As usual, we all awoke this morning to news that the Mets had signed a major league free agent. And by “as usual”, of course, I mean “for the first time all winter”.
Still, the acquisition of Shaun Marcum on a one-year deal is a good one.
Marcum, with a solid strikeout rate and track record of effectiveness, should be a modest upgrade over Chris Young as the team’s fifth starter. The two pitched around the same number of innings in 2012, at the same rate of success. But in the two seasons prior to that, Marcum pitched full seasons, while Young’s 2012 innings total represented his most prolific season in five years.
More to the point, really, is that Marcum lets the Mets keep Zack Wheeler at Triple-A to develop and push the team to promote him on his timetable, not the 2013 needs of a team unlikely to contend.
In a perfect world, Marcum pitches a healthy half-season, then the Mets deal him for a prospect, and Wheeler comes up and pitches well in the second half.
And isn’t it about time the Mets had something happen in close proximity to a perfect world?
