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It's no secret that the Mets have been much more successful this season when either Jon Niese or Matt Harvey is the starting pitcher than when anyone else starts. Dillon Gee did a great job to begin to break that trend with his solid outing on Sunday, and this weekend, Shaun Marcum will try to continue to dispel the "studs and duds" notion with a quality start of his own.
Collins said Shaun Marcum flew up to NYC today and he’s officially Saturday’s starting pitcher. #Mets
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgeccastillo) April 23, 2013
We already knew that Marcum was close to making his Mets debut, but with this team, fans really do need the news that a player is on a plane to New York before considering him healthy enough to start. Marcum missed the beginning of the season because of nerve inflammation in his neck.
Now 31 years old, Marcum is just a year removed from back-to-back 3-plus fWAR seasons that he split between Toronto and Milwaukee. He's also worked for three straight seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA. As long as he's able to stay healthy (knock on wood), Marcum should give the Mets a nice boost toward respectability this season.