Jae Seo to the rescue!

(What the hell is this Win Probability stuff anyways?)

Mets Stud: Jae Seo, with 24.4% WPA
Mets Dud: Marlon Anderson, with -4.8 WPA

This was a big time win for the Mets and especially for Jae Seo. He followed up his great start against the Cubs last week (Game Score of 73) with another great effort yesterday against the Dodgers (Game Score of 73). With Steve Trachsel having made his last rehab start for Norfolk on Friday night, the Mets now have six starting pitchers for, presumably, only five rotation spots. The best case scenario was that someone would have claimed Tom Glavine off of waivers, but that apparently is not going to happen.

Willie Randolph would have a lot of 'splainin' to do were he to take Jae Seo out of the rotation now. One possibility would be to go to a modified six-man rotation, where certain pitchers could be given more rest and other not, since Glavine always likes pitching on his normal four days of rest. A pitcher like Pedro Martinez could certainly use an extra day off here or there, since he's on pace to throw over 200 innings.

If the Mets were to stick with the normal five man rotation, the most likely candidate for demotion to the bullpen would be Victor Zambrano, who has looked shaky of late. His command has surely improved this season, but his strikeout rate has plummeted and he has become quite hittable. An underlying fear with moving Zambrano out of the rotation is that it may nullify whatever progress he and Rick Peterson have made this season.

It is also possible that Trachsel will not immediately return to the rotation. He is not on of Willie Randolph's guys, so Willie therefore feels no attachment or commitment to him at this point. Trachsel could very well start out as the long man or middle reliever/spot starter until either Zambrano or Seo pitches their way out of the rotation.