Category: Roster

Mets Redding Has Shoulder Pain

Tim ReddingTim Redding had offseason surgery to repair a stress fracture in the second toe of his left foot in November. So he didn’t do his normal offseason throwing program. Today he reported to the team that he’s feeling some pain in his throwing shoulder. Apparently, Redding feels that its due to rushing his throwing program this spring.

This certainly won’t help in his bid to win the #5 starter spot from Freddy Garcia and Jon Niese. But it’s still too early in the spring to make any decisions. The Mets could live with Redding getting a late start to the season if it came to that. In my mind, he’s likely going to be the long man in the bullpen anyway.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Mets Bring Curveball Back

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/Javascripts/PisV3.jshttp://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/javascripts/DataV3.ashx?ImageId=641119&PublisherId=1326Baseball Player John Maine Appears at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

Pitching coach Dan Warthen started the Mets bringing the curveball back in the second half of last season. He got Mike Pelfrey throwing it again and this spring John Maine is doing the same.

From MLB.com:

“I’ve got to learn to do it again,” Maine said. “It’s been over two years since I’ve thrown it in a game. I’ve got to learn to do it sometime.”

Pitchers have been throwing curveballs for 140 years. I always hated that former pitching coach Rick Peterson discouraged it so much. He favored throwing the fastball, change, and slider low in the strike zone.

I think Maine was the one most effected by Peterson’s philosophy. He seems to naturally have success high in the strike zone. I realize that he can’t live there but there’s no reason not to go there on occasion.

I also never understand Peterson’s fascination with the slider. Remeber watching Jorge Julio and others throw them over and over? And getting knocked around constantly to boot. There’s nothing wrong with a good curveball. Darryl Kile ( RIP) and others have made a career out of it.

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Report: Pelfrey Victimized By Stanford Scheme

MLB.com is reporting that Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey is among many that have been swindeled by billionaire finacier Robert Allen Stanford. Yankees players Johnny Damon and former Mets Xavier Nady are also reported to be among the victims.

All three players are clients of agent Scott Boras. So you have to wonder if he was directing them to invest with Stanford. But Boras says that he’s examined the situation and doesn’t feel that the players will face any permanent financial losses.

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/Javascripts/PisV3.jshttp://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/javascripts/DataV3.ashx?ImageId=639373&PublisherId=1326St. Louis Cardinals Kyle Lohse signs four year contract

Delgado Is Focused On Mets Team

The theme of the 2009 Mets spring training has been team first. Jerry Manuel is putting the position players through rigorous hitting drills with the object to hit the other way. All of the talk from the Mets players and management has been about the team, not individual achievements.

Carlos Delgado echoes that theme even though he’s at #30 in all-time home runs. He’s only 31 away from the 500 club which would likely cement his Hall Of Fame credentials. Currently, he’s only six home runs behind the greats Willie Stargell and Stan Musial.

Click the link below to watch a video of Delgado talking about the team concept.
Delgado: Stay focused on team
Delgado: Stay focused on team

Mets Duaner Sanchez Wants To Prove Himself

Duaner SanchezWith the acquisitions of J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez, Duaner Sanchez’ stock has lowered dramatically this season. Last year, returning from a major shoulder injury, he didn’t look like himself at all. His velocity was way down and his breaking ball didn’t bite at all. It was more of a floating break.

He’ll be pitching in the middle innings this year, not entrusted with the late innings as he was in his terrific 2006 season. But how could he be? He finished 2008 with a 4.32 ERA, way above his career 3.91 ERA.

It would be great to see him return to form but that nasty shoulder injury might have taken too much out of his body. Click the link below to watch a video of him talking about the upcoming 2009 season.
Mets' Sanchez ready for '09
Mets’ Sanchez ready for ’09

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Johan Santana Out Of World Baseball Classic

Word came from Port St. Lucie today that Johan Santana won’t be representing Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. He had arthriscopic surgery on his left knee shortly after last season ended. The story from Adam Rubin of the Daily News is that the Mets asked him not to participate.

WBC Photo Day: Venezuela

I’m not a huge fan of the WBC, particularly because of the timing during spring training. Not that there’s a good time for an event like this. But I think it would be better if they played after the MLB season ended. Sure, it would be anti-climactic after the World Series. But it would give players a chance to rest afterward before the next season started, and reduce the injury concerns that MLB teams have about the event.

Frankly, it’s hard for me to understand how a team could let its best player like Johan Santana participate at all in this kind of event. The only incentive appears to be MLB’s desire to see this thing succeed. I wouldn’t want Santana playing if he had a hang nail after last season ended, much less knee surgery.

Santana’s a durable player. But if he, somehow, was seriously injured during the WBC it would have such serious ramifications for the Mets season. Each team should be able to select one or two players that they reserve not to play in the tournament. The financial commitments to the top players in baseball should preclude them from participation in WBC, which is essentially a meaningless exhibition.

Mets, Feliciano Agree To One Year Contract

Pedro Feliciano was the Mets last arbitration eligible player for the 2009 season without a contract. He agreed to a 1-year/$1.6125 million contract this week.

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/Javascripts/PisV3.jshttp://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/javascripts/DataV3.ashx?ImageId=584108&PublisherId=1326Mets vs. Braves

The lefty reliever finished the 2008 season at 3-4 with a 4.05 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. Last season was Feliciano’s worst as a Met since he started pitching regularly in 2006.

Feliciano is a good lefty specialist. Right-handed batters hit him hard last season, having a .357 batting average against him versus ..210 for lefties. He also got hit much harder during the day (6.60 ERA) than he did at night (3.05 ERA). It’s also worth noting that he was miserable after the All-Star break, having a 6.27 ERA versus 2.86 ERA before the break.

This is an important season for Feliciano to establish himself as a solid reliever that can succeed throughout the entire season.