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 [1] — 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 [2].
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.