Shaun Marcum: Healthy Rotation Key to Season

The Mets formally announced the Shaun Marcum signing on Wednesday — $4 million, with a chance to earn $4 million more if he meets all of his incentives.

Marcum’s acquisition was made necessary by the trade of R.A. Dickey. Marcum was quick to point out that he is not a replacement for the Cy Young Award winner.

“As far as filling R.A. Dickey’s shoes, I think that will be tough to fill, having one person do it,” Marcum said, according to ESPNNewYork.com. “I think if all five starters go out there and do their jobs, stay healthy, get to the goal of 200-plus innings, then I think that will fill R.A.’s shoes in itself — having those five guys make 30-plus starts.”

He said a healthy rotation is the key to a successful season.

“The teams I’ve been on that made it late in the season, where we were still in the playoff race, we didn’t use that many starters. Everybody stayed healthy and everybody made their starts. If we can do that, that’ll be able to help replace the hole that was left when R.A. was traded.”

Marcum has something of an injury history, which is probably why he was still available at this late date. He missed all of 2009 following Tommy John surgery and a back issue, and was out nine weeks last season with tightness in his right elbow. That problem is now in the past.

“We did MRIs, all that stuff. Nothing alarming,” Marcum said. “We did another one this winter to make sure. And there was nothing alarming. I don’t know what exactly it was, but the main thing is it wasn’t a flexor tendon or a ligament or anything like that.”

Shaun Marcum was 7-4 with a 3.70 ERA in 21 starts for the Brewers last season. Those are good stats, but he threw 124 innings, which means he lasted a little less than six innings per start. That is not a good stat and could become something of an issue.

Johan Santana and Dillon Gee are recovering from injury, which could limit their pitch counts. The Mets might be careful with Matt Harvey and limit his innings pitched. All of this could lead to an overworked bullpen, which we have seen in the past is not a good thing for the Mets, considering they are a bit thin in that department.

But overall this is a good signing. Shaun Marcum gives the Mets depth in the rotation, even if he turns out to just be a placeholder until Zack Wheeler is ready.