of this year, it will be clear that signing Redding (at half the cost) was smarter than signing Pedro. Maybe I'm right; maybe I'm wrong. But let's wait a few more months before coming to any conclusions.

Dave Singer said...

Good post Mike, and I'll say this...

The beauty of baseball--differing opinions.

The difference between Redding and Pedro is pedigree.

With the two of them both likely to fail in 2009, I would rather take my chances with Pedro, and that includes over Livan, Redding and Garcia.

As far as your opinion that Redding will have a better year, or be a smarter signing, than Pedro, we'll see.

I truly hope you're right and I'm wrong.

Dave Singer said...

I will disagree with you on this...

you wrote:

"Look at the fact [Redding] gave up 13 HRs in his last 51 innings pitched prior to 2009"; well Pedro gave up 19 HRs in 109 innings last year, which is hardly much better than Redding."

Hardly better? It's significantly better.

In those same 109 innings, Redding would have given up 28 HRs!

That is a heck of a lot more than "hardly better"....it's better by leaps and bounds.

Anonymous said...

Fair enough. My point was that just like Redding, Pedro was prone to the longball last year. But, you're right, Pedro was significantly better in that department.

Dave Singer said...

Mike--one thing's for sure, neither guy is a lock.

I hope Redding gets healthy and does yeoman's work for us this season!

Thanks again for your thoughtful comments here...really enjoyed them.

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