Tag: Billy Wagner

Mets Injury Updates: Maine, Perez, Pagan, Wagner

John MaineThe Mets media got an update on some of the players that the Mets have on the disabled list right now. Jose Reyes, J.J. Putz, and Carlos Delgado are still in New York. They’re not rehabbing in Florida yet, so we don’t have any updates on them.

Oliver Perez threw three shutout innings in an extended spring training game in Port St. Lucie yesterday. He got through three innings with 48 pitches and his fastball was clocked in the low 90’s. He’s nearly pain-free and is pitching every five days now.

John Maine threw 60 pitches in a simulated game in Florida yesterday as well. He was rusty and felt a “pinch” in his right shoulder that’s been diagnosed as a pinched nerve. Maine won’t come off the disabled list next week when he’s eligible, so we have to get used to Fernando Nieve for a while.

Angel Pagan is rehabbing a right groin strain and should be back with the Mets in 10-12 days.

Billy Wagner is throwing three bullpen sessions per week. And he should start facing hitters in about two weeks.

If the Mets can get Reyes, Maine, and Perez back within a reasonable period of time they should be fine this season. If these key injuries drag on, I think that the Mets will have trouble contending for a playoff position. You can’t lose 2/5 of your starting rotation and expect to have a solid season. I just don’t see that happening.

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New York Mets News Top Stories April 9, 2009

oliver-perezAs we recover from the flashbacks of last year’s bullpen this morning, the Mets are preparing for a morning game in Cincinnati. You can read my game preview here. Who knows what to expect from Oliver Perez today? The funny thing about Perez is that he’ll probably be the first pitcher in Mets history to throw a no-hitter. And then in his next start he won’t get out of the first inning against the Pirates.

Onto today’s top stories:

Maury Brown at The Biz of Baseball has a great post about the blackout rules that MLB has for their Extra Innings package and MLB.TV. Make sure you read it if you’re planning to buy one of those. Here in Connecticut I get blacked out from seeing the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox.

Ken Belson at The New York Times writes a nice piece on how the Mets have increased their ticket prices over last season despite the bad economy. He goes into good detail about the tiered packages that the Mets use. Not surprisingly, he writes about how the Mets keep making a higher percentage of the games in the most expensive tiers.

Jim Baumcach at Newsday writes a good column about how Citi Field seems to be embrace the Dodgers and Giants history without giving a complete picture of Mets history. Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry aren’t reprensented in the new stadium.

Marty Noble at MLB.com writes that Billy Wagner plans to be in Port St. Lucie next week to throw off the mound. He’s recovering from surgery to repair a ligament and muscle in his left arm. Wagner says he plans to be back with the Mets by this August. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. I don’t think that the Mets want him back this season. But the thought of having three legitimate closers in the Mets bullpen at the end of this season is exciting for us fans.

Tino Evangelou at Mets Geek has a good post comparing Oliver Perez to Derek Lowe. We’ll be making this comparison for the foreseeable future and Perez won’t stack up very well most likely.

Marty Noble at MLB.com writes that Jerry Manuel may use Gary Sheffield in the outfield against the Marlins on Sunday. Everyone is waiting to see Sheff right now. I’d like to see him worked into a pinch-hitting appearance within the next couple of days.

The Mets are auctioning off some of their higher end price tier seats for opening day. Its not a good sign when you have to resort to this type of gimmick to sell opening day seats in a new stadium. We’ll have to keep an eye on ticket sales as the season progresses.

Bernie Madoff’s Mets tickets are for sale on eBay. This isn’t a joke.

Flickr photo courtesy of slgckgc

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Closer Market Gets Crowded As Hoffman Joins Free Agents

This week Trevor Hoffman joined the ranks of the currently “between contract” closers. It’s a pretty impressive list right now with K-Rod, Brian Fuentes, and Hoffman all free agents. Bobby Jenks and J.J. Putz are rumored to be available for trades as well.

The Mets couldn’t have picked a better time to be in the market for a closer. We haven’t heard any rumors about the Mets making an offer to anyone yet. So we know they’re not immediately jumping into the fire after any of the available free agents.

Hoffman could be a good one year stop-gap until Eddie Kunz is ready to take over the reigns as the closer. Sure, he’ll be 41 years old this year. And his fastball is topping out in the mid to high 80’s now. But he’s still got the great change up. And he’s not far removed from some excellent seasons.

Last season Hoffman had 32 saves with a 3.77 ERA and 1.037 WHIP. Not bad for an old man. The Mets would’ve killed to have someone like that last season after Billy Wagner went down. In 2006, Hoffman had 46 saves and finished second in the Cy Young Award voting and tenth in the NL MVP voting.

I’d rather have Hoffman for one season than Fuentes for three and K-Rod for four or five. The way relief pitchers are up and down from season to season, you just can’t trust them to be consistent over any great length of time.

Omar Minaya should really think about getting into a short-term deal with Hoffman. Not to mention the fact that his price tag will be significantly lower than the other free agents. And the Mets are still on the hook for Billy Wagner’s $10.5 million salary in 2009. It’s not my money that they’re spending but I’d rather see the resources applied across the multiple potential openings in the bullpen, left field, and rotation than to one “great” closer.

Image via Wikimedia

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Mets 2008 Off-Season Needs: Bullpen

Here’s the post that I’ve been dreading. It seems like the task of defining a reconstruction of the Mets bullpen is almost too daunting. I won’t go into the history of the 2008 season for the Mets bullpen. Suffice it to say, it was nearly a complete disaster.

My expectations are that Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano, Brian Stokes, and Eddie Kunz will be in the bullpen in 2009. I expect the Mets to dump Scott Schoenweiss, Aaron Heilman, and Duaner Sanchez. They’re all under contract for 2009 but should be either traded for next to nothing or released. Obviously, Billy Wagner is under contract but won’t play in a Mets uniform again due to injury. Luis Ayala will be a free agent and I don’t expect the Mets to make a major play for him to sign a deal.

Let’s start at the top of the shopping list: the Mets need a closer. The two top-tier choices are the Angels’ K-Rod and the Rockies Brian Fuentes. Clearly, K-Rod is head and shoulders above anyone else on the market this off-season. He’ll be looking for a five year deal from somebody. I hope the Mets don’t do it. He’s ultra-talented but the Mets really don’t want to get into a five year commitment to a relief pitcher. Their performance varies so wildly from year to year that it’s too difficult to predict future success levels.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Mets will be front runners for Brian Fuentes in the neighborhood of 3-years/$36 million:

Fuentes, however, could come off the board quickly because, executives say, his market of around three years at $36 million-$39 million has been established. The Mets have indicated they don’t want to pay a big salary to a new closer in addition to paying Billy Wagner , who will miss all of 2009 and whose $13 million contract is not insured. But they have determined their need is great enough and the top closer on the market, Francisco Rodriguez, might cost too much to sign.

Fuentes has 111 saves over the past four seasons, including 30 last year when he pitched to a 2.73 ERA and struck out 82 in 622/3 innings.

He does have an unorthodox delivery, however, that leads to questions about his consistency and susceptibility to injuries.

Another route that the Mets could go for a closer could be with a trade. Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors reports that the Marlins are expected to shop closer Kevin Gregg. He’s a big step down from Rodriguez and Fuentes but he’s only going to cost $2.5 million next season. With Wagner’s contract still on the books for 2009, the Mets may want to look at cheaper alternatives than the free agents.

The lower tier free agent options at closer would be: Eric Gagne, Eddie Guadardo, Jason Isringhausen, and Kerry Wood. It’s not a great list to choose from. Wood is pretty good but the rest of these guys will give us some major heartache during the 2009 season.

Once the closer spot on the roster is secured, there should still be three roster spots to fill in the bullpen. According the MLB Trade Rumors, the free agent market looks like this (age in parenthesis):

Jeremy Affeldt (30)
Luis Ayala (31)
Joe Beimel (32)
Joe Borowski (38)
Doug Brocail (42)
Shawn Chacon (31)
Juan Cruz (30)
Alan Embree (39) – $3MM club option for ’09
Scott Eyre (37)
Kyle Farnsworth (33)
Casey Fossum (31)
Keith Foulke (35)
Tom Gordon (41) – $4.5MM club option for ’09 with a $1MM buyout
LaTroy Hawkins (36)
Mark Hendrickson (35)
Matt Herges (39)
Bob Howry (35)
Jon Lieber (39)
Jason Johnson (35)
Damaso Marte (34) – $6MM club option for ’09 with a $0.25MM buyout
Trever Miller (36) – $2MM club option for ’09 with a $0.4MM buyout
Guillermo Mota (35)
Will Ohman (31)
Darren Oliver (38)
Chan Ho Park (36)
Horacio Ramirez (29)
Al Reyes (38)
Dennys Reyes (32)
Arthur Rhodes (39)
Juan Rincon (30)
Glendon Rusch (34)
Rudy Seanez (40)
Brian Shouse (40)
Russ Springer (40)
Mike Timlin (43)
Ron Villone (39)
David Weathers (39)
Kip Wells (32)
Matt Wise (33)
Jamey Wright (34)

Again, we’re not looking at a great list here. But Jeremy Affeldt, Scott Eyre, Bob Howry, Damaso Marte, Arthur Rhodes, and Joe Beimel have some talent. I doubt that the Mets would fill all three spots with free agents. There are some arms out there that could have a positive impact on the team though.

What the Mets need to do is to avoid getting into contracts greater than two years with these guys. The three year contract for middle relievers is a killer. It rarely works out well. Look at the Schoenweiss deal that’s killing the Mets now. It’s just a bad idea. The middle relievers are so inconsistent from season to season generally that maxing out contracts at two years has to be a priority. Even if the per season salary is higher than expected, it’s better than getting into a long term commitment to a middle reliever.

Chime in with your thoughts below in the comments section.

Mets Fans Face Uncertainties Without Wagner

Coming off two games against the Braves in which the bullpen blew a late lead, Mets fans are realizing just how fragile our post-season hopes are. If the Mets can’t find a solution for the problems at the back of the bullpen we very well may end up watching another September division lead disappear before our eyes.

Billy Wagner wasn’t perfect this season, having blown seven saves before his season ended on August 3rd, but he sure would be a sight for sore eyes now. The Luis Ayala/closer by committee situation that we’re suffering through now is about as disturbing to watch as Jose Lima or Brian Lawrence starting a game.

At this late stage of the season there aren’t many options. There isn’t a guy in the bullpen that I trust to get three outs consistently. And I do think the Mets gave up on Eddie Kunz this season a little too early. He may have been able to make a contribution in September.

So we’re stuck in a closer-less purgatory and left to cross our fingers and toes every time it’s a late and close situation. I can’t even call the Mets the cardiac kids because that would imply they’re coming back for some late wins. I would say buckle your seat belts because the last two weeks of the season are going to be a wild ride.

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Billy Wagner- A Met No More?

Multiple media reports say that Billy Wagner has been informed by the Mets that they won’t pick up his option for the 2010 season. Since he’s out for the remainder of this year and probably all of next year, he’s likely played his last game as a Met.

Scott Schoenweiss told reporters that he visited Wagner this week to check in on him after his Tommy John surgery. Schoenweiss said that Wagner still wants to pitch and close, but it likely won’t be with the Mets.