How worried am I?

Here we are in the first week of May, when it stops being "early" in the baseball season. For the first time all season, the Mets are running the same lineup out there that they plan on using in September and if everything goes splendidly, October. It seems likely that at least in the short term Ryan Church will be the #2 hitter and Luis Castillo will be the #8 hitter. Delgado seems more comfortable in the #6 hole, which is fine as long as Moises Alou is healthy and batting 5th. This team will likely score some runs and be fine, assuming Alou can remain healthy.

The pitching is of great concern to me. Willie Randolph has suggested it is still early in the season for his pitchers, but after Santana who has been great and Maine who has been good there are a LOT of question marks. Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez have been shaky at best, and at times downright disastrous. Emergency starter Nelson Figueroa has been fantastic, especially the first two times through the lineup, but he does not seem like a legitimate solution in the long term for a contending team. Perez has the potential to be a staff ace on nearly any pitching staff in the game, but seems unwilling or unable to shake off bad calls and bad plays behind him in the field.

A pitcher like Johan Santana will bear down after a questionable ball four or an error behind him in the field. Perez just checks out and stops competing. I was asked by a friend last night if I would take Daisuke Matsuzaka on my team and I said heck no not ever. Of course, I was probably jaded by his unwatchable 8 (!) walk performance last night but the fact remains the Mets have enough talented, enigmatic pitchers who are afraid to throw strikes. Pitchers who can force a hitter to swing and miss are pitchers who win in September and October, and the Mets seem to be sorely lacking those in their starting rotation now.

Is it too early to panic? Absolutely. If for no other reason than there are no viable pitching alternatives on the market and the farm system is a little barren after trading for Santana. That being said, the team's long-term success this season seems to hinge greatly on Pedro's ability to come back from injury for the umpteenth time in his career unless Ollie can put it all together, bear down, and become that quality pitcher we all know he has inside himself.