A funny thing happened on the way to the Mets recent sweep of Arizona. Dillon Gee, with less then 80 total pitches thrown after 7 innings, was taken out of the game. And I, for one, was actually happy. I've always been a Gee fan, ever since he made it onto this team in 2010. But, he has always seemed to be THAT guy. He is that guy, who amongst all the consistent 'quality starts' thrown (55% of is career starts were considered quality starts), always seems to have an ERA over 4.00. For Gee, He is known to throw strikes, with a career mark of 2.9 BB/9 innings. And with his K rate being at around 6.6/9 innings, here is where it begins to stand out. Untimely (unlucky) hits given up. In his career, Dillon has averaged giving up about 1 hit per inning, and 1 homer per 9 innings. And, as many Mets fans know, these hits seem to always be at exactly the worst time.
During one of Gee's earlier starts this year, play by play man Gary Cohen eluded to the mysterious number 90. 90 seemingly being the number of pitches, in which something seems to go wrong with Gee, during his starts. Now, obviously, there must be more to it then that. There is also the obvious factor of the fact that, the longer a pitcher stays in a game, the more at bats each hitter gets to figure out the pitcher. And so, once the hitters seem to get that 3rd look at Gee, there are times when some of those untimely hits occur.
However, as Mets fans also know, there seem to be times when this team is damned if they do, and damned if they don't. Which would be the games I which Gee came in that one extra inning, after 90 pitches, and lost that great game he was having. There are also those games in which Gee was removed from the game, only to see the bullpen blow it up. So what is the right thing to do with Gee? I say, believe in your starter. Believe in the young man who, throughout the past few years has heard all about Mejia, Harvey, Wheeler, Thor and Montero. Heck, he even seemingly was looking into a mirror, while watching Jeremy Hefner go from long relief, to starter, to possible Gee replacement. Yet, here we are, in 2014. Harvey is not pitching. Hefner is not pitching. Wheeler is still working out the kinks. Mejia is simply trying to be healthy enough to pitch every 5th day, and Gee........ is just being the 'same ol Gee' (is anyone enjoying the old rap references?).
I'm willing to put my faith in a guy who, again, throws strikes, is now healthy enough to eat up innings, and statistically will go out there at least every other start, and give up 3 or less runs, thus giving your team a chance. So I'm sticking to my man Gee. Give him the chance to solve the mystery that is the 7th inning and beyond. Let him get beyond the number 90. I don't know what the future holds for Dillon on this team, but I currently prefer to live in the present. None of the young studs I mentioned earlier in this post have logged the number of innings, if any innings at all, at the MLB level, as Gee has. And even though Gee is currently starting season off with his lowest K/9 inning total since his rookie season (currently 5.7/9), he is currently also putting up a career best in hits per 9 innings (currently at 6.4/9 innings, with a career number of 8.7/9)
So, as we continue on with the season. And as we continue to worry, each time the game enters the 6th/7th innings and beyond, and the pitch count closes in on 90, we should remember that Dillon is working towards doing exactly what anyone can ask of him. A man, still pretty much coming off of a serious heart scare, is out there to reach his goal of logging 200 innings. He's giving up less hits. He's walking less per 9 this year, then is his career average. And he's giving his team a chance to win. That's all we can ask for, of a guy who quickly went from long relief, to SP5,to opening day starter, and showed the courage and determination handle it all.
I'd say it all is a function of the quality of the pen. If one feels a tiring Gee is better than the bullpen choices, keep him going and cross your fingers. I we had a pen like the Braves have had in recent years, 7 and he is done and let the elite bullpen team take over.
ReplyDeleteMets still more like the first scenario than the 2nd.
I would have loved to see Sid Fernandez in his prime getting yanked after 6 or 7 innings and then bringing in the 2012 Braves bullpen guys. He'd have had an incredible win-loss record.
This is an entire different game than the one Thomas, Herb, and I grew up watching. I remember games when no pitchers would even sit out in the pen for the first eight innings.
ReplyDeleteThe 'required' length of a successful start seems to be 7 innings now and Thomas is right... it's enough if you have the right pen to back it up.
I think, in the long run, Gee will actually turn out to be this year's ace (followed closely by Mejia).
Who knew...