PORT ST. LUCIE – The Mets are on the verge of filling their fifth starter’s hole.
With Steve Trachsel likely out for the year due to a herniated disc, the Mets are close to a trade that would send Jason Phillips to the Dodgers in exchange for left-hander Kaz Ishii.
The 31-year-old Ishii, who went 13-8 with a 4.71 ERA in 31 starts last season, owns a three-year major league career record of 36-25. Although he is hardly a dominant pitcher, he did log 172 innings last year.
That number certainly must appeal to the Mets, who were desperate to replace Trachsel’s annual 200 frames.
As for Phillips, he followed up his stellar 2003 rookie season (.298 average, .373 OBP) with a dreadful 2004 (.218, .298). The 28-year-old entered this spring having to battle for the backup catcher’s job and looked thus far to have locked it up, having hit .550 (11-for-20) with nine RBIs.
“Nobody’s said anything to me,” Phillips said last night.
The Met backup catcher’s job may fall to Ramon Castro, though the former Marlin is hitting just .182 (2-for-11), so the Mets could look elsewhere too. The only other catcher in camp (other than starter Mike Piazza, of course) is Joe Hietpas, who’s well regarded for his defense but who hasn’t had an at-bat above Double-A.
With Ishii, who’s still owed $5M, pitching coach Rick Peterson may have another project on his hands. The southpaw hardly has great command, owning just a 99-to-98 strikeout-to-walk ratio last year. In 2003, he walked 101 in 147 innings.
Still, with Trachsel out – he’s having surgery today – the Mets have been hunting for a starter. In fact, rather than watch the Congressional hearings on Thursday, GM Omar Minaya spent his day doing something else.
“I was on the phone talking to some clubs,” he said.
As the Mets examined the market, they constantly compared the available arms to their own in-house pitchers (i.e., Matt Ginter). They had interest in Nationals pitchers John Patterson and Tony Armas Jr. and Astros hurler Tim Redding.
Seo will actually start today against Florida, and Ginter is set to go tomorrow in the Mets’ split-squad game against Baltimore. Barring something unforeseen, though, neither appearance looks like it will be an audition for the fifth starter’s role. Ishii appears imminent, and the Mets’ rotation may soon be whole again.
The Mets have inquired about Boston’s Byung-Hyun Kim, though that was for a relief role and nothing is close there. They have no interest in recently-released reliever Billy Koch.
The Mets and Nationals played to a 2-2 10-inning tie last night, as Kris Benson threw five shutout innings.
Mike Cameron is slated to bat in a minor league intrasquad game today … The Mets returned RHP Francisco Campos to the Mexican League.
Andres Galarraga, just 2-for-19 this spring, may be a longshot to make the roster. Asked about Galarraga, Willie Randolph said, “When you look at how this is playing out, it’s going to be tough. But I’ll keep everything open till the last minute.”