Monthly Archives: April 2007
The Mets have announced that RHP Orlando Hernandez has 
been put on the 15–day disabled list with bursitis in his shoulder.
The team has announced that RHP Chan Ho Park, who had been slated to start for Triple-A tonight, will start tonight in place of Hernandez.
In four starts in Triple-A this season, Park is 3–1 with 7.29 ERA. He has allowed 17 earned runs in his last 15 innings pitched.
By the way, according to the Mayo Clinic, bursitis is a painful condition caused by inflammation in the areas around your joints.
…from what i can gather, the only immediate remedy is for el duque to wait for the inflammation to go down, which could take weeks…once that happens, he’ll most likely need to do some strength conditioning, followed by the standard slow-roll of long-tossing and simulated games before returning to the rotation…in other words, he’s timetable is up in the air, no matter what you read, until the swelling goes down…
In the comments section of this post, Toasty Joe, from Yes Joe, It’s Toasted, writes the following…
“Arthritis, now bursitis?
“Can a goiter and the staggers be far behind?”
…now that’s funny…sad, but still funny…
…hey, t-shirt companies…you cannot consider yourself as selling tagless t-shirts if you replace the tag on the back of the shirt with a tag running up the side seam, which, now, instead of tickling my neck, tickles the side of my back…they’re equally frustrating, and equally considered a tag…stop lying to me…
…by the way, this has nothing to do with the MetsBlog T-Shirts, featured in the sidebar, produced by AstroPitch, who, although they have tags, do a great job…
…sorry for the random post, but i had to get this off my chest…
In the New York Times, Ben Shpigel references an interesting bit of data from Stats Inc. regarding John Maine, which puts his hot start in the company of former-Mets Frank
Viola, Jerry Koosman and
Dwight Gooden.
Maine has given up 18 hits in 33.1 innings and the Mets are 5-0 in games he starts. Opponents are batting just .159 against him.
In his most recent column for FOXSports.com, citing major-league sources, Ken Rosenthal writes that, if the Marlins fall out of contention, and if they get approval for a new stadium, Dontrelle Willis could eventually find himself on the trading block.
This season, Willis is 5–1, despite a 5.35 ERA and having allowed five home runs and 69 base runners in 37 innings pitched.
Also, last season, in 25 starts against National League teams that do not reside in Queens, Willis was 7–9 with a 4.55 ERA.
…honestly, i no longer know what to make of willis…at one point, i thought he’d be a great fit for the Mets, not just because of his talent, but also due to his marketability…i’m now 
on the fence…
Meanwhile, Rosenthal also notes that the A’s are willing to trade RHP Rich Harden, who is currently on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain.
During ESPN.com’s Baseball Today podcast, from last Friday, Buster Olney seconded Rosenthal’s thoughts on Harden, adding that the Mets, among others, would certainly be interested should he become available because the pitcher has never suffered a major injury, just small nagging ones.
Prior to missing most all of last season with a variety of injuries, the 25–year-old Harden posted a 3.67 ERA in 439 innings while striking out 404 batters and walking just two per seven innings.
Harden signed a four-year extension at the start of the 2005 season, which is set to pay him $2 million this season and $4.5 million in 2008 with a club option at $7 million for 2009. He is eligible for free-agency after the 2009 season.
Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson was the pitching coach for Oakland when they drafted Harden in 2000.
If you recall, during the MLB Winter Meetings last December, appearing on ESPN Radio in New York, ESPN’s Steve Phillips explained that the Mets offered Lastings Milledge to the A’s for Harden, and were countered with Joe Blanton, which the Mets declined.
…there was a lot of buzz in orlando about those rumored talks between the A’s and Mets…my sense was that conversations must have gone something as follows: the Mets offered milledge for harden, the A’s countered with blanton for milledge, the Mets bumped it up to milledge and a pitching prospect to get harden, who the A’s clearly did not want to trade, yet…
In what has become one of my favorite regular features on Hot Foot, Glenn Zipper, who uses the moniker “Sidd Finch”, writes his stream of consciousness, Larry King styled “Sidd Speaks”
…funny stuff, it always kills me when larry throws in those non sequiturs in his articles, which seemingly have no relevance to what he’s talking about, and now we’ve got glenn providing the same service from a mets perspective, that is outstanding…
Jorge Sosa made another fine appearance yesterday, going six innings and
allowing no runs on six hits and no walks.
In 2005, under the guidance of Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone, he went 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA. After the season, he went to winter ball and when he returned the following spring, Leo Mazzone was gone. He went 3-11 with a 5.30 ERA in 2006, a stark contrast from his performance just a year ago.
Sosa is now 4-0 with a 1.13
ERA with the Mets Triple-A affiliate New Orleans Zephyrs. He gives credit to New Orleans pitching coach Mark Brewer
for helping him reduce his predilection for giving up the long ball. He
has not given up a home run in 19 innings.
Mets VP Tony Bernazard tells
Adam Rubin of The Daily News that Brewer has helped Sosa alter his arm
slot, which keeps the ball concealed longer, making it more difficult
to detect and get a good read on the incoming pitch.
…sosa would likely be the best replacement for el duque should we find out he needs additional time to heal his ailing shoulder, but with his start yesterday he wouldn’t be available for about another 4 to 5 days…its still nice to hear we’ve got what appears to be a pretty solid option in sosa should we need one at some point…
At ESPN.com, former major-leaguer Brian McRae tells columnist Tom Farrey that the Mets of the late 1990s can be added to the list of ‘drugged-up teams.’
…amazing…you mean a team in new york city was not immune to the obviously rampant drug use throughout baseball…wow, i’m shocked…also, for what it’s worth, if mcrae is going to have a conversation like this, with a major-media outlet, it would be nice if he had a bit more to go on than guesswork and assumptions…
According to McRae, he found it fairly easy to obtain illegal, high-
octane painkillers from a local pharmacist, while former-teammate, Turk Wendall, told Fanney, “On the Mets, you were a definite outcast if you didn’t do amphetamines.”
…i hate to dismiss one drug over another, but i’m going to…for decades upon decades, amphetamines and baseball went together like crockett and tubbs…yes, i would be more disappointed if i learned that mcrae and wendall had discussed a crazy use of anobolic steroids in their Mets clubhouse, compared to my tepid level of disappointment that the team, like so many teams with them and before them, were mostly all relying on amphetamines to keep themselves awake and overly alert…it’s not right, but it’s less wrong than steroids to me, which were most likely also rampant, but less discussed publicly…at least as of now…
…oh, excuse me for one second, as i need to go re-fill my legal-cup of hi-test espresso, after i swallow my legally-prescribed Pseudopherine…gotta keep running that rat race…
Meanwhile, for those who missed it last Friday, according to the Washington Post, a former employee of the Mets, Kirk J. Radomski, pleaded guilty to distributing steroids and human growth hormone to dozens of major league players between 1995 and 2005.
According to the report, Radomski worked for the Mets as a batboy, clubhouse assistant and equipment manager from 1985 to 1995.
Bob Sikes worked as an assistant trainer with the Mets from 1985 to 1991. At his blog, Getting Paid to Watch, he writes a bit about Radomski, including…
“At any rate, it’s not fair to assume members of the great Mets teams of the 80’s were involved with a kid who was still a teenager at the time without getting a lot more information. Steroids as they existed then were feared by athletes.”
…i agree…this is why i rarely comment on steroids in general, because i hold out and reserve judgment on most everything in life…which my friends hate…
Sikes also sent me an e-mail writing…
“I would respectively like to ask if you’d consider not referring to him as a Mets ‘Trainer,’ as Kirk never served in that capacity while with the Mets. Two professions are sharing the term ‘trainer.’ One are athletic trainers, of which I am and Steven Garland was. Ray Ramirez and Mike Herbst serve quite capably in that capacity now.
“Several outstanding strength and conditioning coaches have been with the Mets over the years and it’s not unusual to refer to them as ‘Strength Trainers.’ Both professions require not only a college degree, but also national certifications and in many cases ‘state licensures.’”
…excellent, as always, bob…a follow-up ESPN article described him as such, which is why i initially wroe it, which is a poor excuse, frankly…so, thanks for pointing that out, i appreciate the heads up…
…by the way, the radomski story has been discussed in the media for four days now, and still i have yet to hear a single person point out that the drug dealing came after his time with the Mets, which is pretty significant…what a shame…
At his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin does a great job, as usual, covering the entire Mets minor-league system, while detailing the state of several minor-league players, including St. Lucie C Drew Butera, who is the son of Sal Butera, a Blue Jays special assistant and a former major-league catcher with the Twins and Tigers, among others.
Tagged
Minors |
Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson had an
interesting bit of advice for Mike
Pelfrey, which involves Superman and Clark Kent, and described it to David Lennon on Newsday
in his always unique way.
…i’m really
looking forward to peterson’s book someday, it’s going to be the perfect
combination of Bill James and
Deepak Chopra…
…i actually
think rick is spot on here, i believe mike is putting more pressure on himself
than he needs to…he’s an exceptionally talented pitcher that just needs to get
back to doing what he does best, and rick is the perfect guy to help him do
it…he’s more than just a pitching coach, he’s a psychologist, of sorts, and
hopefully he’s able to get mike out of his own head…
The Mets bullpen ERA is the best in the majors, with a 2.27 ERA, despite a rough week where it rose from 1.59.
One of the main reasons for their success thus far has been the addition of Joe Smith, who has yet to surrender a run this season while striking out 13 batters in 12 innings.
The middle reliever role in baseball has increased over the past several years do to the steady decline in the number of innings starting pitchers have been able to compile.
In the New York Times, Murray Chass cites data by the Elias Sports Bureau that takes the last 15 years into account and shows that the average
length of a start has dwindled from 6.2 innings in 1992 to 5.9 in 1999
to 5.82 last season.
Chass uses moves by the Indians and Orioles to highlight the value of solid middle relievers. Their acquisitions have paid off early, as they rank third and fourth respectively in the American League in ERA after placing eleventh and thirteenth last season.
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