Category: Pitching

Mets Pitcher Billy Wagner: Bully Or Team Leader?

The biggest story with the New York Mets over the last week has been closer Billy Wagner ripping Oliver Perez after Perez’ dreadful start against the Pirates on Wednesday. It’s raised many questions about the Mets as a team.

Do the Mets need a team captain?– They could probably use a team captain but I don’t know who would be the logical candidate. They would want someone that’s going to be around for several years like Jose Reyes, David Wright, Johan Santana, or Carlos Beltran. I doubt that it would be Santana. Typically, captains are position players. Wright and Reyes are pretty young to captain a team of veterans. Beltran is usually so quiet that it’s hard to picture him as the team leader. I don’t think that Billy Wagner would even enter the discussion on this topic. Continue reading “Mets Pitcher Billy Wagner: Bully Or Team Leader?”

Nelson Figueroa Retro Prospect Report

The Hardball Times linked to this interesting retrospective prospect report from John Sickels at the Minor League Ball blog.

It makes for interesting reading to see how Figueroa did in the minors and worked his way up to the majors. I have to agree with Sickels’ assessment that Figueroa doesn’t have the “stuff” that would make him a prototypical prospect for a pitcher. But he does have a fight in him and the ability to work through trouble without wilting under pressure.

Going forward I’d like to see Figueroa take Jorge Sosa’s spot as the swingman on the team. When Matt Wise gets back someone in the bullpen will have to go. In addition, Pedro Martinez should return to the rotation at some point. Aaron Heilman isn’t going anywhere despite his many poor performances in April. Joe Smith may go to the minors but I like what he brings as a righty specialist. My feeling is that Sosa should be the odd man out. The Mets would most likely have to release him but he’s “only” making $2 million this season on a one year contract.

Billy Wagner Calls Out Teammates After Loss

Oliver Pérez 02:45, 19 July 2007 . . Metsfan7 . . 590×700 (374,826 bytes)Image via Wikipedia

Adam Rubin from the Daily News is reporting that Billy Wagner had some tough comments for the Mets and Oliver Perez, in particular, after his poor start today.

“You’ve got to have that willpower and that desire to go back out there and fight,” Wagner said about responding to the Mets’ early deficit. “This guy (Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny), he wasn’t throwing the ball that well to shut down our offense. Perez has honestly got to step up and know that we’ve just used every guy in our bullpen the night before. He can’t come out there and decide that gee, he hasn’t got it today, and so be it.”

Wagner added: “When you have games like this, it’s very easy to say, ‘Hey, yeah, you’re going to have these games.’ And you will have these games. But when there’s not a lot of effort and desire, that’s when you worry. You definitely want to play a little bit better than we did, but I know everybody is out there doing what they can. As a pitching staff, we have to show up. We can’t go out there and get beat 13-1 by Pittsburgh.”

Wagner is easily one of the best closers in the game, if not of all time. But sometimes he’s a little too “old school” for me. Oliver Perez is an easy target for analysts both professional and amateur because he’s erratic. I don’t think Perez wasn’t giving a full effort today. He just is what he is, sometimes wild and completely without control.

I don’t like that Wagner is calling Perez out after a rough loss like that. It smacks of piling on. Likewise, I thought that Wagner was too tough on Lastings Milledge when he was here. Wagner needs to concern himself more with his own game than with anyone else. Let the coaches deal with the other pitchers. No good can come of alienating teammates, much less this early in the season.

National League Cy Young Award Contenders

Johan Santana's 2006 AwardsImage by resedabear via Flickr

When Johan Santana was traded to the Mets this off-season I was thinking that he would win the Cy Young Award for the National League hands down. He still might do that but there are other pitchers having better April’s than Santana.

Brandon Webb (6-0) has been lights out this year and won the award two years ago. His 1.28 ERA and the Diamond Backs early season success has him as the early favorite.

Jake Peavey (2-1), last year’s winner, has a 2.09 ERA in San Diego. With little offensive support and the D-Backs looking like a runaway train in the West, he probably won’t win it again even with another big season.

Johan Santana (3-2) is still in the running. His 3.12 ERA is just fine but not elite material yet. He’s still got plenty of time to take his place among the league leaders so don’t get down on him (or boo him).

John Donovan at Sports Illustrated wrote a good analysis of the pitchers that have Cy Young Award aspirations this season, and the talent to get the award.

Check out the picture of Santana’s 2006 awards: Cy Young Award, MLBPA Players Choice Award, and Baseball America Player of the Year.

Video: Post Game April 24, 2008

The depressing post game video contains comments from Oliver Perez, Aaron Heilman, and Willie Randolph.

Oliver Perez wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t his best night but he should’ve been given the opportunity to get through the sixth inning. That’s Willie’s mistake. The poor performances of Jorge Sosa and Heilman, and the over-work of Joe Smith, and Pedro Feliciano should force Willie to re-think his strategy.

Willie needs to give the starters more leeway to work out of trouble. The best pitchers on the team are the starters (except for Billy Wagner). He needs to keep his best pitchers in the game longer considering the state of the bullpen.