Tag: Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez on the Disabled List

The Mets expect Martinez to be out for 4-6 weeks with a hamstring strain. Nelson Figueroa was brought up from Triple-A New Orleans to replace him on the roster.

Mike Pelfrey should pitch in Martinez’ spot in the rotation beginning on April 8th. Then I would have El Duque take the fifth spot in the rotation beginning April 12th. El Duque could replace Figueroa on the roster at that point.

Whoever it is that takes Pedro’s spot is walking into a difficult situation. Martinez was scheduled to pitch the last ever opening day at Shea Stadium. There’s a sense of organizational pride that goes along with that responsibility. It’s a big deal as much as the players will give us the one-liners about how “it’s just another game”.

Pedro Martinez Injury Status

The Mets should know the status of Pedro’s injury by this afternoon. The Mets front office is reported to be actively looking at options to replace him in the starting rotations. The options reportedly include players currently under contract such as Nelson Figueroa, the recently waived Brian Stokes, and Jorge Sosa.

There are also free agent possibilities such as Claudio Vargas and  Jeff Weaver.

We should get some news soon.

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