Marlon Anderson is headed for the disabled list with a hamstring injury. He’s been struggling through that for a couple of months now. He hasn’t hit much this season at all to the tune of .222/ .259/ .294. Considering that he’s a liability in the outfield, his value to the team is very limited right now.
David Lennon of Newsday reports that Dan Murphy is on his way to Houston from New Orleans and the roster move will be made official when Murphy arrives.
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeJohn Maine was diagnosed with a mild rotator cuff strain and will miss his next scheduled start. The Mets are off Monday before playing 23 consecutive games. So they should be able to work the off day into the plan without needing to find another starter to take Maine’s place.
Maine was pulled from his last start on Monday in Miami during the fifth inning due to the shoulder pain he was experiencing. As I’ve written before, it was a good decision by Jerry Manuel to pull him early from the game. Maine is one of the most valuable players the Mets have due to his skill, age, and contract status.
Maine told reporters that he feels good after not throwing for three straight days. His plan going forward is for light throwing today and working off the mound in Houston tomorrow.
Adam Rubin of the Daily News is reporting that Triple-A player Dan Murphy is being called up for tonight’s game in Houston. There’s no mention of who’s roster spot he’ll take. I would assume it’ll be Nick Evans. Evans hasn’t been playing much and there’s no sense in keeping a young player on the big league roster to sit on the bench. Evans has looked overmatched by big league pitching at times hitting .244/ .286/ .333 so far this season.
Murphy was just promoted from Binghamton to New Orleans and only lasted there one day. More news to come on which player on the active roster will be moved to make room for Murphy.
Double-A Binghamton outfielder Dan Murphy was promoted to Triple-A New Orleans. It’s a well deserved promotion for Murphy. He hit .308 with 13 HR and 67 RBI’s at Binghamton. He’s definitely a candidate to make a contribution at the big league level late this season or next year.
Double-A pitcher Jon Niese was promoted to Triple-A New Orleans and may be a candidate to make a spot start for the big club next week. The Mets will need a starter on August 11th and Niese may get the call against Pittsburgh in a makeup game.
Tony Armas, Jr. is scheduled to have hernia surgery this week.
USA Olympian Brandon Knight has cleared waivers and is being assigned back to Triple-A New Orleans. He’s with the Olympic team now in California.
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI haven’t heard a word about Orlando Hernandez in quite some time. A couple of weeks ago he left a rehab game with Binghamton because of pain in his right foot. The same foot that’s been bothering him since last season because of a bunion.
Adam Rubin of the Daily News reports that Mets vice president Tony Bernazard told him that El Duque isn’t close to returning. He hasn’t pitched off a mound since leaving the game with Binghamton. They’re waiting for a special shoe to be built for El Duque.
It’s August already, so I’m not counting on getting anything out of El Duque this season. Fortunately, it’s the last season of his contract with the Mets. So he’ll be gone next year and the $6 million that he’s making can be put into a productive player.
The Mets list John Maine as day-to-day after an MRI yesterday revealed a mild strain to his rotator cuff. Maine’s next scheduled start is in Houston on Sunday. The Mets have off days tomorrow and Monday, plus Pedro Martinez is re-joining the team from his bereavement leave. So the general consensus seems to be that the Mets will skip a start for Maine and let him heal up.
Image by Getty Images via DaylifeTim Marchman of the New York Sun, a terrific writer, wrote a great analysis yesterday about the massive change in results that Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez have gotten under pitching coach Dan Warthen. Both were struggling early this season under pitching coach Rick Peterson.
To sum up the piece, Perez is throwing more strikes and generally closer to the strike zone now. He doesn’t appear to have modified the types of pitches that he’s throwing. And Pelfrey changed the pitches he’s throwing from sinker/change up to straight fastball, sinker, curve ball. The results, of course, have been dramatic for both pitchers.
My take is that Peterson had a philosophy that he believed to be the “correct” methodology for all pitchers to utilize. That is, being a fastball/change up pitcher more than using a curve ball.
It appears to me that Dan Warthen doesn’t subscribe to a one style fits all approach to pitching. Each pitcher needs to maximize their unique abilities. Although Duaner Sanchez hasn’t succeeded under Warthen that may be an aberration due to his year and a half out of baseball with injuries.
The Mets Report 