Tag: Moises Alou

Alou Could Be Back Friday

David Lennon of Newsday reports that Moises Alou could re-join the team as early as Friday.
New York Mets Sign Moises Alou
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What a shot in the arm for the team that would be. They need a right handed hitter in the middle of the lineup badly. Hopefully, Willie will move Delgado down when Alou gets back. Ideally, it would be Alou, Church, Delgado, and Castillo at the 5, 6, 7, 8 spots in the order.

Oh, and by the way Brady Clark will be on waivers for the purpose of reassignment I would have to assume.

Moises Alou Return Days Away

Moises Alou played in his second consecutive minor league game yesterday, going 2 for 5. He also played five innings in the field. Playing the field has been the key indicator in his ability to return to the Mets after his hernia surgery. It would be logical for Alou to re-join the team next Friday when they get back from Washington to face the Braves.

Source: New York Post

Latest Injury Updates

  • Carlos Beltran’s stiff neck is still bothering him when he looks to his left (bats right handed). But he didn’t even think about sitting out against Cole Hamels and the Phillies tonight.
  • Pedro Martinez is still working on his strained left hamstring with personal trainer Angel Persinal. You may remember his name from getting linked, at the Toronto airport, to a bag of performance enhancing drugs with Juan Gonzalez. Omar Minaya says Persinal is a Domincan legend and has no concerns about Pedro’s work with him.
  • Moises Alou played in an extended spring training game in Port St. Lucie, FL and got five at-bats. The Mets are encouraged by his progress but needs to be able to play in the field before going to the Florida State League.
  • Ramon Castro suffered some further tightness in his hamstring while running and is going for further evaluation.

Read the full story at the New York Times.

SI’s Heyman On The Mets

Jon Heyman’s Daily Scoop column has tidbits of information from around the major leagues. I’ll give you the Mets related stuff below or you can read the full column here.

  • While Moises Alou may be as close as 10 days away for the Mets, that four-to-six week estimate for Pedro Martinez‘s hamstring appears to have been a very optimistic scenario.
  • Mets outfielder Angel Pagan (.381 so far) has earned more playing time with his superb start. Pagan, a favorite of the front office, could find himself in a four-man outfield rotation once Alou returns. Carlos Beltran would miss less time than the others, but Mets people appear to like the way Cleveland’s four-man rotation works.
  • Manny Acta is treated like returning royalty by some members of the Mets front office when he comes back to Shea as Nationals manager — a little awkward considering he’s managing the competition. Imagine how great they’d think he is if his team didn’t have the worst record in the league at 4-10 (tied with the Tigers).

Time To Get Real About Nelson Figueroa

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.

Moises Alou Back in Port St. Lucie

Moises Alou came back to the team today after his hernia surgery. He says that he’s looking to get back on the field before the end of April. That would be tremendous news for the Mets. Reed Johnson signed with the Cubs today, so there’s no quick fix for Alou’s absence.
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Alou has a recent history riddled with injuries but there’s nothing you could do about a hernia. He looks like he’s in great shape. As a matter of fact he told Marty Noble from MLB.com:

“I came to camp in the best shape of my life,” he said. “Since November, I was in great shape. I never lost my playing shape … I never got fat or had a beer belly. Whether I was going to come back to play or look good in the beach, I was in shape. … And I had to pop off about getting 500 at-bats. It wasn’t popping off. I was serious.”

It’s not like he showed up looking like David Wells or Bartolo Colon and got hurt. Sometimes these things just happen. Alou’s been riding a stationary bike and can start light running soon.

Breaking News: Blue Jays Release Reed Johnson

This morning the Toronto Blue Jays announced the release of Reed Johnson. It’s been reported over the last few weeks that Omar Minaya had spoken to the Blue Jays about a trade for Johnson or Shannon Stewart. The Jays just didn’t have room on their roster for both players. From Fox Sports:

“I don’t have any hard feelings,” Johnson said. “I don’t have much of a choice right now except to move on. It’s really all I can say.”

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Minaya doesn’t have to trade anything for Johnson now. He’s on waivers as of this morning. His current contract runs through the end of this season for $3.275 million. I’m surprised that J.P. Ricciardi wouldn’t have taken some minor leaguers from the Mets for him. He’s known as a pretty shrewd GM.Reed plays all three outfield positions and DH in the American League. Bill James has him listed as an excellent left fielder defensively. He ranks as the fourth best left fielder in baseball over the last three seasons behind only Scott Podsednik, Eric Byrnes, and Carl Crawford.

He only played in 79 games last year because of a herniated disk, and he throws right and bats right. He’s 31 years old and his career offensive stats are:

.281/.342/.410 42 HR 234 RBI 28 SB 16 CS 2083 AB 382 SO

I’ll be shocked if the Mets don’t pick him up off waivers considering the need for a right-handed bat to get through Moises Alou’s injury.