could he be the next piece for the Mets to thrive? stay tuned..

I think his signing will end up hurting in the long run.

How could a one-year deal end up hurting in the long run?

How could it hurt with a base salary of 4 million? Even if he blows his arm out and never makes a start it's not hurting that much.

next piece? yes... missing piece? no. The puzzle is still missing a few.

The "missing piece" of what ?
Marcum is a good/solid starter when he is healthy, but he'd hardly be the missing piece for a team like the Mets. We have still have a number of holes and question marks, and so we aren't one or two players away

Good risk to take. He stays healthy he will net us a useful piece at the deadline

We'll end up not developing a prospect who would otherwise have seen some playing time. Then, we'll let him go for a song and a dance and watch as he becomes a major star.

he's insurance if any one goes down or if Johan or Gee aren't ready for game 1, but he does block Wheeler and I'd rather they spent the money on the OF.

I think Marcum will actually help prospect development. Rather than placing all of the pressure on Wheeler or Mejia to start regularly, they can now spot start those two and work them in gradually with the inevitable injuries that happen.

Could be... if he goes missing.

Marcum is insurance for someone going down.

Mets had THREE starting pitchers go down for 1/2 season or more last yr (Pelfrey, Gee & Santana). Plus most reliable reliever (Byrdak) out for 1/2 season. If everybody's healthy Gee probably goes to BP. Which isn't "blocking" him since he probably can't pitch that many innings this yr after being out 1/2 last season & pitching w/ numb arm up to going on DL w/ blood clot (and having surgery for that).

Of course, I'm exaggerating somewhat, but I think he'll block the development of one of our secondary prospects more so than Wheeler.

>>>"Good risk to take. He stays healthy he will net us a useful piece at the deadline "<<<

My thoughts exactly. I think Sandy had to see him as a piece that if healthy, could be very good for us, and could be a good chip later if need be.

...or we could move Gee to the pen where he belongs

No.

He blocks Wheeler only if you thought Wheeler was going to come up at some point this year.

He plays for the big club the same way Harvey did, injuries to others. Or September.