Gee, what does a guy have to do?

By: Sergio Pineda

It’s usually a given that any young starter who has notched his first 7 starts with a cumulative 2.22 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP would be easily looked at as a promising and exciting part of an average rotation.  Not the case on the New York Mets and not the case if your name is Dillon Gee.

As a reward for his quality start last Saturday (6 IP 2 ER 5 K) Gee was sent to join the likes of Taylor Buchholz and Ryota Igarashi and invited to take a seat in the good old bullpen.  It’s hardly fair that a guy who has paid his dues in the minor leagues registering over 400 lifetime innings at the farm cannot even get the opportunity for a repeat cameo on the back of such a stellar outing.  Such is life in Gee’s world these days.

The latest company line by Mets brass is that Gee will be used as “insurance” in case one of the main rotation guys gets injured or needs to miss a start.  This would all be fine and dandy if the starters were Koosman, Seaver or Koufax but when you’re talking about Capuano, Pelfrey and Dickey the only thing that should matter is results and nothing else.

Pelfrey has been outright putrid in almost every single start so far in the young 2011 season and nobody would even blink if he was given a vacation and skipped a few times in favor of Gee.  And yes, the latest word is that Pelfrey is coming down with the flu or should we say the I-don’t-want-to-face-the-Phillies flu and if so, our hero Dillon might get a chance at his 8^th consecutive quality start.

Capuano is another guy who can easily be peeled off the rotation, his unsightly 5.95 ERA 24 Hits/19 Inn coupled with a .296 BA against would make me run the other way and beg for Gee to take the mound in his behalf.  Not on the New York Mets and not if your name is Dillon Gee.

Maybe the underlying crux is that Gee wasn’t supposed to be good, after all here’s a guy who was picked in the 21^st round and apparently nobody has any faith that he can hold up as a starter.  Again, this skepticism would play well on a team with a rugged and established starting staff… it doesn’t play at all on the 2011 New York Mets.

Perhaps if Chris Young goes back on hiatus or Dickey’s manicurist slips her file then and only then will we get to see Dillon Gee get what he has earned, what he deserves – a fair and honest shot at being an MLB starting pitcher.  And of course we could all collectively breathe a sigh of relief and say gee, it’s about time.