I’ve traded Mike Pelfrey in my mind after every previous start in 2011. Not sure what we’ve gotten for him, but I’ve fantasized that some scout somewhere recommended acquiring Pelf to his employer. “I know he totally sucks, but there’s something there.” As Pelf became marginally less awful against Colorado and Atlanta — not escaping ultimate trouble but not unleashing a torrent of Brent Hinchliffe — I was thinking, “Oh, surely his trade value is going up!”
Friday night against the Diamondbacks, he finally looked like a pitcher worth trading for, or in the Mets’ case, somebody who could get something solid in return. Got in a hometown jam early, untangled himself from it impressively, adjusted to the reality of his ballpark by generating fly ball outs aplenty and went seven strong so the Mets could win their second in a row.
My impulse in my private fantasy league is Sell High. I can never quite get behind Mike Pelfrey in real or other life, no matter that I want to, no matter that I like him (because there’s nothing unlikable about him), no matter what everybody tells me that he’s a much more talented pitcher than I can be convinced. But y’know, if Big Pelf can keep pitching like this, I might pull my GM shingle in from the porch and just hope he can do it again for the Mets.
Lets not get crazy now!…It was the D-Backs!
I am on hold with BIG PELF until he beats a real team!
Listening to Gary & Co. discuss Pelf’s relationship with catchers, his stuff, his college vs. pro career, etc. I didn’t miss that the huge, not terribly subterranean subtext of all their remarks was that Mike Pelfrey is dumb as a rock — an impression I’ve always had as well.
Not that this makes him a bad person by any means. But it does make you wonder (or at least it makes me wonder) if he’s ever going to be more than a body of various degrees of warmth in the approximate middle of a rotation. That can be valuable in itself, but it’s also extremely easy to overvalue.
I’ve also had that impression about Mr. Pelfrey, Jason. But honestly, that shouldn’t preclude a pitcher from being successful. If various accounts are to be believed, Sid Fernandez was sort of –shall we say– sheltered about how things worked in the grown-up world outside the white lines, and that didn’t prevent El Sid from dominating and having a successful MLB career (when healthy).
If others can do it, so should Mike Pelfrey. Hopefully maturity (and consistent mound success)arrives for him sooner than later, and that he’ll be a Met when it happens.
Is it me, or is Mike Nickeas a good luck charm? Seems like the pitchers have much better performances with him behind the plate.