OK, I’ll get to the links in a few minutes, but I’m riled up about all this fifth-starter stuff that seems to be the talk of the Internet today. Howard Megdal wrote a column for SNY.tv advocating Nelson Figueroa for the fifth spot in the Mets’ rotation.

Sam Page responded to my post from yesterday and Howard’s column, among others, with a comprehensive post at Amazin’ Avenue laying out a series of scenarios. He ultimately concluded that the most competitive rotation for the Mets would involve sending Oliver Perez to the bullpen something he and everyone else knows they won’t ever actually do.

Meanwhile, at Fangraphs, Marc Hulet suggested a new approach to the fifth-starter’s role. He thinks teams should employ a “three-man job share,” where three different pitchers rotate in the fifth spot in the rotation.

In turn, Rob Neyer weighed in on Hulet’s plan and pointed out that it’s a bit specific to the Blue Jays — the example he uses — and that, though the current system of trotting out unqualified retreads is certainly flawed, it’s not clear Hulet’s is markedly better.

Last night, before I read Hulet’s post or Neyer’s response, I began a post about a completely hypothetical idea for the Mets based on something I noted in this item on The Book Blog.

I don’t have The Book handy, but the e-mailing reader points out that “MGL states that most teams would be better served to use three long relievers instead of their fifth best starter.”

It makes some sense, based on the premise that batters get progressively better with increased appearances against a particular pitcher in a game.

It’s not going to happen for the Mets out of the gate, and I’m not certain it should. The team will certainly give Johan Santana, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey and Perez spots in the rotation, and the guy who appears most likely to win the fifth spot, Jon Niese, also appears reasonably likely to be better than all but Santana.

But once one of those guys suffers an injury or proves ineffective, the Mets could feasibly have Figueroa, Hisanori Takashi and Fernando Nieve on the squad as potential replacements, assuming they follow my suggestion, which they won’t, which is part of what makes this completely hypothetical.

None of the potential starters would be ready to throw deep into a game, so, in reality, the Mets would likely ask one to start and pitch a few innings and work on stretching him out in subsequent starts.

But what if they didn’t?

What if, for one turn in the rotation, the Mets just used three relievers?

In theory, it would maximize the effectiveness of all three in that game, since likely none would have to face the same batter more than twice. And it would keep all three fresh enough to allow them to maintain their bullpen roles during the rest of the rotation, so the Mets could essentially have eight relievers while only carrying 12 pitchers. Plus it would guarantee regular work for the long man in the ‘pen, probably an added benefit.

It would require deft management of the bullpen, and I’m not sure Jerry Manuel would be the guy to handle that. Plus, the reliever rotation spot would almost certainly have to be sandwiched by the Mets’ two most reliable starters — Santana and someone — since the bullpen would be shorthanded the day before and after.

It’s not going to happen, but I wonder if it would be more effective than simply inserting one of Figueroa, Takahashi or Nieve into the rotation. I imagine the plan’s downfall would actually be the rest of the Mets’ rotation, which probably — and depressingly — isn’t good enough to endure a couple of days a week with a short-staffed bullpen.

Amazing:

While manager Jerry Manuel went north to watch Jon Niese face the Astros Sunday, Figueroa started against a college team at a half-empty Tradition Field. The biggest applause for Figueroa came when he struck out Anthony Toth to end the third inning, and it wasn’t entirely for him.

As part of an in-game promotion, one section in the stands won free tacos as a result of the strikeout. Figueroa laughed and pointed to the crowd.

“No disrespect to the batter,” he said, “but tacos are good.”

You’re damned right they are.

Figueroa appears to be on something of a press tour of late, with lengthy features on him popping up in just about every local paper. It seems the going story — or at least the story he’s putting out — is that if he doesn’t make the Major League Mets, he’ll refuse his assignment to Buffalo and sign a lucrative deal with a Japanese team.

It makes sense for a player of Figueroa’s age — especially one with a family — to want to shore himself up financially before his career ends, and so good for Figueroa for being honest about it.

Still, I’ve got to figure at least some of the sentiment comes from feeling just a bit jilted by the club he grew up rooting for, since the Mets don’t appear to be giving him the time of day after a stellar year in Buffalo and a solid performance down the stretch in 2009.

And it is perplexing how the Mets could seem so willing to let Figueroa, almost certainly their best in-house insurance option for the starting rotation, leave the organization.

If Jon Niese cracks the rotation out of Spring Training, the Mets will enter the season with four starting pitchers coming off injury-plagued 2009 seasons. The fifth, Mike Pelfrey, plans to throw more breaking balls than ever before.

And yet Figueroa, a rubber-armed craftsman capable of eating innings in the back of the rotation, could very well be pitching thousands of miles away when the Mets inevitably need a fill-in starter.

Francisco Rodriguez, Pedro Feliciano, Ryota Igarashi and Kiko Calero are likely locks to start the season in the Mets’ bullpen, and probably should be.

The Mets appear to want to keep Fernando Nieve in the Major League relief corps as well. He’s out of options, and though he has yet to show he can get batters out as effectively as Figueroa, the club likes his upside and praises his versatility.

So that’s five. That leaves some combination of Jenrry Mejia, Hisanori Takahashi, Bobby Parnell, Sean Green and Figueroa for the two remaining bullpen spots, assuming the Mets carry seven relievers.

Mejia, as discussed many, many times, should not be any where near the Major League bullpen when the season starts. He may be, but he shouldn’t be.

Takahashi has been dominant in Grapefruit League play — even better than Mejia, really: 8 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 0 ER, 10 Ks, 1 walk. I’m skeptical, of course, like I am of all Spring Training stats, especially since Takahashi is a deceptive pitcher most hitters stateside have never seen before.

Both Parnell and Green have options and could be sent to Triple-A Buffalo. Adam Rubin reported yesterday that the Mets would be less likely to demote Green because he’s owed nearly a million dollars — a hilarious failure to understand sunk cost that set me into a tizzy in a post I’ve since deleted because the moves haven’t actually happened yet.

Assuming, for the sake of this argument, Takahashi has earned a role in the bullpen, the Mets can keep Figueroa around by sending both Green and Parnell down and sending Mejia to Binghamton to start games.

It wouldn’t make sense if it was clear that doing so would create a significantly worse Major League bullpen at the season’s outset, but it won’t.

The bullpen — and indeed, the entire pitching staff — is a fluid thing, especially early in the year. The Mets, with so many injury risks, should take caution to hang onto all their chips.

I put up a lengthy post earlier ripping the Mets for a bunch of potential roster moves suggested in Adam Rubin’s article today, but I’ve since decided it was way more negative than I’d like to be at the season’s outset, especially considering none of the  contested moves have actually been made yet.

I’ve taken the post down and I’ve saved all the content for when they actually happen.

After months of vacillating, I bit the bullet and purchased this t-shirt today:

For a while I hoped it might come down in price or that a former MLB.com co-worker might be able to snag one for me at that company’s annual sample sale, but I grew concerned that Extra-Base Omir could be traded from the Mets soon and the shirt become unavailable.

I couldn’t risk moving forward in this life without owning the Omir Santos t-shirt, and so, while I realize there’s a strong possibility it will be hugely discounted in the near future, the extra $10 or whatever was worth the peace of mind I gain in knowing that the Omir Santos shirt will certainly be mine in short time.

Sadly, I imagine I will not be able to resist the temptation to crack the bag open and start wearing it soon after Opening Day, even though I recognize the shirt will get progressively funnier as Santos fades into oblivion.

Or perhaps it will become funnier yet if by some chance his tenure in Flushing proves enough to gain him entry in Major League Baseball’s weird and somewhat arbitrary fraternity of backup catchers, and in 10 years wearing it will be akin to wearing something commemorating Henry Blanco’s rookie season with the Rockies in 1999.

Either way, it should arrive at my doorstep by the end of next week, meaning it is entirely possible the Mets part ways with Santos the same day I begin ironically owning a t-shirt in his honor.

Jerry Manuel:

“I’m still holding out. I don’t have a day. I’m still holding out. I’m still believing that he’ll appear in parking lot (spot) No. 7 anyday.”

Samuel Beckett:

“Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come.”