Comments on: News: Johan on Thursday, Pelfrey on Saturday

By: CharlieH

CharlieH — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:12:10 +0000

Good for Johan.

First delivery should be in the environs of Hanley Ramirez’s neck…

By: GravediggerHebner

GravediggerHebner — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:22:15 +0000

Sorry, got hungry. While I respect Ohman’s work, I don’t know if I’d consider him enough of a sure thing to give him what he wants. If Omar wanted him, I have to believe he would have at least made him an insulting, minor league contract/spring training invite offer, and to the best of my knowledge he hasn’t even done that.

I guess my bottom line is, I don’t think any team can reasonably be expected to plan and implement the plan for the worst case scenario of every aspect of their roster.

If I understand correctly, you’re concerned about the bullpen based on the way last season unfolded and therefore you want to “foolproof it” as best as possible. That’s fair.

But I think subtracting Schoeneweis, Heilman and Ayala, and replacing them with Green, Putz and Rodriguez does that quite well, not only because I consider all 3 of them an upgrade, but also because it pushes the guys who remain into less critical roles, which in my opinion increases their probability for success.

By: Hazmet

Hazmet — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:16:59 +0000

Rusty, good luck with your mates, tough business. Many here won’t be interested, but some of us are so keep us up to date as to how things go.

By: MurphsDaMan28

MurphsDaMan28 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:34:22 +0000

Why give up minor league talent for a more expensive and probally worse pitcher, when you can sign this guy now. If this was 2007 offseason I would agree with you maybe, but after you know whats happened, I think they could stand to add a little extra bulk.

By: GravediggerHebner

GravediggerHebner — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:30:19 +0000

I think you’ve portrayed it fairly well in that it’s a luxury. Could they do it? Sure. But I think most teams use middle and long relief as a way to break pitchers into the majors, realizing that they won’t be exposed a lot. If the Mets season unfolds as you project, with the bullpen being overly taxed, this team has the resources to acquire a “decent” middle reliever from a team that has fallen out of contention. No urgent need to acquire one now, when he might rot on the bench if things don’t go as poorly as you suggest.

By: MurphsDaMan28

MurphsDaMan28 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:25:19 +0000

But why have two unproven when you don’t need to? It looks like this pen’s gotta have to pitch alot of innings this year. Why not load up.

By: GravediggerHebner

GravediggerHebner — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:22:38 +0000

Once again Wanny beat me to it. All of the above ruckus was about Beimel. Ohman’s a better choice for the reasons Wanny mentioned. But failing Ohman, yes I’m content with 2 of the 7 bullpen pitchers being relatively unproven. It’s a major league wide phenomenon. The Yankees spend 70 mil more than us and sport a bullpen of Rivera, Marte, Bruney, Albaladejo, Veras, Ramirez and Robertson. Hardly 7 sure things.

By: Mr North Jersey

Mr North Jersey — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:18:15 +0000

I agree you can’t build a bullpen based on 1 starter.

The reality is Mets will likely give Duaner as much time as possible to find himself and get it together.

Just hope he doesn’t cost us too many games in doing so.

It’s not like anyone is stepping up to challenge his roster spot at this time.

By: Wanny2

Wanny2 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:17:35 +0000

I’d probably take Ohman — he’s been serviceable the last couple of years v. righties too (not really his career trend, though).

What I don’t want is any more specialists. You don’t need 7 relief pitchers if the ones you have are capable of pitching entire innings.

By: GravediggerHebner

GravediggerHebner — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:13:06 +0000

I was going to add Willie Nelson but I realized between Bob Marley and Hank Williams, you’ve got Willie’s input covered.