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Matthew Cerrone

News: J.J. Putz to Pitch in WBC
By Matthew Cerrone - Jan 9, 2009 3:19 pm

J.J. Putz will pitch for Team USA in this year’s World Baseball Classic, according to a ‘potential’ roster released Friday, reports MLB.com.

David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Pedro Feliciano, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez will also play in the WBC, according to previous reports.

…from what i can gather, players will leave camp for the WBC around March 1, meaning they will play in at least one or two spring training games before returning later in the month

47 Responses to “News: J.J. Putz to Pitch in WBC”

  1. MeesesGlokmah says:

    I still don’t like this.

  2. Flushing_is_Burning says:

    On the year I decided to go down there for a visit. just my luck, I guess!
    Still don’t like the Mets’ pitchers involvement in WBC. makes me nervous.

    • alex242 says:

      We need to see how putz is pitching, the earliest he pitches the better is for us to see if he’s healthy or not

      • Flushing_is_Burning says:

        but he can do all those things under the watchful eyes of the mets’ trainers, not in competition format.

      • fongulalou says:

        Agree with the above post. So, about 40%
        of our opening day roster including almost
        all of the most important players who b/t/w
        are being paid tens of millions of $ will be
        involved in exhibitions in which everyone will
        be going all out are all exposing themselves
        to injury which would wreck our season.
        OKayyyy, And this makes sense how????

        • alex242 says:

          Guys, he’ll pitch in like 3 to 4 games max.. relax.. santana is a different story.. but putz im fine with him being there..

        • RodKanehl says:

          Gee you are sso deep. He might get hurt, how about Mets getting hurt in taxis. Does it worry you when they take a cab. Your argument is pathetic and , shallow . And is it ok for guys on other team to play? I’m ure it is so you have zerop credibility as well.

  3. Derek says:

    I know they have the right to play and feel pride for their contries, but if someone gets hurt: I am going POSTAL

  4. chachachie1 says:

    DDDDDOOOONNNNN””’TTTTTTTTT DDDDDDDOOOOOO IIIIITTTTT

  5. The whole getting injured thing is totally overblown. Coaches are very conservative about innings.

    Johan Santana pitched a whopping 8.1 innings. Then he won the Cy Young that year.

    The most anybody pitched was Koji Uehara with an arm-shattering 17 IP!! Diabolical!!

    • fongulalou says:

      Riiiight., Sounds nice. Until of course Reyes
      Breaks an ankle which wrecks OUR season.
      And for what?? To help sell Baseball around the world?? What that’s not been done already? What with players in MLB from every
      corner of the world already? What? good can
      possibly come from this??

      • The enjoyment of the games.

        • fongulalou says:

          You’re kidding, Right?

          • alex242 says:

            fongu,

            relaz, reyes and them will be fine, stop thinking negatively man..

          • fongulalou says:

            I try alex BUT after 35years with this team,
            it ain’t easy.

          • alex242 says:

            lol, i hear ya fongu!!

          • BIGpelfcyyoung says:

            I don’t have a problem with guys playing, this isn’t football where injury is a legit concern. it’s not like if they weren’t playing in the WBC they would be resting, they would be playing in spring training games where fluke injuries can occur too. so everybody relax and Omar – please sign manny. thank you.

      • Alban says:

        It’s fun. Which is what sports is supposed to be.

        Don’t get me wrong, I take competition seriously and I’m uber competitive with everything that I do. But there has got to be room to have fun and still do your job (which in the case of MLB, playing for the Mets is their job, and playing for the WBC is fun).

        Also, it’s fun for the fans. I love it.

      • RodKanehl says:

        You mean there was never an injury in Spring Training!!!!!
        Wow!!! This is news……

  6. pedro4545 says:

    I feel like this could be a good thing for the guys in our lineup. They’ll get some meaningful at bats before the season starts. I’d definitely rather see our pitchers sit this one out though.

  7. Alban says:

    I guess I’ll be the lone voice in saying that i”m excited to see the WBC and I’m proud to have so many Mets represent in the WBC. Particularly, I am proud to see DWright and JJ represent the US.

    Sure, there are injury concerns. But there are injury concerns every time these people play with their kids, or go out for a pickup game of basketball or flag football or do whatever. They’re not supermodels to be coddled. They’re athletes. Let them play. Let them have fun. And seriously, let them have a life.

    • fongulalou says:

      To other issues, Does appear that the
      Red Sox have moved on from Varitek
      As according to Gammons they’re hunting
      around for a young Catcher. Thoughts??

      • alex242 says:

        Go to a red sox blog if u want opinions..

        lol.. jk fongu.. he should be there, but not at the price he’s asking.. he’s like 50 years old..

        • fongulalou says:

          Just curious. You really cant trust Catchers
          after about 33/34yrs old But I really am no
          big fan of either of our guys. And to Variteks
          credit, he does seem to bring alot of fight
          to a team,obviously something we’ve lacked
          the last couple yrs..But he is goin’on 37, so.

          • Alban says:

            I agree that he brings a lot of fight. But so did lo duca. If you want a catcher who handles a staff well but can’t hit, what’s the difference between Varitek and the duke? I’m not saying I like either of them. I’m just saying that there isn’t that much difference. If we aren’t going to like lo duca, we probably shouldn’t be wanting varitek either.

            Unless you want someone who isn’t chasing 13 year olds and betting on horses.

            But more importantly, I dont want to give up a draft pick for varitek. That’s what makes the price too high for me.

          • eligoodrich says:

            Alban,that was a wack shot at lo duca.(the 13 year old girl)she was actually like 20 and now is all over playboy.She was in college at the time of that. so shut up

          • Alban says:

            edit

            insert *sarcasm* tag

            Just a joke. I actually was sad to see lo duca’s fire go.

            Same with milledge.

    • I’m with you. I love the WBC!

    • alex242 says:

      WBC CHAMPIONS:

      EL EQUIPO DE LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA!!!

      • fongulalou says:

        B/T/W, to be a complete phoney about it…..
        I will also be totally into it once it starts.

        • alex242 says:

          jajaa, i’m sure..

        • Alban says:

          haha. That’s cool.

          In my mind, the WBC is what the All Star game(s) really should be. A semi-meaningful expedition of seeing our favorite stars playing for bragging rights.

          If we can cheer on our NY Mets for bragging rights and for glory, I think we can do the same thing with (insert your country here) and the WBC.

    • RodKanehl says:

      Good post….

  8. oleosmirf says:

    i look at the USA roster and then Matt Lindstrom comes up…seriously he’s one of the best American relievers in baseball???

    • alex242 says:

      psst.. we had willie taveras in 2006.. and alberto castillo as a catcher.. this year we’ll have sammy sosa.. go figure..

  9. TheIcon says:

    I think the injury thing really is overblown. Injuries happen, whether it be in spring training, the regular season, the All-Star game or the WBC. You don’t want them, but they are part of the game.

  10. keep it posi says:

    All I can say is our players better not get hurt in the stupid WBC.

  11. I am well aware of what those media reports said. Thanks. says:

    I can use ‘From what I can gather’ to start every paragraph if I want

  12. casey s. says:

    The WBC is the worst thing to happen to baseball since the inception of the DH.

  13. losmets57 says:

    Are you people kidding me? All of the Mets would be playing even MORE games if they went to ST. And they can still get hurt in ST. You guys are worry worts.

  14. ccmetfan says:

    They’re playing to represent their countries and have their countries have the chance to become real World Champions. They have a better chance of winning the WBC than winning the World Series with their mlb teams in my opinion.

  15. Fudbutter says:

    This is really a tournament of Spring Training games. Totally meaningless. They are trying to duplicate the World Cup and it will never work this way. If they want to do this silliness, do it after the season. Better yet, have a real World Series with the winner of the Asian Series playing the winner of our series (Seibu vs Phillies would have been fun). Someday, if other countries such as Australia can come up with a competitive league, they can join in too.

    With so many of our players in the WBC while the Phillies concentrate on what’s important, we are already behind in the race.

  16. MH says:

    There is no comparison between pitching in early, meaningless Spring training games and pitching in competitive games like WBC. The main purpose of spring training is to build up arm strength and overall conditioning in a controlled, careful way. This needs to be done even though players and pitchers do general conditioning in the off season. A pitcher puts enormous stress on his arm when pitching competitively. Yes, any player can get hurt at any time but the risk is greater when the player or pitcher is not yet in top condition. Davey Johnson insisted that Mookie Wilson throw as hard as he could the first day of Spring training during his first year and Mookie’s arm was NEVER the same. Personally, I don’t care to see the WBC happen before people are in shape. They should begin spring training early and have the WBC at the END of spring training before the season begins if they insist in having it at all. But of course the players who aren’t involved would lose conditioning and timing so that wouldn’t work either…Maybe they should begin Spring Training a couple of weeks earlier and insert the WBC into the middle of it …I prefer dropping the whole thing really.

  17. MH says:

    PS—The main purpose of spring training is for pitchers to build up arm and leg strength and refine mechanics, I should have said…and for players to get their timing and practice fundamentals…Having the WBC before all that happens is really screwy.