Beginning the Love-Hate Relationship with Redding

Since we're now officially into Day 2 of the Tim Redding era with the NY Mets, let's start our love-hate relationship with him on the right foot.

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.....