Collins Says Francisco Is Still The Closer, But For How Long?

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• FL Met Fan Rich April 23, 2012 at 11:24 am

  Pitch better stupid if you don’t want to get yanked out of the game! We way to much overpaid for this guy.

  Thank goodness the starting pitching has exceeded expectations so far because our ‘New and Improved” bullpen has not cut it so far!

  LETS GO METS!
• Metsie April 23, 2012 at 11:35 am

  Thanks Joe for saving me the trouble of having to sort through and compile Francisco’s stats to show what I have been saying about him all along.

  It’s not like I don’t want the guy to do well of course I do!
  But history says he doesn’t!

  And while some will try to infer I hate him becuase he is a Sandy guy they actually have it reversed!

  I got on Sandy BECAUSE Francisco was his guy, not on Francisco because he was a Sandy guy!

  This is the second time in two years Sandy has rebuilt the BP and so far he has struck out both times.
  Rauch seems to be the only one of the bunch worth a damn and I’ll add Byrdak to the list since so far he has been great (last year notwithstanding).

  The best move you can point to in two years is the Wheeler for beltran deal which should have gotten at least one more minor prospect or player included…
  The rest of the deals have all been dumps with no meaningful return!

  The only move that has yet to be determined is what we will get in the Reyes compensation.
  and both of those are really not much more than 2nd rounders at best!

  But I guarantee whoever we take will be the new savior everyone hangs their hats on!
  • Metsie April 23, 2012 at 11:37 am

    blank post to set subscription (Joe if you have delete capability please do so!)
• Alex68 April 23, 2012 at 11:55 am

  Francisco was the the prize of the offseason for the New York Mets and Alderson saw fit to fill his coffers with a two year, $12 million dollar deal to be the closer”

  That was just problem #1… For the genius that he is (as some claim he is) sandy made a huge mistake with this guy.. we all saw this coming, didn’t think it was gonna be this soon…problem with francisco is terrible as a closer… He’s been a good middle reliver set up guy, not as a closer… Plain and simple.. $6 million for this guy was a stretch, specially when all the closers were signing for $4 million, even at $1 million per year…
• Mr North Jersey April 23, 2012 at 12:09 pm

  Congrats on the site traffic MMO.

  I agree that if Francisco can’t get himself right and Rauch continues to pitch well it will be hard for Collins to keep going to Francisco.

  Today’s double header may prove taxing on the pen especially with no day off 2morrow but rather the fish coming in instead. Hopefully Gee can go deep in his start and the Mets offense can make it a blow out.
  • Metsie April 23, 2012 at 12:14 pm

    Rauch so far looks more the closer than Francisco. i would even suggest trying Parnell in the 8th inning role at this point. He has had his bad outing as well but if his ultimate fate is as our closer at least pitching the 8th is a good learning ground for him.

    If Rauch is the closer then Francisco could close games where Rauch is unavailable.

    I doubt they will ever make that switch though as they paid a hefty price for Francisco and they need to justify that and maybe even hope he gets it together to trade him at the deadline which was the backup plan with those closers from the get go if we were not in contention.
  • kevin April 23, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    You know what I like about Rauch that I never noticed before when he was with Nats, he looks mean and intimidating out there! I like that in a closer. I know Rauch had a rough year last season, but he’s really had a good career overall and I like that signing a lot.
    • Metsie April 23, 2012 at 12:26 pm

      Rauch does seem to have the proper attitude for a closer.
      And being a good closer is 99% mental!
• kevin April 23, 2012 at 12:11 pm

  They should have just brought in someone cheaper and then let him, Rauch, Ramirez and Parnell compete for the closer job in the spring. Francisco was anointed the closer from the day he signed even though he never had any success as a closer in the past. This is why you dont hand out roles two months before spring training starts. I dont know who you blame for this Alderson or Collins or maybe both. Spring training is supposed to be about getting ready physically and competing for jobs.
• Russell Zanca April 23, 2012 at 12:16 pm

  I think it’s Parnell’s job to earn. He looks to be most “natural” closer we have. He needs better control, though.
  • Metsie April 23, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    Better control and better pitch selection to play the batters better.
    I notice when he gets in trouble he just throws harder which is fine provided you also throw something other than a fastball they can get the timing on.
• srt April 23, 2012 at 1:03 pm

  I don’t know for how long Francisco will be the ‘named’ closer.
  I do know that TC has no problem pulling him in the 9th if he’s not shutting the door. Good to see as it should be about winning ball games and not appeasing some egos.
• sarge69 April 23, 2012 at 1:50 pm

  At least Parnell seems to be pitching better instead of just throwing the ball and if Terry can continue to use him in the right situations and he continues to mature then at least that is a plus for the BP plus the pitching of Rauch and Byrdak make the pen better.

  The improvement of Ramirez would also be a plus since he was so highly touted when acquired but sometimes relievers rarely have good or great years back to back so hopefully he returns to some semblance of his pitching last year, Ramirez.
• Even Flow April 23, 2012 at 2:25 pm

  I’ll give it until June when Parnell becomes the new closer.
• Joey D. April 23, 2012 at 3:01 pm

  Of all the pitchers Sandy signed the past two seasons, most have been either mediocre, awful or injured.

  Last year we were 13th in the league in ERA pitching in the most pitcher riendly of ball parks and this year we are 12th despite our starters Pelfrey (2.29, Neise (2.89), Gee (2.92) and Byrdak in relief(3.60) We can’t go by Santana’s (3.97) or R.A.’s (5.71) since both their last starts blew it sky high after two good performances. Note, except for Byrdak, none of these were acquired by Sandy.

  This is how much Sandy has spent so far on his key pitching acquisitions Isrinhausen is not available):

  - Capuano $1.5 million
  - Young – $1.1 million
  - Carresco – $2.4 million (2 years)
  - Byrdak – $1.9 million (2 years years)
  - Boyer – $725K
  - Buchholz – $600K
  - Francisco $12 million (2 years)
  - Ramirez – $2.65 million
  - Beato – $901K (2 years)
  - Rauch – $3.5 million

  According to my math, that’s about 27 million dollars (including the mutli-year contracts) spent on those ten acquistions or rougly $1.5 million per man per year. Could a lot better have been obtained for that amount?
  • stick April 23, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    You pretty much point out why you have to throw out the 2012 stats entirely. Way too small a sample to mean much, since 1 bad game/inning by a guy really skews the ERA.

    and as to your other question, for the volume of arms needed, it really wasn’t much money. Of course in hindsight there were other guys that did more, but when you are filling out the roster from the budget rack, you aren’t getting a roster of all stars.

    Francisco is the only guy on the list where they spent “real” money.

    and if you notice, the other key attribute? no one was more than 2 years (and only 3 guys got that guaranteed). That puts most of the group on the temporary/tide you over list until stronger options could be developed.
    • Metsie April 23, 2012 at 4:15 pm

      I fail to see the shortness of wasted money as relevant…

      All it means is he screwed up and gets another chance to do so later on!
      And if he doesn’t screw up he lost any leverage to get something good long term at the cheap rate!

      In either case it is a bad evaluation of what he got and the fact that he gets to re-evaluate again doesn’t make him any better at evaluating than the first go around!

      He revamped the BullPen last year and it was horrible!
      And he did it again and so far it AGAIN looks horrible!

      Sample size or no over the course of two years at best two of the guys he got have been OK and maybe worth the money!
    • Joey D. April 23, 2012 at 4:31 pm

      Hi Stick,

      Of course it’s too early to tell for 2012 and I thought I had noted that only to find it was accidentally deleted.

      But I’m not interested in cost. That is for the chief financial officer to be concerned with. I’m concerned about performance on the field. And this is not coming out of hindsight. Though I wasn’t with MMO last season, I did let all my Met friends know I thought these signings were mistakes, that Sandy released two good relievers (Takahashi and the then later injured Feliciano) to save a few million dollars and that all his signings were bargain basement rejects from other clubs or reclamation projects.

      Yes, we know he was under the edict of reducing the payroll so that’s why I asked if these were the best he could do under the circumstances for I saw these moves not in terms of improving the ball club with more financial prudence than the former G.M. but simply saving as much money as he could for the owners by filling out the roster with the least expensive players around.

      I don’t think any team could have acquired anything near decent pitching with what Sandy was spending. We had the nucleus of a good team to let it be hampered in the name of “rebuilding”. And this is why the fans have the right to be dismayed for it really wasn’t at all about rebuilding as it was downsizing to save the ownership.
• paul coskey April 23, 2012 at 5:10 pm

  Isn’t Francisco the same guy who threw a folding chair at a fan in the stands in Texas and caught a lady on the nose, when he was being criticized for being questionable at best on the field a few years back………………………….
• jerseymet April 23, 2012 at 6:51 pm

  Francisco reminds me of Benitez. Offer him to the Red Sox or Reds.