Dillon Gee is the Mets’ ace

Dillon Gee doesn’t have an innings limit. Zack Wheeler and Jenrry Mejia do. Both Wheeler and Mejia have a tremendous amount of upside in regards to stuff and age, but being an ace means being on the field, and neither will realistically pitch 30 starts or more. Wheeler could supplant the role of ace later in the season, but this article isn’t forecasting, it’s stating current reality. Also, Mejia is on a short leash to remain the fifth starter.

Jon Niese is hurt to start the year, and some have legitimate concerns about his future durability as his shoulder issue seems to be a nagging problem. His K/9 has gone down the last two years, and his BB/9 went up last year, so there are further questions about his effectiveness when healthy. The Mets’ free agent acquisition Bartolo Colon is north of 40, which brings valid risk of injury and ineffectiveness based on that number alone. Daisuke Matsuzaka was recently paid $100,000 for the option to send him down to Triple-A, and even if he does make the New York roster sooner or later, he will most likely be gone either by trade or by demotion before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, as Mike Petriello pointed out in a RotoGraphs article, “In parts of four seasons as a Met, Gee has given 502.1 innings of 3.89 ERA ball. That’s perfectly acceptable… (but) he’s not elite at anything.”

While that doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement, keep in mind that article was written from a fantasy baseball perspective. Those “acceptable” numbers are the reason Petriello also states, “this is another pitcher more useful in real life than fantasy.” Gee will most certainly not be the ace of anyone’s fantasy team, but we are talking about actual production for an MLB squad here.

Gee was the only pitcher on the Mets staff last year with IP north of 180, and could very well be again. With an average fastball velocity under 90 mph in 2013, Gee was still able to strikeout 6.42/9, and his BB/9 was a career-low 2.13. These may only be acceptable numbers, but they carried Gee to a 2.74 ERA during the second half of 2013, and throughout this spring Gee has shown those numbers may be more of the reality than the fantasy. A 15 K/BB, and a 1.08 ERA were what earned Gee the Opening Day start, and the reason he’s the ace.

The ace is the guy who can go out there and give you the best chance to win on any given day. At the moment, Gee is that pitcher. Last season he proved not only his durability but also his ability to overcome from a rough start, which speaks highly of his mental toughness. That toughness is what separates aces from quality starters. On paper Gee will get beat by Stephen Strasburg and Jose Fernandez every time, but as the old saying goes the games aren’t played on paper. Gee has shown since May 30 of last season that he can not only give regular quality starts, but at times dominate ones. Wheeler and Mejia have shown the talent to do so as well, but they still have to prove it for an entire season. Gee already has.

Later this year is a different story. As mentioned, maybe Wheeler takes that ace role for himself, or maybe Colon pitches better than most folks are predicting for him and holds the reigns for a while. 2015 is a completely different story altogether, and may not even see Gee in a Mets uniform. Right now though, Gee is the guy the Mets are turning to for providing stability at the front of the rotation. To many, that statement alone signifies an ace. Gee has earned it.