Report: Mets Figueroa Will Become Free Agent

Adam Rubin of the Daily News reports this morning that pitcher Nelson Figueroa will refuse an assignment to Triple-A Buffalo and become a free agent. The story here is that he was upset that the Mets designated him for assignment after his spot start on Sunday. Subsequently, he cleared waivers.

I can understand Figueroa being upset that the Mets started him and then immediately designated him for assignment. But the fact is that every team chose not to claim him on waivers. Even the Los Angeles Angels that are in the market for pitching right now didn’t claim him.

I think Figueroa is shooting himself in the foot with this move. Maybe he plans to pitch overseas or in an independant league. But that would virtually secure that he wouldn’t be in the major leagues this season. At least with Buffalo he has a chance to be back with the Mets at some point.

Mets O’Day Claimed On Waivers; Appears Incognito

Texas Rangers (baseball)
Image via Wikipedia

Darren O’Day has had an interesting week. He was waived by the Mets on Sunday to make room for Nelson Figueroa on the roster. O’Day was then claimed by the Texas Rangers from waivers and had to report to Toronto for the Rangers series with the Blue Jays.

According to MLB.com, O’Day appeared in his firt game wearing the unirform of Kason Gabbard. Apparently, he was home in Florida when he got the call from his agent that he was claimed off waivers. He flew to Toronto to meet up with the team and was told to go directly from the airport to the Rogers Centre where the Rangers were in the middle of a game. Then, he actually got into the game. But because this happened so fast the Rangers didn’t have a uniform ready for him.

Cardinals 5- Mets 2 April 22, 2009

42209Starting pitching was the name of this game. John Maine wasn’t very good again and Joel Piniero was excellent. Piniero got into the ninth inning before being pulled after David Wright‘s leadoff double. He ended up giving up only six hits and two runs.

Maine walked five and gave up seven hits over 5.2 innings. And he very well could have been pulled before that. He had runners on in almost every inning. His velocity looks good but his control was terrible.

The only bright spot of the game was Carlos Beltran was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. His average is up to .385 for the season.

The Mets are down 0-2 in this three game series and try to avoid the sweep tomorrow.

Box score

Audio: Mets Manager Jerry Manuel Interview April 22, 2009

WFAN logoJerry Manuel calls in from St. Louis to the WFAN Mike Francesa show. He talks for about 20 minutes on the main topics of the day that Mets fans have been complaining about: Daniel Murphy’s fielding problems, the corner outfielders, and the starting pitchers. He also addresses the baserunning problems that the Mets had last night in St. Louis. Listen below.

Jerry Manuel audio

Game Preview: Mets at Cardinals [Game 14] April 22, 2009

St. Louis Cardinals logoNew York Mets (6-7 Road: 3-4) at St. Louis Cardinals (9-5 Home: 6-2) 8:15 pm

John Maine (0-1 7.20) vs. Joel Piniero (2-0 5.40)

TV: ESPN RadioWFAN

What to watch: Hopefully, the Mets got all of the bumbling and stumbling they did last night out of their system. Maine hasn’t gone more than 5 innings yet and got ripped by the Padres in his last start. Piniero didn’t pitch well in his last start in Arizona but got a win. It’s time for the Mets to stop underachieving and start playing solid baseball.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!

Mets Figueroa Clears Waivers

Many of us were surprised that the Mets designated Nelson Figueroa for assignment after having a quality start on Sunday. The start came as a spot start in place of Mike Pelfrey who’s been suffering from some minor forearm tendinitis.

The Daily News reports that Figueroa has cleared waivers today so he can return to Triple-A Buffalo. He was placed on waivers so the Mets could add Casey Fossum to the roster as a second lefty in the bullpen. If Fossum keeps pitching the way he did last night we should see Figueroa back with the big league team soon.

There were some rumors that the Los Angeles Angels were looking at claiming Figueroa off waivers.