Yuniesky Maya in Camp

My apologies for being negative recently … er, for most of the winter. But the New York Mets have made it very difficult to extract silver linings from the black clouds surrounding the club. It’s simply impossible to get excited about a club that is counting on four starting pitchers returning from major surgeries, has no middle relief to speak of, does not have a legitimate starting catcher, has a power outage at both corner infield positions, will not have their starting centerfielder / cleanup hitter until at least June, and despite all these issues spent most of the offseason trying to dump their second-best hitter.

For once, I’m going to write a POSITIVE post.

Hat tip to Ed Ryan of MetsFever for his reports on Cuban pitcher Yuniesky Maya, who recently defected from his native country and is currently working out in Port St. Lucie the Mets’ facility in the Dominican Republic.

Maya has NOT signed with the Mets — nor any other MLB team — just yet. There was a “source close to the negotiations” that suggested the Red Sox were working on a deal with Maya, but a source perhaps “closer to the negotiations” suggests that the 28-year-old righthander prefers to sign with a club that will give him a shot to pitch in the MLB rotation right away.

Considering that he’s working out in the Mets’ facility, and the Mets are desperate to add healthy arms to their staff, it would seem like a natural fit for the two parties.

Yes, Maya could very well be another Alay Soler. Or, he could be a legitimate back-end MLB starter who can compete every five days and eat up innings. I have never seen the man pitch, but looking at the current array of glass Joes vying for rotation spots, I’m pleased and hopeful to see any warm and healthy body added to the competition. Add in the fact that Maya has an impressive resume, and I’m ecstatic.

It can’t hurt the Mets to bolster their roster with a healthy, competent, veteran pitcher. The only question is whether they can get the deal done. But I’m remaining POSITIVE that they will !!!