Who do the Mets need more, John Lackey or Matt Holliday?

Now a debate like this goes deeper than the type of players that Holliday and Lackey are is this debate goes to the core of the problem of what do the Mets need more in 2010. There has been a lot of talk about the how the Mets need a jump in power, how they need more of an offensive presence at the plate. In that situation Holliday is an excellent choice. Its more than just homers with Holliday as he hits the ball hard. Hitting the ball hard, especially in a stadium like Citi Field, is a fantastic quality as that means more extra bases and more RBI”s. The problem, the Mets have a crowded outfield already with Beltran, Francoeur and Pagan. Pagan is the odd man out, but there are reasons to keep him around (but I’m not saying he is a bonafide starting OF)

Here’s the other arguement. Outside of Santana, the Mets really had no consistent starters. Historically, great teams have an ace, and they have at least one other pitcher that could be an ace on other MLB teams. Getting another consistent starter could do wonders for this Mets team all over. The bullpen (theoretically) would be used less, there would be pressure taken off of the Mets bats and there will be pressure taken off of the other Mets starters. Lackey could very well be that player for the Mets. He throws strikes and he’s intense. His numbers are good, borderline great, and the Mets don’t need amazing (they still have Santana) so this could be a great fit. The downside, the Mets are really crowded with starters. The problem is that they are all either injury threats or just mediocre. These players include Maine, Perez, Pelfrey, Nieve, Figueroa, Redding, Misch and possibly Niese.  Some of these names pop up more than others, but its safe to assume that besides Santana, Maine and Pelfrey, there will be a lot of pitchers jumping at those last to rotation spots.

Personally about this debate, I side with John Lackey. Although we have a lot of starters going for a few spots, beside Santana, Maine is question on how effective he will be and Pelfrey is a question on if he can return to the pitcher he was starting to become in 08, not what he was in 09. Lackey would provide the Mets with another good starting pitcher and provide stability in that rotation. Matt Holiday would be nice to have but I rather have good pitching rather than good hitting any day.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.