Category: Roster

Mets Pitching Among League’s Worst

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - FEBRUARY 24: Jon Niese #... 

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The first week of the 2011 season hasn’t started well for the Mets’ pitching staff. The offense has been decent. The Mets are in the middle of the National League pack offensively. That’s pretty much where I would expect them to be at the end of the season too. But the pitching is another story completely.

The pitching has been downright dreadful. Only the abysmal Astros have a worse team ERA and only the lowly Pirates have given up more walks than the Mets. It’s a sad state of affairs for a team that’s had a history of some of the greatest pitchers in the game from Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Jerry Koosman, Dwight Gooden, to Johan Santana. It just goes to show that without Santana on the active roster, there isn’t anybody that’s even close to being able to pick up the slack.

Sortable Team Stats - mets.com- Stats 2011-04-09 08-54-06

If you look at the pitcher individually, the bottom five pitcher by ERA on the team are all over 6.00. Of course, we’re only one week into the season so there’s plenty of time for improvement. But the first week has been hideous for Mike Pelfrey, Jon Niese, and Blaine Boyer in particular.

New York Mets Stats- Sortable Statistics - mets.com- Stats 2011-04-09 08-59-32
If you’re unfortunate enough to have tickets for today’s game, you’ll be seeing both fifth starts for the Mets and Nationals. Both teams are expected to have among the worst pitching staffs in the NL this season and you’ll be seeing the pitchers that they least want to have on the mound. Games like today are exactly why I don’t like buying tickets too far in advance. You can get stuck with an awful pitching match-up. It may turn out to be a great game but I would prefer not to spend money on it.

Mets Release Oliver Perez

NEW YORK - APRIL 26: Oliver Perez #46 of the ...

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I’m back on board with this organization today. Many of us have been so critical of the Mets over the last four years and, in many cases, rightfully so. There aren’t many teams that would eat $18 million in contracts between Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo in three days like the Mets just did. That shows some smarts and some guts to move forward in a new direction.

I have to admit that I was okay with the Perez contract before the 2009 season. If you remember, it was between Perez and Derek Lowe, who ended up getting a 4-year/$60 million contract from the Braves. By comparison, the Perez deal was a bargain. A bargain that turned into a nightmare.

Since Perez signed the big contract in 2009 he’s gone 3-9 in 31 games with a 6.81 ERA. It was time to move on without Perez. I applaud this team for making a decision that couldn’t have been made lightly considering the money that was on the line. And I won’t even get into the Wilpon’s current financial situation.

Take a look at Perez’ final stats with the Mets.

Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ WHIP
2006 24 NYM NL 1 3 .250 6.38 7 7 0 1 1 0 36.2 41 26 26 7 17 0 41 3 0 1 165 69 1.582
2007 25 NYM NL 15 10 .600 3.56 29 29 0 0 0 0 177.0 153 90 70 22 79 1 174 7 0 6 765 121 1.311
2008 26 NYM NL 10 7 .588 4.22 34 34 0 0 0 0 194.0 167 100 91 24 105 4 180 11 1 9 847 100 1.402
2009 27 NYM NL 3 4 .429 6.82 14 14 0 0 0 0 66.0 69 51 50 12 58 2 62 4 0 2 324 60 1.924
2010 28 NYM NL 0 5 .000 6.80 17 7 4 0 0 0 46.1 54 37 35 9 42 3 37 4 0 4 234 58 2.072
NYM (5 yrs) 29 29 .500 4.71 101 91 4 1 1 0 520.0 484 304 272 74 301 10 494 29 1 22 2335 90 1.510
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/21/2011.
 
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Mets Oliver Perez Hit Hard, Could Be Released

NEW YORK - APRIL 26: Oliver Perez #46 of the ...
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It was another bad day for Oliver Perez today and it could be his last as a Mets pitcher. He got rocked for back-to-back home runs when he entered the game with two men on base against the Nationals in the seventh inning. His spring ERA ballooned to 8.38 and his fastball never got above 87 mph. It’s just not working out.

I was in favor of holding onto Ollie at least until the end of spring training. But it’s become abundantly clear that there’s nothing to be gained by Perez’ continued participation in spring training.

The Mets were willing to eat Luis Castillo’s contract for $6 million yesterday. Ollie’s contract will be twice as difficult a pill to swallow at $12 million. The only saving grace is that both players are going to be free agents after the 2011 season.

I feel like I’ve seen this quote a hundred times from Perez during his Mets career. After today’s game he said:

“I didn’t do my job, and that’s why they scored four runs,” Perez said after the Mets’ 7-4 win over the Nationals. “That’s a really bad job.”

Pitching coach Dan Warthen talked to reporters after the game too. He’s frequently been in a position to be an apologist for Perez.

“I would like to see better stuff from Ollie,” Warthen said. “We have other guys in here that are working hard and doing a good job from the left side,” Warthen said. “He’s trying to make the left-handed job, and these other guys are doing a very good job right now. We have to evaluate that way.”

Today I changed my mind about Ollie. I’m ready to pull the plug and let him go. I had serious doubts before spring training that he would be able to recover his stuff from 2006. Now, I think he’s wasting time in Port St. Lucie. It’s time for Ollie to go.

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Mets Release Luis Castillo

Luis Castillo with the New York Mets on June 2...
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There wasn’t much doubt that this was going to happen at some point this spring, it was just a matter of when it was going to happen. Today, the news came out that the Mets finally released the chronically under-performing Luis Castillo. It came out from the beat reporters that Castillo asked for his release today, unhappy with the assemblage of talent trying out at second base to replace him. Even the $6.25 million left on his contract for 2011 wasn’t enough to save him.

Castillo’s contract was inexplicable from the start. The Mets picked him up from the Twins at the trading deadline in 2007 and went on to one of the greatest late-season collapses in baseball history. At 31 years old, he appeared to be on the downside of a former speedster’s career. His legs didn’t look fresh and he couldn’t cover the same ground in the field that he did in the late 90’s with the Marlins when we saw him steal bases against Mike Piazza at will with his running mate Juan Pierre.

Of course, Omar Minaya rewarded him with a long-term contract. 4 -years/$25 million. It was hard to believe that was really true. But it was. Continue reading “Mets Release Luis Castillo”

Video: Mets Injuries, Santana, Beltran, Perez

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 27: Johan Santana #57 of...

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Kerel Cooper of On The Black and I address the Johan Santana rumors about him not pitching in 2011 in this week’s video on the state of the Mets. We also talk about Carlos Beltran and his current status and the Oliver Perez move to the bullpen.

We talk about the effects on the team that the Santana and Beltran injuries could have for the season. Check out the video and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Report: Mets’ Johan Santana Out For 2011 Season

Johan Santana won’t be back to pitch in 2011 according to a report in The Record by Steve Popper and Bob Klapisch. The report states that Santana’s throwing sessions haven’t gone well and that the Mets are considering pulling the plug on his rehab and re-evaluating the work that he should be doing at this point.

Originally, Santana was supposed to be doing rehab from his left shoulder surgery last September with an eye towards return in early July. Santana himself even reiterated that timetable in a Feb. 17 radio interview with Mike Francesa of WFAN New York.

The Mets already thin starting rotation is pretty much in shambles without Santana coming back this season. Let’s face it, nobody wants to see Chris Capuano getting 30 starts this year and that’s the painful reality of today’s news.

You never know how a season is going to go for a team before it starts. I think most people are predicting the Mets finishing third or fourth in the NL East. And I believe that’s a fair assessment of the team and the division. Without Santana, the team’s best player and highest paid player not pitching at all in 2011 those predictions could be lowered. It’s going to be a sad state of affairs for this team going through the fourth year of a seven year contract without Santana pitching at all.

In addition, Mets ownership can’t be happy with the prospect of Santana’s $22.5 million salary going up in flames either, considering their financial situation. Presumably, the Mets have insurance for all or a portion of Santana’s salary in case of injury. But given this ownership group, I wouldn’t put it past them to be forced to swallow the whole salary because of a bad insurance policy.

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Video: Mets Spring Training, Young, Perez, Evans

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - FEBRUARY 24: RY 24: RY ...

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In this week’s video I did with Kerel Cooper on On The Black we talk about the spring training position battles at second base and starting pitcher. Specifically, we talk about Justin Turner and Chris Young. We also talk about what could happen to Oliver Perez this year and Nick Evans if he doesn’t make the opening day roster.

I’m hoping that Evans gets a shot at Major League playing time this season, I’m just not sure how that could happen with the Mets barring an injury. Since he’s out of options, I don’t think he’ll make it through waivers unclaimed.

Weekly Mets Report with On The Black
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