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In his latest Rumblings & Grumblings column for ESPN.com, Jayson Stark writes the following about Mets RHP Nelson Figueroa, who replaced Pedro Martinez on the team’s roster:
“Don’t be shocked if the Mets give Nelson Figueroa a shot to stick around. Minaya seems to have a soft spot for Figueroa, a guy whose itinerary alone makes him a great story…Just in the last year, Figueroa has been A) the winning pitcher in the Mexican League all-star game last summer, B) the MVP of the Taiwan Series last fall, C) the MVP of the Dominican Series this winter and D) the MVP of the Caribbean Series in January. We guarantee no pitcher in history has ever done all that in fewer than 12 months.
“‘He pitched his butt off in front of Omar at the Caribbean Series,’ says one scout. ‘And he pitched like that all winter long. I know people see the name and wonder. But you see a guy pitch like that, and you say to yourself, ‘Why isn’t this guy in the big leagues?’”
Stark continues on to discuss the whereabouts of Barry Bonds; Miguel Cabrera’s impact on Ryan Howard’s next contract; and Lastings Milledge’s future in DC; among so many other things.
…thanks to Teddy Ballgame for the link…
I’m certainly rooting for him. It’d be a great story if he succeeds. And great for the Mets, of course!
i’m really hoping he’s the silver lining on the pedro injury cloud. this guy is a major feature film waiting to happen.
“The Melvin Mora Story”?
cameo by Arnie Gooch as “the Gooch.”
wooo!!! i’m leaving for Turner Field right now from Gainesville, Florida to watch tonight and Saturday night’s games
go Mets!!!!
I wish you luck because the weather looks rough for tonight. Hopefully it clears off for tomorrow,
I believe the melvin mora story will be that of angel pagan. This is going to sound like a reach but pagan has a very similar frame to albert pujols, obviously lighter but he has filled out since he was in the mets minors and I think he will stick around for quite a while.
similar frame to albert pujols?
uhhhhhhhh…ok..
I dunno about Pujols, but if Pagan can give us a modest improvement in his game (say, .280/.330/.450) and play high-quality OF, he’ll have been a very valuable pickup. I wouldn’t count on it, though, just based on his anemic minor league totals. Suprise me, Angel!
This struck me as very odd in the article:
… the players’ union is currently investigating whether teams may have engaged in some kind of collusion or conspiracy to keep Bonds unemployed.
Why is the players’ union acting on Bonds behalf? He’s very famously not a member.
Because they wouldn’t want teams to collude against players who are members of the union. If there was collusion (which anyone in their right mind knows there wasn’t), it could set a precedent for teams’ treatment of suspected steroids users. If the union doesn’t act on Bonds’ behalf, if they did act on the behalf of a union member, teams would just say they treated that player the same way they treated Bonds.
At which point the union would turn around and say “But we don’t represent Bonds, but we do represent A. User”, which would be a vastly more pertinent argument.
“It must be OK that I stole from you because I stole from Bob and never got caught” is an argument with no legitimacy, legally or morally.
If Bonds never wanted to support the players making minimum wage, why on earth should their union contributions be spent on him?
common sense isn’t collusion
this is idiocy…… who gives a #$%^ why no team wants to employ the big head. you can only be an a##hole so long before people tell you to hit the road. no one owes tiny nuts anything. hopefully he can disappear quietly for a few yrs until the HOF debate begins.
Man have I been waiting to see Figgy out on the mound for the mets, now my custom made Fig jersey won’t go to waste
Figgy pitched for the Phillies’ Triple-A team here in Scranton when I covered them for The Scranton Times. (Phils got him when they traded Curt Schilling to Arizona. They also got Johnny Estrada in that deal.) Figgy was a great guy, very nice and very talented. Quick story. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was in the Governors’ Cup finals in 2000, trailing Indianapolis 2-1 in the best-of-five. Back then there was a Triple-A World Series, so a trip to Vegas was on the line. Figgy starts Game 4, pitches eight innings, allowing one run on four or five hits and drives in both runs in a 2-1 win. (S/WB lost the next night to Tim Harikkala, of all pitchers.) Then, we’re leaving the hotel the following morning after the team had been eliminated and Figgy finds a stray kitten near the dumpster. He picks it up, sneaks it into his carry-on bag and smuggles it on the plane back to Scranton so he could give it to his then-fiancee. Last time I talked to him a few years ago, they still had that cat.
Being the chief of staff (dogs have “owners,” cats have “staff”) of a rescued cat myself, I can really respect that.
Me too… although the cynic in me is screaming that it sounds too good to be true. But I’ll root extra hard for him in case it is real. (And you can all thank me later when he does extraordinarily well thanks to my additional rooting :-))
I know it sounds too good to be true. But I can still see him standing at the baggage claim when we got back to Scranton with his carry-on slung over his shoulder and the kitten popping its head out of the bag. If the archives worked on The Scranton Times’ Web site, I’d send you the link to the story that mentions it.
I remember watching Nelson pitch at Single A Columbia Bombers in the Sally League when it was still a Mets farm team. I love seeing him back in the fold.
If nothing else we should keep him around as sort of a good luck charm. He pitched in 4 places and won MVP of the title series for each. He wouldn’t win the World Series MVP for the Mets but hey if his streak of reaching the series holds up I’m all for it.
Go get’em FIGGY!
Didn’t Ron and/or Keith relate another story the other night showing how good a guy he is?
Face it, people, we had some chemistry issues on our team last year. I know it’s only 2 games, but that factor looks a lot better this year. And part of the way you get good chemistry is have these guys on the margins who not only have some success (and in some cases, surprise us, like Endy did a few years back), but are great guys to have around. It would be nice if Pagan and Figueroa are two of those guys. I certainly think having Marlon A. around all year will help (remember, Julio Franco was with us a chunk of last year). And, of course, having a guy named Johan around immediately instills confidence, something we need following 2007.
I think this is also forgotten with Church and Schneider. That was an immediate and drastic upgrade in the chemistry department. You can see Schneider has clicked with everyone including Johan and probably the other latin players. This is a lot different then LoDuca throwing digs at the carribean contingent. I like the makeup of this team and I think this lineup will click all year. Things look good so far.
The Julio Franco point is huge. How many games last year were we all on here screaming about Willie using Franco. I guarantee Marlon will come through and maybe swing a game or two. This would have made all the difference last year.
Keith and Ron were talking about how he is an artist on the side and he made T-shirts and gave all the profits to help with 9/11
I remember there was also a story about him designing graphics for the jumbotran for various players.
With all that pitching in such a short time, and no extended rest, how much could his arm have left?
How about all those guys that regularly pitched complete games on 3 days’ rest? Or Will White pitching 75 complete games in a single season?
There have always been guys with rubber arms, we just don’t get many opportunities to find out who they are these days with 5-man rotations and strict pitch counts on everyone but Livan Hernandez. Seems like Figgy’s one of them.
Good point…let’s get what we can from him in April!
Why isn’t this guy in the big leagues before this? Oh wait, there’s got to be a reason he couldn’t beat out Pelfrey with the awful spring he had.
I wouldn’t get my expectations up too much on him and people need to stop building up the hype.
check out his big league stats - they don’t inspire confidence. BUT, he seems to have done a lot of good work since 2004, looked good in the spring, so why not?
it is odd that he is turning 34 next month. I feel like we are all (self included) getting amped up about some kid, but he is very nearly Pedro’s age!
My dad teaches this guys little sister, and she’s been filling him in on a daily basis about her big brother since February. This is a hometown kid who dreamed about playing with the Mets the same way any of us probably once did. Plus he’s pitched his way back into the majors from rotator cuff surgery. I don’t see anybody on this posts claiming we have an ace in the making, but I see a lot of fans hoping that it works out for him, and who can blame them? this is the kind of guy who we should want to see succeed. And I don’t think we should be shocked if he does- He works fast, throws strikes, keeps the ball down, and changes speeds. Hes not a phenom, but if he pitches effectively and can helps us win games now, thats pretty much the only thing that matters. For some guys it takes a few walks around the block before it clicks.
the reason big pelf got the 5th spot may have to do with the fact that the mets have a lot invested in him, and they are almost obligated to give him chances- which im cool with it, it probably should be that way, especially in april. Figueroa was effective enough this spring that he could have won the job. I probably wouldnt expect to see flashes of Pedro when he gets the ball, but I wouldn’t expect to see flashes of Jose Lima, either.
If he’d been a #1 pick, he would have beaten out Pelfrey thsi Spring.
We’ll see what he can do - its a good story.
Maybe I’m being a little selfish here but I really hope he doesn’t make a start before 4/12. My share of season tickets gives me home opener and Friday night games. If Willie goes with a 4 man rotation until a 5th is needed, I’d get Perez and Santana. If Willie pitches Figgy in Pedro’s spot, I’d get Figgy and Pelf. Yuck! He’s to crossing my fingers and hoping Willie know some baseball.
He also bowls at the same lanes as I do when he is in Arizona and has a lot of people pulling for him at here as well.