CBS’ Scott Miller writes about the Mets “desperate” search for starting pitching. Read the column at CBS Sportline.
Miller always has a negative slant against the Mets but it’s hard to dispute his take on the Mets rotation right now. Signing Claudio Vargas is really scraping the bottom of the pitching barrel.
MLB.com reports that Duaner Sanchez may stay at Triple-A New Orleans for a few more days. His arm is being evaluated on a daily basis after pitching back to back days on Friday and Saturday. Willie Randolph had this to say on the topic:
“When you get a guy like him throwing the way he was throwing before he hurt himself, and you put him into your bullpen, it’s definitely going to be a domino effect as far as helping the whole bullpen,” Randolph said. “Anytime you can put a fresh arm out there, a quality arm, it sets everybody up better. It just injects a certain energy into your bullpen. I’m hoping that’s the case.”
Hopefully, we’ll see Sanchez back sooner than later. It’s tough watching Jorge Sosa, Aaron Heilman, and Scott Schoenweiss. We need some new faces coming out of the bullpen.
That is the question…
The Mets blogs and mainstream media have been on the topic of booing home players since 4:00pm yesterday. The Brewers hit some bombs and won the game yesterday which caused a mild stirring of booing in Flushing. Some have taken the ridiculous stance that fans should never boo home players. Others have gone to the argument “Stop booing you mean people”. I’ll take the high road and assume that booing home players isn’t an extremist group of drunken so-called “fans” on a Saturday afternoon at Shea.
The subject of booing home players has, once again, surfaced. Do fans have the right/responsibility to boo home players? In a word: Yes!
If there’s a new ace pitcher that’s working on a 6 year/$137.5 million contract that’s under performing, the fans have a right to boo. If there’s a relief pitcher that’s got a 3 year/$10.8 million contract that’s been reduced to being a lefty specialist and not doing it well, the fans have a right to boo.
I fully support booing home players when the subjective decision has been made that a player is sorely under performing, a.k.a. stealing the Mets money. I’ve participated booing home players with some ferocity on two occasions:
Although those are two occasions that I’ve engaged in booing home players, some fans could make other arguments as well. In 2007, Carlos Delgado was difficult to watch. I think that an argument could be made there.
To conclude this post, Mets fans do have a right and responsibility to boo home players that are sorely under performing especially when their contract is deemed excessive. I don’t think that was case yesterday at Shea. In my opinion, Johan Santana pitched extremely well in Florida, very well in Atlanta last Sunday, and not very well yesterday. Does that justify booing a two-time Cy Young Award winner? No way! There just isn’t enough of a body of under performing work to justify booing Santana at this point in the season. Mad Dog Russo would say “That’s a bad job by Mets fans yesterday”.
Image via WikipediaDuaner Sanchez pitched the eighth inning for the New Orleans Zephyrs again tonight against the Round Rock Express. He didn’t give up any hits or walks and had one strikeout. I’m sure that the Mets will want to see how his arm feels tomorrow. Hopefully, he’ll be on his way to New York for the Nationals series beginning on Tuesday.
Now that we’ve come down from the dream story that Nelson Figueroa was last night it’s time to get real about his roster spot. I’ve read and heard so much from the media and blogs about the “Hometown boy makes good” story. SNY went on ad nauseam about the tale.
If you read this blog regulary, you saw that I wrote that Figueroa pitched a wonderful game last night. I really like his stuff and composure on the mound. He’s obviously got terrific family and friends pulling for him (as were all Mets fans). I loved what I saw from him last night.
That being said, Figueroa’s spot on the roster is going to call for some decisions in the future. Part of his value is that he’s only working on a one-year minor league contract. That gives the Mets flexibility to move him up and down from the minors. There aren’t too many players on the roster with that flexibility.
When, and if, Pedro Martinez, Duaner Sanchez, and Orlando Hernandez come back to the team there will have to be some roster moves to make room. I would guess that Carlos Muniz would be the first player to go down to the minors when Sanchez comes back as early as Tuesday.
Martinez and Hernandez may not be back for quite some time. When they do come back, Figueroa’s roster spot will become much more precarious. The Mets management will be forced to make a decision between keeping Mike Pelfrey and Figueroa on the major league roster. Take a look at the Mets active roster here. Who do you think should leave when Martinez comes back?
It would seem that Figueroa and Pelfrey will be competing for the one open roster spot when Martinez returns. I like that Pelfrey has someone with some talent that’s pushing him to focus and throw strikes. Frankly, I like Figueroa for the swing man role better than Jorge Sosa but that’s not going to happen. Sosa’s got a one-year $2 million major league contract so he’s not going anywhere barring a performance disaster on his part.
The only flexibility outside of the pitchers on the roster is with Brady Clark. He’s also working on a one-year minor league contract but will most likely be sent down when Moises Alou comes back. If Alou has a setback returning from his hernia surgery, that could give the Mets some flexibility to keep Figueroa and Pelfrey when Martinez returns. But I doubt that the Mets would keep 13 pitchers.
The conclusion is that I like what I saw last night and believe that Figueroa can give Pelfrey a serious threat of being sent back to the minors if he doesn’t consistently pitch well. Even though Pelfrey is one of the Mets top prospects, the Mets need to win games now and Figueroa might be a better option for this season.
A quick update on Duaner Sanchez’ performance: last night he pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the New Orleans Zephyrs against the Round Rock Express giving up only one walk and no hits. He’s scheduled to pitch again tonight at 7:05pm against Round Rock (jointly owned by former Met Nolan Ryan).
Image via WikipediaDuaner Sanchez is pitching tonight and tomorrow for Triple-A New Orleans in Round Rock, TX. Sanchez may return to the Mets next week if his arm responds to pitching in consecutive days. His return would be a welcome addition to the bullpen and mean a return trip to the minors for Carlos Muniz. Sanchez could reclaim the eighth inning role and move Aaron Heilman up the seventh inning.
The Mets Report 