Dillon Gee Stays in the Show

With Chris Young set to come off the disabled list in time for his start on Tuesday, it was expected that the Mets would send Dillon Gee back down to the minors. I was expected to be angered by that decision, and was planning a scathing post about Sandy Alderson and his decision-making. But now I don’t have to write that post — Gee is sticking around.

The Mets announced Sunday that D.J. Carrasco has been optioned to Buffalo. I was extremely surprised and pleased by the decision. Surprised, because Alderson signed Carrasco to a two-year, $2.4 million contract in the off-season, and I thought Alderson would keep him around simply to justify the expenditure.

And pleased, because Gee (above) certainly earned a place on the big league roster with his two solid starts. But judging by a quote by Alderson on MetsBlog.com, it doesn’t appear Gee will remain in the rotation:

“We want the most effective group of pitchers we can have. (Dillon Gee) does have to move into a different role, but we want to see how he performs. In the meantime, we need to get Carrasco back to where we know he can be effective.”

So it appears Gee will work out of the bullpen. I think that is a mistake. I would send Chris Capuano to the pen and leave Gee as a starter. As I’ve written in the past, Capuano is a one-year stop gap — Gee might be a big part of the Mets future. The only way to find out for sure is to let him start and see what he’s got.

In any case,  I applaud Alderson for his decision, and I’m especially happy to see that money is not getting in the way of his decision-making.