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.
With 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Elmer Dessens will join the Mets this season on a minor league contract. The deal will pay him $600,000 if he’s on the major league roster and has an additional $150,00 in incentives.
Dessens turned 38 years old last month. He’s kicked around the league for 12 years, pitching in four games last season for the Braves in relief. He started five games for the Rockies in 2007.
Expect him to start the season at Triple-A Buffalo and make a possible appearance in the bullpen if things start to go haywire during the season. Otherwise, Buffalo is the only place you’ll get to see him pitch this season.
There were media reports that the Mets wanted to get a deal done with Oliver Perez by today. We haven’t received word from the Mets or Scott Boras that anything has been settled yet. So, we keep waiting.
Adam Rubin of the NY Daily News has some good information from the BBWAA New York chapter dinner tonight. The topics are:
This whole off-season has been so strange for free agents. I’ve said this before, but there are a lot of free agents right now that should sign one year contracts and hope for a better economic environment next year. Ben Sheets is definitely one of them.
SI.com’s Jon Heyman is reporting that the Mets went back to Scott Boras with a better offer for Oliver Perez. Initially, the Mets offered 3-years/$30 million but pulled the offer when Perez didn’t accept it.
The word on the street is that the Mets have gone to four years for Ollie. I think that’ll max out the duration that they’ll offer. The money is probably still negotiable though.
The Mets Report 