Pelfrey and Thole: The Battery That Energizes The Mets

Earlier today, Mike Pelfrey and Josh Thole both appeared on WFAN, with Pelfrey talking to Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton and Thole discussing the Mets with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts. Both Pelfrey and Thole are enthused about the new regime at Citi Field, offering nothing but positive thoughts on the Mets and the direction of the team.

Some highlights of the conversation with the newly re-signed Mike Pelfrey include the following:

• Although he feels bad about what happened to Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya, he feels the Mets did the right thing by hiring Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson.
• Feels the rotation is fine, especially with the recent signings of Chris Capuano and Chris Young
• Brushes away doubts that this year's rotation needs work by mentioning that last year's rotation did better than anyone expected.
• Quite pleased with his new contract (one-year, $3.925 million), which represents a significant raise from his $500,000 salary in 2010.
• Says agent Scott Bora$ was pleased with the Mets initial offer of "between $3.5 and $4 million, but closer to $4 million."
• Embraces his new role as the ace of the staff while Johan Santana recovers from surgery.
• Doesn't think the Jets have a chance against the Steelers.

Photo taken by Studious Metsimus staff. That's right, we bad!

Aside from the last comment about the Jets' chances against the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game, Big Pelf gave Mets fans hope that 2011 will not be a disappointing season. He expects to be on the mound every fifth day, regardless of how he feels, and will not make excuses for poor play. He recognized that he had a poor month in 2010 (from June 30 to August 4, Pelfrey did not win a game and gave up 62 hits in 30 innings, leading to a bloated 9.00 ERA over that five week stretch), but vows to learn from that shaky month to be the pitcher he knows he has to be.

Whereas Pelfrey talked mostly about the pitching staff and his own status on the team, Josh Thole talked about every aspect of the team. He talked about the pitching staff as well, but also discussed his hitting style and the outlook for the Mets' everyday lineup. Among the topics Thole discussed with Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts were:

• Expects fire and ambition from Terry Collins.
• Not expecting the starting job to be handed to him.
• Going into spring training with the mindset that he's fighting for a job.
• Likes to hit in the 2-hole, but will hit anywhere TC puts him.
• Won't try to hit home runs, but thinks Citi Field plays perfectly for his type of swing, allowing him to collect more hits.
• Clicked the most with R.A. Dickey, since he caught him often at AAA-Buffalo and always sat with him the day after Dickey's starts to discuss what went wrong and what they can improve upon for the next start.
• Expects Dickey to improve on last year's performance since last year was Dickey's first year as a full-time knuckleballer and has a much faster kunckleball than most other knucklers, giving hitters less time to react.
• Thinks Mets have the bats in the lineup to hit the Phillies' pitching since they have former Silver Sluggers and All-Stars in the lineup.

Photo not taken by Studious Metsimus staff. Guess we not so bad as we claimed.

With the departure of Pedro Feliciano, Mike Pelfrey is now the longest tenured pitcher on the Mets, having been with the team since 2006. With Johan Santana's status for the first half of the season unknown, it will be up to Pelfrey to become the ace of the staff. Other than the aforementioned horrible five-week stretch from late June to early August, Big Pelf pitched like a wily veteran.

Prior to June 30, Pelfrey was 10-2 with a 2.71 ERA. After August 4, Mike was 5-3 with a 2.78 ERA. That's a 15-5 record with a sub-3.00 ERA for 27 starts. Like it or not, the 27-year-old Pelfrey is the leader of the staff. He might still be young, but he's not a kid anymore in baseball terms. It's time for Pelfrey to be consistently good for all 34 of his starts.

As for Josh Thole, he sounds much wiser than his 24 years. He's not taking anything for granted and is willing to learn from the team's veterans. He's cognizant of his role on the team and will not hesitate to talk to his teammates whenever he needs advice.

Until Johan Santana returns, Mike Pelfrey will be the #1 guy in the rotation. For the time being, Josh Thole is the team's #1 catcher. Both players are going to have to bring their "A" game to the table if the Mets are going to improve in the National League East. From what they said today on WFAN, it looks like they're both eagerly anticipating showing New York and the rest of the baseball world that the Mets are going to be a big surprise in 2011.