Latest News – Page 55 – The Mets Report

Mets Injury Updates: Maine, Perez, Pagan, Wagner

John Maine The Mets media got an update on some of the players that the Mets have on the disabled list right now. Jose Reyes, J.J. Putz, and Carlos Delgado are still in New York. They’re not rehabbing in Florida yet, so we don’t have any updates on them.

Oliver Perez threw three shutout innings in an extended spring training game in Port St. Lucie yesterday. He got through three innings with 48 pitches and his fastball was clocked in the low 90’s. He’s nearly pain-free and is pitching every five days now.

John Maine threw 60 pitches in a simulated game in Florida yesterday as well. He was rusty and felt a “pinch” in his right shoulder that’s been diagnosed as a pinched nerve. Maine won’t come off the disabled list next week when he’s eligible, so we have to get used to Fernando Nieve for a while.

Angel Pagan is rehabbing a right groin strain and should be back with the Mets in 10-12 days.

Billy Wagner is throwing three bullpen sessions per week. And he should start facing hitters in about two weeks.

If the Mets can get Reyes, Maine, and Perez back within a reasonable period of time they should be fine this season. If these key injuries drag on, I think that the Mets will have trouble contending for a playoff position. You can’t lose 2/5 of your starting rotation and expect to have a solid season. I just don’t see that happening.

Report: Mets Possible Trade Targets 2009 Edition

Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports today on the Mets possible trade targets. He focuses his attention on first base. But I’m not so sure that the Mets wouldn’t look at someone like Victor Martinez of the Indians or Matt Holliday of the A’s. The problem with getting a first baseman is that if Carlos Delgado is able to come back from the disabled list this season, there’s no place for him to play.

I still don’t think that the Mets will do anything until mid to late July anyway. At this point in the season they’ll be held up by teams for too much value in return. I think the economy will keep teams from taking on payroll like they have in the past. So as we get closer to the deadline, teams that want to unload players won’t find the number of suitors that they have in seasons past.

The potential trade targets that Olney mentions for the Mets are:

The Mets are going to have to look at someone that can move away from first base if Delgado gets back. Huff and DeRosa along with Martinez would be the players that I think are the most likely. The Orioles will get a nice look at Fernando Martinez this week. Hopefully, he has a good series to generate some interest for a trade for Huff.

Mets K-Rod, Yankees Bruney Separated On Field

boxing According to several Mets beat reporters, K-Rod and Brian Bruney nearly came to blows after an argument in left field during batting practice this morning. They were separated by Mike Pelfrey and others before punches were thrown.

The Subway Series has some real juice now!

K-Rod, Bruney War Of Words

The Yankees injured relief pitcher Brian Bruney and Mets closer K-Rod have a minor war of words going this weekend. Surprisingly, it was started by Bruney after Friday night’s game in which K-Rod got a blown save when Luis Castillo dropped a pop-up allowing the winning run to score.

It’s actually kind of shocking that a guy with 13 wins and 13 saves over parts of six seasons in the majors would attack K-Rod in the media. I could see him having a problem with K-Rod and expressing it to friends and teammates privately. But Bruney just doesn’t have the resume to go after K-Rod publicly. Come on! K-Rod has 24 wins and 224 saves including the all-time single season record.

From ESPN:

“Unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like that. I have, but in high school,” Bruney told reporters in Trenton, N.J. “It couldn’t happen to a better guy on the mound, either. He’s got a tired act.”

After converting a save, Francisco Rodriguez often pounds his chest and points to the sky while letting out a roar.

“I just don’t like watching the guy pitch,” Bruney said. “I think it’s embarrassing.”

Of course, when K-Rod was told about it he didn’t even know who Bruney was.

“If it comes out from somebody big like Mariano [Rivera], somebody who has been around and who is good at what he does, I would respect that from him,” the Mets’ reliever said. “But some guy that I don’t even know who it is, hasn’t maybe played a full year in the big leagues, always been hurt …”

“He better keep his mouth shut and do his job and not worry about somebody else,” Rodriguez said. “If it came out from somebody big, I might pay attention to it. But somebody like that, it doesn’t bother me.”

On Saturday Bruney seemed to back off his comments somewhat when he realized that doesn’t have pitching chops to comment on K-Rod.

“I’m not going to get into a media war with K-Rod. He’s had a great career. He set the save record and besides, he doesn’t know who I am. So it doesn’t matter what I think,” Bruney said in the Yankees’ clubhouse after Saturday’s loss.

“I stand by what I said. I don’t know that it makes any difference, since the guy’s never heard of me. He may be a great dude, I don’t know. I’ve never met him,” he added. “I was taught to play the game a different way and you won’t see me doing those kinds of things.”

I’m surprised that Bruney hasn’t gone after his teammate Joba Chamberlain for his antics. Chamberlain is alway screaming and fist-pumping on the mound. I’d like to hear what Bruney’s thoughts are on that.

Check out this post from New York Sports Dog.

Rosenthal: Mets Manuel Communication Problems

Jerry_Manuel This is something that we’ve been talking about since spring training as Mets fans. Jerry Manuel seems to be a different person than he was last seasonwhen he took over for Willie Randolph in June. Now I can see why the Mets only gave Manuel a 2-year contract instead of the three years that he wanted. And I can see how Manuel lost the locker room in Chicago in 2003.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports writes a pretty lengthy piece about how Manuel has thrown his players under the bus. He does fail to mention how Manuel threw third base coach Razor Shines under the bus this week for failing to point out the bad call at home plate that involved Fernando Tatis being called out when the replay showed he was safe.

From Fox Sports:

Manuel, in baseball parlance, “throws guys under the bus.” His candor appeals to fans who are tired of hearing excuses for overpaid, underperforming players. But such an approach rarely works long-term.

I haven’t been a major detractor of Manuel. I thought that he did a great job last season working without a bullpen. But he does seem to be different this year. It’s almost like he makes everything about himself.

His dealings with the players have become odd this season as well. He fell in love with Daniel Murphy way too quickly. And that hasn’t worked out at all. Manuel clearly dislikes Ryan Church and Ramon Castro. But I don’t think that he’s the only one in the Mets organization that feels that way about both players. So Manuel may not be as out of line on those players as he appears to be to us fans.

It’ll be very telling to see if the Mets allow Manuel to go into next season as a lame duck manager of this team. I doubt that will happen. If the Mets make the playoffs, I think they’ll give Manuel a one or two year extension. If they don’t make the playoffs this season, we’ll be talking about the new Mets manager in November.

Mets-Yankees Series Not Sold Out

I just checked the Yankees website and there are still tickets available for all three games of this weekend’s series in the Bronx. I’m sure there are a lot of factors at play here, the economy, etc. But this series not selling out is ridiculous.

I would guess that there haven’t been tickets available for every game of a Subway Series since they started it in 1997. And if you look at StubHub, you can get tickets for as low as $1 for Saturday’s game. Of course, the best available tickets from the box office for tonight’s game are $900 each. I think that’s got to be the biggest factor in the lack of sell outs.

Both the Mets and Yankees overpriced their tickets this season and are paying the price now. At least the Yankees reduced the prices of some of their upper end tickets. The Mets have been holding steady on their prices. Most likely, they don’t want to issue refunds to the buyers that already purchased tickets.

It’s been a shame all season long to see the high priced seats behind home plate sitting empty, in many cases, at both stadiums. Even if the announcers on SNY are talking about Citi Field being a “full house”. But it’ll be even worse to see such a popular series as this one to have empty seats behind the plate. It makes for bad TV and it’s very disappointing that both teams couldn’t figure out how to properly price their products.

Mets John Maine To Disabled List

john-maine Add another Met to the growing list of disabled list residents. John Maine joined Carlos Delgado, Oliver Perez, Jose Reyes, Billy Wagner, Ramon Martinez, Angel Pagan, and J.J. Putz. How crazy is that?

Maine is experiencing some dead arm that may be due to the surgery he had last year to remove a bone spur in his right shoulder. Maine suggested that he may have overworked the shoulder trying to recover.

Mets GM Omar Minaya told reporters that they don’t know who is going to take Maine’s start against the Yankees on Saturday. The Mets announced yesterday that they were changing Livan Hernandez’ and Maine’s spots in the rotation to give Maine more time to recover. Apparently, that didn’t work.

The possibilities to start tomorrow in the Bronx are Fernando Nieve, just called up from Triple-A and Nelson Figueroa. I would go with Figueroa. He’s done a very good job in the spot starts that he’s made for the Mets. This one will be in Yankee Stadium in front of a full house. I’d be concerned that Nieve could have some nerves in that environment.

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