BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

Well, it looks like two of our fallback options are about to come off of the market. Jon Garland seems set to take a one-year deal with a club option to join the Arizona Diamondbacks. The deal is reportedly worth $6-8 million. Also, Randy Wolf seems likely to join the Los Angeles Dodgers on a similar pact. No numbers have been revealed, but you would have to expect that he gets similar numbers to Garland.

Now, when I think Jon Garland, I usually think of a pretty good pitcher, but then I looked at the numbers, and I was not overly impressed. He has only had an ERA under 4.24 once since 2001 and his WHIP was the highest that it has been since the same 2001 season. He failed to reach 200 innings and was the beneficiary of good run support. The fact that the Mets didn’t sign him may be a blessing in disguise. They would be much better off with Oliver Perez.

Wolf, on the other hand, had a 4.30 ERA last season. His Earned Runs total was the highest that it has been since 2003, and his ERA has been over 4.00 since 2003 as well. Is that the kind of pitcher that you want to be holding the number two spot in your rotation? I think not. He also is an injury concern, as he only eclipsed 103 innings once in the last four seasons. Joe Torre can have him, because once again, the Mets would be better off with Oliver Perez.

The bottom line is that the Mets need to get this Oliver Perez thing done. They need to sweeten their four year deal, and possibly include an option for a fifth year, because if they miss out on Oliver Perez, there won’t be much of a market left to fall back on.