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During the SNY telecast of last night’s Mets game, Kevin Burkhardt spoke about Scott Schoeneweis‘ torn tendon, inferring that the injury may have had something to do with his poor 2007 numbers. It was further suggested that Schoneweis was undeservedly booed by fans for 
his poor performances — and perhaps he should have been lauded for pitching through the injury.
I’m not for booing anyone, but have to disagree with supporting Schoeneweis for pitching on a bad leg. The injury severely affected his performance — to the detriment of the team.
With Pedro Feliciano pitching well in 2007, Schoeneweis was expendable. His role could have been filled by another arm in the organization — or J.C. Romero, who was released on June 19. Imagine how 2007 might have turned out if Romero (1.50 ERA vs. Mets in 10 games) was in New York and not Philadelphia?
i’m glad schoeneweis is doing well this season, but let’s not pretend the injury caused him to pitch poorly.
he has had one good major league season out of a 9 career. his career era is 4.97.
playing hurt is admirable unless it hurts the team. i don’t blame him for going out there. the mets front office is responsible for not putting him on the dl.
Well said, Joe. While it takes courage to play through that kind of pain…it can also be selfish.
However, didn’t Burkhardt say his teammates knew about how bad his leg was? Woudln’t that imply the trainers and thus Mets brass including willie and Omar knew. If so, thhen they bear the bulk of the responsibility for leaving a damaged Scho on the roster when there were other options out there.
The fans undeservedly booed someone??? Get right out of town!!
I completely agree. Pitching poorly through pain is not something that is commendable. If you can’t pitch well because of an injury then go on the DL.
I remember a certain Braden Looper as our closer – who was pitching while hurt and he ended up terrible-ing our season and got boo-ed all year long. I hope this is not a trend for the Mets to keep ineffective injured pitchers on the mound with minimal return by doing so.
i commend him for going out there and doing what he could. it’s not his job to beg onto the disabled list. blame the front office and training staff for not overriding him and putting him on the shelf in favor of someone who could pitch. it’s not like he kept his injury a secret.
The injury really didnt make him pitch that badly…
He pitched fine…its just that he was used incorrectly…
Schoeneweis is a LOOGY…and he has no business facing righties…just look at the numbers…
2007
Total Plate Appearances (batters faced): 265
RH faced: 157
LH faced: 108
That means that in 2007 over 59% of the batters Scott faced were right-handed!!!
How did the splits look??
RH batters: .316 BA .963 OPS
LH batters: .204 BA .556 OPS
So Scott Schoeneweis was actually very good in 2007 when used correctly (against LHers)!!!!
Now, how do the 2008 numbers differ??
2008
Total PA (batters faced): 47
RH faced: 23
LH faced: 24
And the splits…
RH batters: .381 BA .915 OPS
LH batters: .095 BA .412 OPS
So, the fact of the matter is….Scott Schoeneweis is still GARBAGE against right handed hitters…but if Willie puts him in situations where he is facing mostly lefties, instead of mostly righties…he will succeed….
The funny thing is, Willie doesn’t have a problem with Schoeneweis facing a righty (as evidenced by your stats). However, when Feliciano gives up a walk or a hit, and a right handed batter is up next, Willie runs so fast to the mound to yank Feliciano, even Reyes would have trouble keeping up with him.
They should have picked up Romero. Except Minaya was delusional and didn’t think they needed another arm on the team. Fortunately, he learns from his mistakes.
Yeah, everyone knows that Show’s numbers are best against lefty hitters. And everyone knows he is best used as a LOOGY. But very few teams can afford to stock their bullpens with a LOOGY unless they overuse other relievers. That was the case with the Mets last year. And it’s the case with them this year.
So stop putting the onus on Willie (and Peterson). Of course they know it would be ideal to use Show for 1 or 2 batters only. But they can’t afford to most of the time.
And for anyone inclined to whine about Willie’s use of Show give an example of a reliever this year being used just as a LOOGY.
Further, you don’t give a reliever $3+ million a year to be a LOOGY. That was not Omar’s intention when he signed Show.
As for his injury, that’s no excuse. You have to assume it didn’t hamper him or he would have been selfish to have not gone on the DL.
the onus is DEFINITELY on them when it was clear that feliciano was the lefty who should have been pitching to all comers.
It’s not his fault. If he wasn’t healthy it was the team’s job to sit him down. He did his best with what he could and now (hopefully) we’re seeing the real Shoenweis.
What if he hid the extent of his pain and injury?
but he didn’t, at least not according to burkhardt last night.