Tim Redding always wanted to pitch in New York. To get here, he had to be unwanted by the worst team in baseball.
Redding, who signed with the Mets on Jan. 12, was non-tendered by the Washington Nationals exactly one month earlier despite being the only double-digit winner on their raggedy pitching staff.
“It kind of came as a shock,” Redding told the MLB Network in a recent interview.
“I’d given them a year-and-a-half of quality service. I didn’t finish as well as I would have liked to, but I felt that I had earned a spot to be back in that organization.”
Redding, who grew up in Rochester, received interest from several teams but knew he wanted to play for his “hometown” club.
“When I was non-tendered by the Nationals, my agent, Tom O’Connell, said he had a couple of different teams in mind,” Redding said. “Then six days later the Mets called and I told him ‘There’s no place I would rather be than New York.’ He said, ‘I’ve got a few other teams on the side – I got Colorado, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, let me get as many offers as I can for you.’
“I said, ‘Fine, I want to have as many options as I can, obviously, but New York’s where I want to be.’ He kept in constant contact with John Ricco (assistant GM) and GM Omar Minaya.
“As the process went on and all those big names were still out there – Derek Lowe, John Smoltz – he wanted to know what he should do. I said, ‘Just call (Omar Minaya) and tell him we’re not too far apart, let’s get it taken care of.'”
O’Connell and the Mets did – agreeing on a one-year, $2.25 million deal. Redding probably could have gotten more money from one of the other pitching-strapped teams in baseball and a more prominent spot in one of their rotations.
“I grew up a New York sports fan watching the Yankees and the Mets,” Redding said. “There is no bigger market out there. And anybody that’s in professional sports wants to play somewhere close to where they grew up and what they grew up knowing. And I know New York sports and what to expect and what they will expect from me.”
What the Mets and fans are expecting is a quality fifth man in their rotation, a spot that troubled the team throughout last season with Pedro Martinez and John Maine battling injuries for portions of the season. Six different pitchers tried to fill the role, but all struggled, costing the Mets valuable wins in a season when they finished one game behind wild-card winner Milwaukee.
Redding went 10-11 with a 4.95 ERA last season with the Nationals and, perhaps most encouraging for Mets fans, was the impressive numbers he put up against the rival Phillies. Redding went 3-1 with a 3.45 ERA in five starts against the eventual world champs.
Redding said he believes his familiarity with the NL East should help his transition.
“Those are the two biggest keys to success: learning about the hitters and then applying what you learned,” Redding said.
Mets’ fifth starters last season:
Nelson Figueroa – 6 starts: 3-3, 4.57 ERA
Claudio Vargas – 4 starts: 3-2, 4.62 ERA
Jon Niese – 3 starts: 1-1, 7.07 ERA
Brandon Knight – 2 starts: 1-0, 5.25 ERA
Brian Stokes – 1 start: 1-0, 3.51 ERA
Tony Armas Jr. – 1 start: 1-0, 7.56 ERA