ESPN video on Billy Wagner making the decision to reject a trade to the Red Sox and his response to Jonathan Papelbon‘s comments about him.
Category: Latest News
Mets News Aug. 25, 2009: Wagner, Sheffield, Minaya, Santana
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
For a team near the bottom of the National League standings, the Mets sure have a lot going on right now. You would think that they would be playing out the string and cruising into 2010. Did you know? There are only five teams in the NL with a worse winning percentage than the Mets; Nationals, Pirates, Reds, D-Backs, and Padres.
Here’s the news:
- Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports writes that Billy Wagner will exercise his no-trade clause to block a move to the Red Sox. The deal must be completed by 1pm today.
- Adam Bernacchio of The Ghost of Moonlight Graham writes about how several Mets players told the media that they expect Johan Santana to have season-ending elbow surgery
- Nick Kapur of Ump Bump writes about how the Mets have mismanaged Johan Santana by allowing him to pitch injured for the last two months
- Danny Knobler of CBS Sports writes about Gary Sheffield’s future. He wants to play next year and beyond in his pursuit of 3,000 hits. Sheffield needs 311 more hits to reach 3,000.
- Jon Heyman of SI.com writes about Fred Wilpon’s vote of confidence for Omar Minaya and the Billy Wagner trade to the Red Sox scenario
- Jon Boise of AOL Fanhouse writes that the Mets injuries this year may be evidence that God hates the Mets
- Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports writes that Omar Minaya will have a difficult time turning things around in 2010
More Mets Injuries: Johan Santana, Jeff Francoeur
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
If you weren’t at work today and were watching the game, you noticed that Jeff Francoeur wasn’t in the lineup or the dugout. He was at the doctor getting his thumb examined after making a diving catch yesterday. The result is that he has a torn ligament in his thumb, the same injury that plagued Alex Cora for much of the season. Francoeur is day-to-day right now.
On a more serious note, Johan Santana will be the next victim patient of the Mets medical team for some pain in his left elbow. Apparently, he’s been feeling some pain since after the All-Star break. He won’t be in Florida for his scheduled start tomorrow. Nelson Figueroa will replace him in the rotation.
I haven’t been a proponent of sitting anyone for the rest of the season if they’re healthy enough to play. I feel that the Mets owe the paying fans something. And that something is putting some decent players on the field. But I have to say that Santana is the one guy they shouldn’t mess around with. He needs to be healthy for next season. So if he needs to call it a season now, they should err on the side of caution with him.
Mets-Red Sox Billy Wagner Trade Hits Snag
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The major news organizations are reporting that Mets closer Billy Wagner has some demands of the Red Sox before he’ll waive his no-trade clause to accept a deal sending him to Boston. He wants the Sox to guarantee that they won’t pick up his $8 million option for next season and that they won’t offer him contract arbitration.
If the Sox won’t agree to Wagner’s demands, the Mets could still let Wagner go without receiving any compensation except for not having to pay Wagner. The Mets should just let him go if they can’t work through these issues. Omar Minaya shouldn’t even have to think for a second about that.
That punk, Jonathan Papelbon, had some comments for WEEI about Wagner too. From ESPN:
“What has he done? Has he pitched this year?” Jonathan Papelbon told WEEI.com. “Is he ready to pitch or is he not? … I think our bullpen is good where we’re at right now. Don’t get me wrong. But I guess you could always make it better. It’s kind of like the [Eric] Gagne thing, I guess.”
Video: Rosenthal On Billy Wagner Trade
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports has a video posted about the Mets options for trading Billy Wagner. He mentions that they may even hold onto him, pick up his option for next year, then trade him. What he doesn’t mention is that the Mets could shoot themselves in the foot by doing that if Wagner exercises his full no-trade clause. Then the Mets are stuck with him next year at $8 million.
http://images.video.msn.com/flash/customplayer/1_0/customplayer.swf
Fred Wilpon Supports Minaya For Mets 2010
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We haven’t seen much of Fred Wilpon this year and with good reason. Nobody wants to watch the stumbling, bumbling 2009 Mets. They stink. But Wilpon did make a rare appearance at Citi Field last night because the ’69 team was in the house.
Wilpon would only answer one question from the assembled media. “Will Omar Minaya be back in 2010?” His answer: “Absolutely. That’s a fact.”
I’ve heard about this topic from Mets fans since April. “Fire Minaya!”. And I’ve always said that there’s no way they’ll fire Minaya with three years remaining on his contract. It’s just not happening. He could be the worst GM in baseball (you could make that argument) and they still wouldn’t fire him and eat three years of his contract.
You might want to read Joel Sherman of the NY Post today. It’s the “Bernie Madoff Effect”. The Mets got taken for ride by their good friend Madoff and their real estate business is struggling. They just don’t have the stomach to lose more money on Minaya and replacing the entire front office. Sherman estimates that the cost would approximately $12 million. That may not seem like much by baseball standards, and it’s not for on-field talent. But teams don’t eat that kind of money for the support staff. And that’s a fact!
Mets Get 1969 Celebration Right
- Image by bobster855 via Flickr
If you missed the pre-game of last night’s Mets-Phillies game, you missed a very well done celebration of the Mets first World Series championship- The Miracle Mets. A couple of things stood out for me about the celebration:
- The Mets organization does a great job with these events like they did with the final game at Shea and the 25th anniversary of the ’86 World Series champs
- It was fantastic to see Nolan Ryan back in New York with a Mets uniform on; the pitching they had on that team was off the charts
Related to point number 1, how can the Mets get these events right that celebrate their team’s history yet get their new stadium so wrong? It doesn’t make sense to me. Just when I think that the organization is completely out of touch with their fan base, they do something like this so well. I guess there’s still hope for them yet.
I want to add a couple of links on the ’69 celebration:
- Remembering Shea has some good comments about watching the celebration last night
- Ken Belson of the NY Times writes about how Mets fans got a brief reprieve last night from a season of injuries, incompetence, and all-around sloppy play when they saw the ’69 team take the field
- ESPN has a good report including that Jerry Manuel played with Bud Harrelson and Jerry Grote briefly in a Senior League in Florida
- Keith Olbermann, the Baseball Nerd, writes about his attendance at the event last night
The Mets Report 