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:

• Zero chance you'll have to buy your kid a Tim Redding jersey...he is saving you money
  
• He is a New Yorker. Tim Redding was born and raised in Rochester
• One of his kids is named Shea
• Has four pitches: change, curve, fastball, slider
• 7-3, 3.85 ERA, .258 BAA before the all-star break
• 182 innings last year, and the Mets need innings
• Relatively inexpensive, could shift to the bullpen as a long man
• 176 innings with a 119 ERA+ in 2003
• Doesn't walk a lot of batters
• 3-1, 3.41 ERA vs Phils in 2008
• First athlete to have his jersey retired by Monroe Community College

Reasons to hate him:

• He pitched for the Yankees
• Has four pitches--all of them are average
• 3-8, 6.82 ERA, .303 BAA after the all-star break
• He wasn't good enough to make the Washington Nationals out of spring training in 2007
• 0-6 with a 10.57 ERA in 2005
• Gives up a staggering amount of HRs (13 in his last 51 innings)
• Pitched 7 or more innings twice in 32 starts in 2008
• 1-4, 7.76 ERA vs Marlins in 2008
• Not really a bargain at $2.25M with incentives

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.