With Chris Capuano in the fold already, the Mets are moving toward bolstering their rotation even more. According to sources at Meet the Matts and Matt Cerrone, Chris Young will be pitching in the spacious Citi Field next season. Lets take a more in depth look at him..
For Chris Young to be a successful starting pitcher for the Mets in 2011, he must get his walk rate down a little bit and keep striking guys out, if he turns out to be an Oliver Perez signing, I will be certainly surprised. I think Young has the talent and drive to be successful again at the MLB level, just look at his small sample from last year when he originally returned to the SD rotation..
Chris Young 2010: 2-0 0.90 ERA 20 IP 11 BB 15 K 10 H 1.05 WHIP
I do not think that WHIP or ERA is sustainable throughout a full MLB season, but it is encouraging to see that he was able to produce wins immediately after returning from his injury. The 2011 season will be part of the process where Young will once again have to prove his worth on the mound, and I think he can do it, I really do.
Chris Young Career Stat Line: 48-34 3.80 ERA 7.4 H/9 7.8 K/9 3.5 BB/9 1.21 WHIP
Chris Young is 6' 10 and 280 pounds, he is a HUGE guy. You would think most batters would be intimidated facing such a huge man on the pitching mound. Young is coming off of surgery and he is in his second year of recovering, which is usually when Tommy John patients usually start coming back to form, just look at Fransisco Liariano from the Minnesota Twins, for example. This makes a Chris Young signing even more enjoyable. Lets hope Young can bounce back from his surgery and get back to the dominating pitcher he was in 06-07.
Looking at that, he is definately worth a look. This would be another low risk/high reward signing for the Mets this off season and these are the signings that Omar Minaya never made, with the exception to low balling minor league free agents. Sandy Alderson is just the man for this job and he is proving it already this off season.
Lets say for a minnute that this is accurate news, which I cannot verify at this moment, but lets just speculate..
This would leave the rotation - AT BEST, looking like this at the end of the 2011 season.. (Potential Rotation spot if the SP performs well over expectations and reaches his potential or overcomes injury in 2011)
Johan Santana (1)
Mike Pelfrey (1)
R.A. Dickey (3)
Jon Niese (2)
Chris Young (2)
Chris Capuano (3)
Dillion Gee (4)
Jennry Mejia (3)
That is 8 pitchers on the Mets roster capable of winning some games. Six of those pitchers have already won atleast 10 games in a season during their career.. not including Oliver Perez. I'll take that.
That being said, how would you feel about the Mets Starting Rotation in 2011 if the Mets were to sign Chris Young to a 1 year deal worth approximately 2.5 Million with incentives?
