So Nelson Figueroa is now a Phillie. Good for him, first of all.

Rob Neyer’s got a good post weighing in on Joe Janish’s post weighing in on the Mets’ failure to keep Figueroa in the first place, though — while Joe hints at it — neither really drives the issue home from the Mets’ perspective. Here’s that:

The Mets cut Figueroa — a known and decent, if unspectacular, commodity that likely represented their best rotation insurance policy for a rotation that desperately needs insurance — so they could carry three relievers who have never thrown a Major League pitch, all of whom had options on their contract, and one of whom could not reliably get the ball over the plate in Spring Training, and one of whom should almost certainly be in Double-A working to become a frontline Major League starter.

They cut Figueroa so they could carry Fernando Nieve, whom they were — perhaps justifiably — apparently more worried about losing through waivers.

They cut Figueroa so they could carry Sean Green, who also had options remaining on his contract, and who also could not reliably throw strikes in Spring Training while adjusting to a new arm angle.

No one expects Figueroa, who has been waived a billion times before this without being claimed, to go to Philadelphia and turn into Cy Young, or anything like it. They expect him to go to Philadelphia and continue pitching like Nelson Figueroa.

The gamble the Mets took — and the one I contend with — is that Green, Hisanori Takahashi, Ryota Igarashi and Jenrry Mejia, with a bunch of question marks attached to them, will pitch better than that, and better enough right out of the gate that it will have been worth parting ways with Figueroa despite all the uncertainty on their starting staff.

Color me skeptical.