Pelfrey's innings count

Mike Pelfrey will open the series against the Phillies tonight, and according to this New York Times article, Dan Warthen "will be one of the more fidgety people in the Mets’ dugout."

The article outlays the research by SI columnist Tom Verducci, where he found that if a young pitcher, under the age of 25, has his innings count rise by more than 30 innings from one year to the next, he will most likely suffer an injury or suffer from decreased performance the next season.

The 30-inning threshold is an indicator rather than a hard-and-fast rule, Verducci said. And there are exceptions, like Detroit’s Justin Verlander, who followed a 56-inning increase from 2005 to 2006 (when he won 17 games and the American League Rookie of the Year award) by going 18-6 with a nearly identical E.R.A. in 2007.

So it's not all bad.

While I know the Mets have been worried about his inning count for a while, they also just let him throw back to back complete games. They can't be too worried.

The Mets should take a page out of the Yankees notebook and start Pelfrey in the bullpen next season.