Tim Redding has a career record of 34-51 with a 4.92 ERA. He also has a $2.25 million deal with the Mets.Back in the early part of this decade, I had the pleasure of watching the best team in all of Minor League Baseball, the Round Rock Express. The Express, then the AA-affiliate of the Astros, won a lot of games while developing some serious talent, including Roy Oswalt and Brad Lidge. But the best pitcher I saw at Round Rock wasn't Oswalt (who was great) or Lidge (who was astounding, but a frequently injured starter), it was Tim Redding. Redding was, for lack of a better word, incredible.
Redding dominated AA competition, regularly firing 95-mph fastballs on the corners past hitters. His stuff was so filthy that the combination of pitching coach Mike Maddux and manager Jackie Moore (now both with the Texas Rangers) frequently had him rein it in.
If he looked better than Oswalt, it made sense that he'd follow the same progression to the majors. And make he did, getting to the bigs in 2001 for a good part of the season. He was 3-1 with a 5.50 ERA in 13 appearances (9 starts), and it made sense to think those numbers would only get better.
They didn't. In fact, Redding's numbers weren't very good (with the exception of a respectable 2003) at all. It wasn't that his stuff wasn't good enough to beat big league hitters; the problem was between his ears.
Redding was a very good pitcher between no strikes and two strikes and nobody on base. As soon as he got to a point where he had to put a hitter away or make a big pitch to get out of an inning, he couldn't do it. You could take one look at him and see that he simply didn't believe in his ability to make pitch he needed to. Astros players and front office personnel quickly figured out that Redding couldn't handle the pressure of the big time, even in the laid-back environment of Houston.
It didn't help that his attitude and lack of interest in instruction alienated the tight Astros locker room.
In 2003, there was hope that he was going to be a cog in a strong young rotation (with Oswalt and Carlos Hernandez). By 2005, he was gone, traded to San Diego for Humberto Quintero. He didn't even last a season with the Padres, booted to the Yankees in July. Redding, who had crumbled as the Astros made a run at the wildcard in 2004, found himself playing in the biggest pressure cooker of them all: Yankee Stadium in the middle of a pennant race.
He lasted all of one inning in pinstripes, getting sent down with an ERA of 54. He didn't pitch in the bigs in 2006, finally making in back with the Washington Nationals in 2007. He pitched respectably for the way-out-of-it Nats, posting a 3.64 ERA and a 3-6 record. Last year, he pitched well in the first half for another horrible Nationals team, but finished badly to compile a 10-11 record and an ERA of 4.95 (pretty in line with his career numbers).
The second-half collapse and that same attitude got him non-tendered by the pitching-starved Nats, but oddly enough Redding found himself in demand. The Orioles, Rockies and Mets all tried to gain his services, with the Mets winning out with a one-year, $2.25 million deal.
Maybe, at the age of 31, Redding's got it figured out. It's much more likely that the Mets will wonder what the hell they were thinking before the All-Star break. The Mets are expecting to contend for the NL East title this year and have a manager in Jerry Manuel who likes players to police themselves. This is a recipie for disaster for Redding, who likely won't handle the pressure of a pennant chase while irritating his teammates.
The Mets (who really don't seem interested in re-signing Pedro Martinez) are investing a lot of hope in a guy who hasn't proven he's capable of living up to expectations. That's a crying shame; it may also be the difference in the Mets being in the postseason or at home next fall.
Redding dominated AA competition, regularly firing 95-mph fastballs on the corners past hitters. His stuff was so filthy that the combination of pitching coach Mike Maddux and manager Jackie Moore (now both with the Texas Rangers) frequently had him rein it in.
If he looked better than Oswalt, it made sense that he'd follow the same progression to the majors. And make he did, getting to the bigs in 2001 for a good part of the season. He was 3-1 with a 5.50 ERA in 13 appearances (9 starts), and it made sense to think those numbers would only get better.
They didn't. In fact, Redding's numbers weren't very good (with the exception of a respectable 2003) at all. It wasn't that his stuff wasn't good enough to beat big league hitters; the problem was between his ears.
Redding was a very good pitcher between no strikes and two strikes and nobody on base. As soon as he got to a point where he had to put a hitter away or make a big pitch to get out of an inning, he couldn't do it. You could take one look at him and see that he simply didn't believe in his ability to make pitch he needed to. Astros players and front office personnel quickly figured out that Redding couldn't handle the pressure of the big time, even in the laid-back environment of Houston.
It didn't help that his attitude and lack of interest in instruction alienated the tight Astros locker room.
In 2003, there was hope that he was going to be a cog in a strong young rotation (with Oswalt and Carlos Hernandez). By 2005, he was gone, traded to San Diego for Humberto Quintero. He didn't even last a season with the Padres, booted to the Yankees in July. Redding, who had crumbled as the Astros made a run at the wildcard in 2004, found himself playing in the biggest pressure cooker of them all: Yankee Stadium in the middle of a pennant race.
He lasted all of one inning in pinstripes, getting sent down with an ERA of 54. He didn't pitch in the bigs in 2006, finally making in back with the Washington Nationals in 2007. He pitched respectably for the way-out-of-it Nats, posting a 3.64 ERA and a 3-6 record. Last year, he pitched well in the first half for another horrible Nationals team, but finished badly to compile a 10-11 record and an ERA of 4.95 (pretty in line with his career numbers).
The second-half collapse and that same attitude got him non-tendered by the pitching-starved Nats, but oddly enough Redding found himself in demand. The Orioles, Rockies and Mets all tried to gain his services, with the Mets winning out with a one-year, $2.25 million deal.
Maybe, at the age of 31, Redding's got it figured out. It's much more likely that the Mets will wonder what the hell they were thinking before the All-Star break. The Mets are expecting to contend for the NL East title this year and have a manager in Jerry Manuel who likes players to police themselves. This is a recipie for disaster for Redding, who likely won't handle the pressure of a pennant chase while irritating his teammates.
The Mets (who really don't seem interested in re-signing Pedro Martinez) are investing a lot of hope in a guy who hasn't proven he's capable of living up to expectations. That's a crying shame; it may also be the difference in the Mets being in the postseason or at home next fall.
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