Tag: New York Mets

On Deck: April 2, 2008

Mets at Marlins   7:10pm   TV: SNY      Oliver Perez vs. Andrew Miller

What to watch:  Perez becomes infinitely more important to the Mets season with Pedro Martinez’ injury last night. Andrew Miller is a good young pitcher obtained from the Tigers in the Cabrera/Willis deal. Good pitching matchup tonight.

The Good News and The Bad News About Pedro’s Injury

At this point, we don’t know how severe Pedro Matinez’ hamstring injury is. He’ll have an MRI and we’ll know soon how much time that he’ll miss. I have to mention some concern that Pedro, Brian Schneider, and Ramon Castro have all had hamstring injuries over the last few weeks. Remember last spring when the Yankees were getting pulled hamstrings and they blamed on the strength and conditioning coach? If not, read here about how the Yankees fired Marty Miller last May after several players had hamstring injuries.I wonder if there’s anything to the strength and conditioning with the Mets this season. Rick Slate is the Mets strength and conditioning coordinator. I would think that he’ll receive some scrutiny over the coming days, especially if Pedro is on the disabled list for an extended period of time.

The good news about Pedro’s injury is that the Mets already have an extra starter on the roster, Mike Pelfrey. He’s currently slotted to be the fifth starter but the Mets don’t need him until April 12th because they have off-days on Thursday and next Monday before the home opener on April 8th. El Duque’s trip to the disabled list was retroactive to March 29th so he could make that start on the 12th.

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The bad news is that the Mets huge crowd for the home opener would be treated to seeing Mike Pelfrey instead of Pedro Martinez. What a let down that is! I wouldn’t be too happy if I had tickets for the home opener right now. Pelfrey is easily shaken as it is, having to pitch in front of a sold out home opening crowd is not a good situation for Pelfrey. That’s certainy not a good situation for the Mets or the Shea opening day fans.

Post Game: Marlins 5 – Mets 4

Matt Wise’s career with the Mets is not going well after two games in the 2008 season. After having a rough outing yesterday, he gave up the game winning home run to Robert Andino tonight in the tenth inning.

As I posted earlier, Pedro Martinez left the game early in the fourth inning with a hamstring injury. We’ll find out how serious it is within the next day or two.

Houston, We Have A Problem!

Pedro Martinez waves goodbye after signing some autographsImage from WikipediaPedro Martinez left the game after 3.1 uninspiring innings with a left hamstring injury tonight. The game is still in progress right now, tied 4-4 in the top of the seventh inning. Read the full story at MLB.com.

If this is anything more than a minor injury it’ll be a two-pronged problem:

  1. The Mets are counting on him for a season over .500 with approximately 25 starts
  2. Martinez needs to have a decent season if he’s going to get a multi-year contract next season when he’ll be 37 years old

On Deck: April 1, 2008

Mets at Marlins 7:10pm TV: SNY Pedro Martinez vs. Rick VandenHurk

It’s early but the Mets have to keep pace with the Nationals already. It’ll be interesting to see what Pedro has left in the tank this year. He’ll be pivotal to the Mets season this year. They need him to be well over .500 to have a successful season.

Roster Moves: Down to 25 Players

New York Mets pitcher Michael Pelfrey before a Mets/Devil Rays spring training game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.Image from Wikipedia

Updated: March 31, 2008

Here’s a breakdown of the moves that the Mets made today to get down to 25:

  1. Raul Casanova made the major league team
  2. Brady Clark made the major league team- he also changed his number to 44
  3. Ramon Castro was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 21
  4. Duaner Sanchez was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27
  5. Orlando Hernandez was placed on the 15 day disabled list retroactive to March 29
  6. Brian Stokes was designated for assignment
  7. Fernando Tatis was sent to minor league camp for reassignment
  8. Ricardo Rincon was sent to minor league camp for reassignment
  9. Nelson Figueroa was sent to minor league camp for reassignment

Mike Pelfrey gets the fifth starter spot but they won’t need him until April 12th. I would guess that he’ll get some long work in the bullpen until then to see if he can establish some consistency before they need a fifth starter. El Duque could even be back to make that start if Pelfrey continues his shaky performances from the spring.

I’m glad that Fernando Tatis didn’t make the team. I just don’t see that he adds value especially after losing Ruben Gotay. I really liked Gotay and thought he could make a contribution. He’s going to come back to bite the Mets with a big hit at some point this season.