Redding has been shut down, Garcia has been pretty terrible and Livan Hernandez has been tolerable. That is the state of the Mets fifth rotation spot. The struggles of these three has left the door open for Niese, and the door possibly open for bringing back Pedro but there is another pitcher who is starting to impress in my mind and that is Figueroa. Figueroa has pitched 8 innings this spring between the Mets and the WBC (official games). Over those eight innings he has been very, very good:
Mets: 2 G, 3.0 IP, H, K, BB
PR: 3 G, 5.0 IP, 2H, 4 K, 3 BB
Over these eight innings, he is yet to allow an earned run, and when he gets in trouble, he gets out of trouble without allowing anything to effect the score. He is pitching at least well enough to be allowed to compete for that last starter spot when PR's ride is over with the WBC. There are also a few things that will work in his, and the Mets favor. The Mets do not need to declare their fifth starter at the beginning of the season because they can survive at first with a four man rotation thanks to off days. That means the Mets will have more time for deciding their fifth starter. Also, the fifth starting spot will probably change as the season goes on, so there is nothing wrong with starting with Figueroa and then switching over to a healthy Redding, or whoever on the Mets decides to wake up one day and take that last spot.
That being said, this is probably extremely unlikely. It seems right now that the Mets will either go with Hernandez in the pen as the long man and Niese as the fifth starter, or just Hernandez period as the fifth man, and neither option is a bad option. This entire situation will become more clear as we get closer to opening day.
