I Have Found Me A New Friend: Meet Wallace Matthews

I am going to try and not do a MMQB Review for this week, it's going to be hard to pull myself away from King Peter King, because I have read his column twice and there is so much in there I want to comment upon, but I am going to try and give it a week off. We'll see how it goes. Instead, I wanted to take a maiden voyage into the sea of bad journalism with another good gentleman as our captain.

I want to give thanks to Awesomesean for pointing out this fine gentleman, Wallace Matthews, to me. Not only does his picture make him look like a police officer but it also looks like a mug shot. A picture that looks like that can not be ignored by me. The titles of his columns are all statements that tend to make strong statements, like "Andy Pettitte Would Be Perfect Fit For Mets Rotation." Yes he would Wallace Matthews (stroking ends of non existent handlebar mustache), yes he would be perfect.

The Yankees can find nearly a half-billion dollars to pay three players who, as brilliant as they've performed elsewhere, have yet to do a thing for this franchise.

I already know where he is going with this column, after reading the first sentence and the title. That is better than other columnists do. Fortunately, I already know where his leap in logic is going to come in so I also know from the outset I disagree.

I would like to also point out that Sabathia, Tex, and Burnett may be able to "do a thing" for the franchise after the season actually starts. The season actually has to start first though. Get to that point and then we can talk about what they have done for the Yankees.

And yet they can't scrape up a nickel more than $10 million for Andy Pettitte, who played an instrumental role in bringing them four world championships?

Oh I know! I was all for the Derek Lowe signing until I realized he hasn't done shit for the Braves yet. Then I got on a Braves message board and advocated the Braves sign Steve Avery, Pete Smith, and possibly have Fred McGriff back up Casey "Similar to Mark Teixeira but Much Worse" Kotchman...I was cursed at and banned from the board. Also, what's up with this Japanese guy the Braves signed too, what the hell has he done for the Braves? Why did they even sign him when Denny Neagle can still play?

Wallace Matthews clearly does not pay attention to.......um, anything that involves good reasoning as to signing a player. I realize New York columnists tend to get all teary and moisty eyed when it comes to players that were on the string of 4 championships in the late 90's and 2000, but the fact Andy Pettitte was on team when they achieved their 4 World Series titles has nothing to do with signing him in 2009. Actually, I would argue the fact he was on those teams is a reason to NOT have him on the current team. He is an older gentleman and showed a declining performance last year.

(If anyone wants to point out to me he is the same age as Derek Lowe, I will hunt you down, vomit in a paper bag on your front porch, set it on fire, and then steal your car/bike/scooter/Segway/skateboard/rollerblades.)

What disloyalty! What ingratitude! What heartlessness!

What a dramatic performance by Matthews!

I picture Wallace pounding his desk as he types this sentence.

And what a break for the Mets. That is, if they are smart enough to recognize it.

Maybe they are TOO smart to realize it, if you know what I mean.

Pettitte went 14-14 last year with a 1.41 WHIP. He is a league average pitcher it seems and will probably be this year as well. My question to the Mets is why they would pay over $10 million dollars for a league average pitcher. They already would not match the 4/$60 contract the Braves gave Derek Lowe and presumably Pettitte is going to want something in the neighborhood of that amount to have an average performance. Why are the Mets lucky to have this opportunity again?

I have seen Pettitte pitch in person and on television many times last year and it is just not there for him anymore.

the Bankees now claim that $10 million - a pretty damn good paycheck for anyone these days but still, a $6-million pay cut for Pettitte from last season - is as high as they are willing to go for a pitcher who won some of the most important postseason games in their recent history.

So the Yankees (or Bankees as this guy says), should base their contract offers on what the player has done for the team in the past? This sounds like the absolute best way to be the worst team in the AL East. Pettitte's history of postseason success should have nothing to do with getting a contract offer from the Yankees. Pettitte certainly didn't think, "but I have so many memories of the Yankees and my postseason success really bonds me to the Yankees," when Houston came calling in 2004, why should the Yankees hold on to the memories and give Pettitte more money to play one more year, when he did not even earn the absurd amount of money they paid him last year to in 14 games?

But for whatever reason, the Yankees - either scared off by his poor second half, emboldened by their relatively painless jettisoning of Bernie Williams a couple of years ago or warming up for their inevitable discarding of Jeter and Mariano Rivera a couple of years hence - have decided that unless Pettitte wants to work for the Yankee equivalent of clubhouse-boy wages, he no longer fits into their plans.

Wallace, my new friend, this is an idiotic statement. The Yankees offered Pettitte $10 million dollars to return to the team. Who cares if it is Yankee equivalent of a cheeseburger, that is plenty of money for his services as a 5th starter for them and a 4th starter for other teams.

I like how he tries so hard to paint the Yankees as bad guys on this issue. I don't know why he would think the Yankees are going to push Jeter and Rivera to sea. They pay the players who still perform, which is the smartest thing to do if you want to put together a good team. Rivera and Jeter still perform at a good level for their positions and the reason the Bernie Williams was "discarded" is because he hit .286/.332/.436 his final year in New York.

I don't know what is it with this guy and his feeling that a team should keep a player around based on his past performance but that is a horrible way to run a team. Let's also not forget Andy Pettite got offered $10 million to play for the Yankees and he declined, its not like they did not offer him a contract, he declined their offer. Wallace needs to remember this before he throws on a Pettitte circa 1998 jersey and rings a bell outside of the local Pathmark looking for donations to help the Pettitte family.

Last time I checked, the Mets were still shopping for a starting pitcher, and one glance at their roster reminds you of how badly they need one.

Do you know what other teams, if you check their roster, need a starting pitcher? Every team except maybe three. Why aren't they jumping all over Pettitte? That's the question I ask. Why would the Mets jump on Pettitte when no other team is doing this? He wants more than $10 million to be a 4th starter. That is a lot of money for little performance, especially when you look at the Mets depth chart, which Wallace Matthews seems to enjoy doing, and realize they have a couple of young pitchers that could deserve a shot...and they don't cost over $10 million.

Tim Redding? OK as a No. 5, considering the next important start he makes in front of a large, demanding crowd will be his first.

In a rotation with Johan Santana and John Maine, if Tim Redding is making an important start in an important game, the team has other problems, like, "who set the rotation?," or "maybe Santana should be held back to start this very important game."

That still leaves the Mets an arm short, and with only one lefthander in the rotation.

I like how he conveniently leaves out the fact the LH in the rotation is also arguably the best pitcher in baseball. Small little fact.

I am not going to argue the Mets have no guys in the starting rotation behind the four (Santana, Maine, Pelphrey, Redding) but is overpaying for a 36 year old pitcher really the best answer out there? To Wallace Matthews it is.

Also, having 2 LH in the starting rotation is a nice luxury, but yet another bad reason to sign Pettitte. Traditionally players are signed because of their performance and this doesn't seem like a great time to break from tradition.

they could chase Oliver Perez for four years and something like $50 million. Detractors say no, you never know what you're getting with Perez, but I say hogwash. You know precisely what you're getting with Perez. Agita.

I see what you did here. I totally thought you were going to give Perez a compliment, but you didn't! Tricky!

Pettite has been in the top 10 of the league in hits allowed the last three years. He is not exactly helping out with your agita. You know what else giving 4/$50 million to Perez gets you? A guy who is 26 years old and someone who went 10-7 with a 1.40 WHIP last year. It's not the same guy as Pettitte but pretty close and you get a 26 year old with a high ceiling out of the deal instead of a 36 year old who has seen better days. If the Mets are that hard up, that has to be a little bit of a comfort.

There's also Ben Sheets, only he's another righty, besides being expensive and injury prone,

Another righty? Forget him, no matter how good his numbers look when he actually pitches. No need for another righty! I would bet if you offer 29 year old Ben Sheets $10 million to pitch this year, he accepts the deal, while 36 year old Andy Pettitte rejects this deal. How is Pettitte not expensive and Sheets is too expensive again? Maybe Sheets is more injured right now, but more expensive, probably not.

Sheets only made 31 starts last year, what an injury prone wimp. Sure, he is injured now, but if the Mets are that hard up for starters, I think he would be a better option.

or Randy Wolf, who's a lefty but never has pitched in a postseason game, something which I assume is in the Mets' plans for next year.

Lefty? That's a great find Wallace! He has never pitched in a postseason game though? Scratch him off the list, we don't need him on the mound sweating bullets in the postseason, which the Mets are apparently guaranteed to make, no matter how well he could pitch in the regular season.

What Wallace wants is a LH who has postseason experience, so that leaves Pettitte or Whitey Ford on the free agent market right now.

It doesn't appear to me that any of those guys is a better fit for the Mets' rotation than Pettitte. Unlike Perez, you absolutely know what you're getting: 30 to 35 starts a year, 200-plus innings, a minimum 14 wins.

I thought we knew what we were getting with Perez as well, remember you said agita?

I really can't argue with this statement as a whole. Though I say if a pitcher wants $12 million dollars, I would give it to Ben Sheets.

If you make it to October, you have a starter guaranteed not to rattle under pressure, and almost always guaranteed to put you in a position to win.

Seriously, I would not build your entire staff around the premise that you are going to be playing in October. Also, if Andy Pettitte pitches anymore than a Game 4 in postseason play there is something wrong. He is a great postseason pitcher but he is not a #3 starter at this point in his career.

Plus, it would be a tremendous PR coup for the Mets, who frankly have looked like jerks the past few years watching the Yankees rescue their castoffs (Gooden, Strawberry, Cone, Nady) but now have the opportunity to return the favor.

Wallace Matthews' analysis of the way to fix the Mets/Yankees:

Yankees: Sign all of the players who helped you win a World Series a decade ago because they don't rattle under pressure when the team makes the postseason.

Mets: Sign the players the Yankees won't sign and those players, because they have postseason experience, won't rattle under the pressure. Plus you know you will get average league pitching out of them. Why do you know this? You just do.

And best of all, Pettitte doesn't cost you all that much, in money or years. One year at $12 million to $14 million, maybe with an option, probably gets it done, and that's perfect.

Ben Sheets, who I have read will work for anything over $8 million, is too expensive, while Andy Pettitte is a perfect acquisition at $12-$14 million dollars. The best part is that you only have to pay him a short time and he will leave. You get to spend all of that money and it is not even a long term fix! What could be more perfect?

What you get is a low-maintenance, no-drama professional who's here for one reason only: To help you win now, this year, not promise you things down the road that he will likely never deliver.

If by "low-maintenance" you mean, "needs to be paid like he is a 3rd starter on a contending team," and "not promise you things down the road that he will likely never deliver," you mean "will be retired," then yes, this sentence is correct.

The Yankees can't find a few more bucks in their otherwise limitless vault for a guy like that? Fine.

Maybe the Mets can. And should.

Not a horrible idea but not for the money Andy Pettitte wants.

Let's review our first Wallace Matthews article: He thinks the Yankees were dumb for not giving Andy Pettitte more than $10 million, thinks they should have resigned him because of what how he played a decade ago, says he doesn't blame the Yankees for not giving him the money though, thinks the Mets should sign him because they need starters right now, goes through other options the Mets have that are cheaper options but they aren't as "guaranteed" as Pettitte's performance is nor have they started in the postseason, and thinks even though Pettitte's performance has declined the Mets should sign him.

I disagree and we will be seeing more of Mr. Matthews.