I’ve now referred several times to the post I made Sunday and subsequently took down because I deemed it too negative, even by my standards.
One of the reasons I didn’t like the post was that in it, I toyed with the idea that if Jon Niese hadn’t distinguished himself from the Mets’ other fifth starter candidates by the end of Spring Training, he should be sent to Triple-A Buffalo to hone his game. I argued that since Niese has options left on his contract, the Mets should simply demote him until they inevitably need him in the rotation rather than risk losing a different starter before the season even started.
A few hours later, I remembered that I don’t really believe that. Niese has distinguished himself from the rest of the Mets’ fifth-starter candidates. Maybe not this spring, but across the course of his young career.
He’s the one, after all, with the big looping curveball he can control, and the solid fastball and good cutter. He’s the youngest of the bunch, and the one with the biggest upside. He’s the one who posted ground-ball rates above 50-percent in Triple-A the last two seasons and managed to get batters out in Buffalo last year despite a hilariously horrendous defense behind him.
Niese, a 23-year-old homegrown prospect with enough Triple-A success to suggest he’s ready to help the Major League Mets, is exactly the type of player I should advocate for in Spring Training position battles. And yet Sunday, temporarily blinded by the Mets’ frustrating decision-making process with Jenrry Mejia and the rest of their bullpen, I found myself considering that Niese should be back in Buffalo to start the season.
He should not be. And the good news is it appears he will not be.
I have no idea by what method Jerry Manuel came to decide that Jon Niese should be ahead of his competitors in the race for the Mets’ fifth-starter job. It sure seems like Spring Training results matter a whole lot in some of the team’s position battles and not at all in some others, and heck, for all I know, there’s some good reason for that.
Whatever. I’ll avoid getting too bogged down in the process this one time. What matters here is the outcome: The man — the young man — best suited to winning games for the Mets in April (not to mention down the road) now appears most likely to be in the position to do so.
That’s something good.
Tedquarters 
“I have no idea by what method Jerry Manuel came to decide that Jon Niese should be ahead of his competitors in the race for the Mets’ fifth-starter job.”
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
You said it.
Ted, the only potential problem I see with this is that it means Figgy is probably gone to Japan. And there’s a decent chance that either Maine or Ollie does not make it past May or June. So if one of them have to be replaced in the rotation, you’ve eliminated Niese as the possible replacement.
It’s true. My solution, though, would be to send Parnell, Green and Mejia down, keeping Figueroa, Takahashi and Nieve in the MLB ‘pen.
I think your solution is right. That would give us K-Rod, Feliciano, Iggy, Calero, Nieve, Takahashi and Figgy in the bullpen, with Parnell and Green in AAA. That’s one closer, two power righties, two lefties, a righty who is a slider specialist, and a classic long man.
With Takahashi and Figgy in the pen, they will be free to allow Nieve to audition as a late inning guy. If there is an injury to any starter, Figgy can slide into the rotation and they can call up either Parnell or Green to replace him in the pen.
The problem is that it shouldn’t even be a question of Niese vs Figgy, but for some reason they’re determined to not put Figgy in the bullpen over Nieve.