Category: Injuries

Martinez Throwing In Dominican Today

Pedro Martinez waves goodbye after signing some autographs

Image via Wikipedia

Injury update- Pedro Martinez is working out today in the Domincan Republic and plans to travel to Florida tomorrow. He says that he’s ready to pitch at the Major League level now, but the Mets want him to get one start in Florida before joining the Mets. The plan is for him to pitch for St. Lucie of the Florida State League.

Read the full story here.

Report: Anderson On Disabled List And Evans Called Up

According to the NY Post Marlon Anderson’s strained hamstring, suffered in last night’s game in Colorado, has forced him to the disabled list.

The Mets have called up 22 year old first basemen Nick Evans from Double-A Binghamton. He’s hitting .292 with 8 HR’s and 31 RBI’s in 171 at-bats. He’s also played a little outfield.

It’s telling that the Mets aren’t calling up an outfielder with Ryan Church still not starting because of his concussion in Atlanta and Moises Alou on the disabled list. Clearly, they’re trying to evaluate if they have someone that can play first base if they unload Carlos Delgado. Presumably, Delgado has no trade value so the roster move would have to be designating him for assignment.

That may be one of the roster shake up’s that we see after Willie Randolph is fired this coming week.

Alou Likely To Disabled List

Source: Flickr – D. Fletcher

Bart Hubbach of the NY Post is reporting that Moises Alou is likely to go on the disabled list with the left calf strain that took him out of yesterday’s game.

Raul Casanova is on his way to Atlanta to join the team to replace Alou on the roster. Willie Randolph noted that Casanova can also play first base.

Tonight’s corner outfielders will be Marlon Anderson in left and Endy Chavez in right. Ryan Church is still recovering from the mild concussion that he suffered when he collided with Yunel Escobar at second base.

Having Casanova on the roster will be nice to free up the Mets to pinch hit Ramon Castro or use him in double switch situations.

Mets Have Problems, I Have Solutions

The first two months of the season have proven that the New York Mets have an average record with above average talent. That’s on the manager. Beyond managerial problems, the Mets have several issues on their roster. Not every problem can be solved easily but there are some quick, inexpensive solutions.

Problems:

  1. Manager– Willie Randolph briefly lost his mind while speaking to Ian O’Connor of the Bergen Record on Sunday. If Randolph can’t keep it together better than that he shouldn’t be leading this team. It’s as simple as that.
  2. First base– Carlos Delgado has turned into an automatic out. But even during losing streaks and blowout loses he continues to smile and yuk it up at first base with the opposing team.
  3. Left field– Moises Alou is a natural-born hitting machine. He’s also chronically on the disabled list.
  4. Second base– Luis Castillo was just signed to a four year contract prior to this season, as hard as that is to believe. His legs look like they could give out at any moment. His game depends on speed and range in the field and now he doesn’t have either.
  5. Bullpen– Aaron Heilman can’t figure out how to get hitters out this season. He swings back and forth between walking batters and giving up home runs. That’s a bad combination.
  6. Starting pitching– Pedro Martinez and El Duque on the disabled list since the beginning of the season has hurt the Mets badly. The gaping holes in the rotation have exposed Mike Pelfrey, Nelson Figueroa, and Claudio Vargas.

Wow, that’s a big list of problems! Although the list appears to be insurmountable, it’s not. Continue reading “Mets Have Problems, I Have Solutions”

Mets News Today: Wilpon, Alou, and Martinez

ESPN reports that Mets COO Jeff Wilpon didn’t return Willie Randolph’s voicemail before he made his public apology for the SNY and race comments. Jay Horowitz said that Omar Minaya returned the call on behalf of Mets ownership. I think that says it all. Randolph is done, put that in the books!

Moises Alou left yesterday’s game against the Braves in the middle of the third inning because of tightness in his left calf. He’s back in New York today for an MRI. Early reports are that it’s a muscle strain and he may miss some time.

Pedro Martinez is now saying that he isn’t thinking about retiring that he wants to play for two or three more season.

Pedro Martinez Pondering Retirement

Multiple media sources today are reporting that Pedro Martinez is considering retirement. No, not because he’s spent so much time on the disabled list over the last three seasons. It’s because his 78 year old father is suffering from a form of brain cancer.

Pedro has played for 17 years in the big leagues and he’s made more than $134 million dollars through the 2007 season. He’s won three Cy Young Awards. What else is left for him to do?

He’ll be a free agent after this season and I’m hoping that the Mets don’t re-sign him. It was great when he got here in 2005 to add some life to a lifeless franchise. But he just hasn’t produced over the past three years. Did you know that his record is 12-9 since 2006?

If the Mets do re-sign him it should be for one year maximum. Of course, that would be bucking the Omar Minaya trend of signing aging players to long term contracts. I do realize that.

The Mets would be better off pursuing C.C. Sabbathia or one of the other free agents available after this season.