Currently, the Mets have two ex-All-Star setup men on their roster in Billy Wagner and J.J. Putz. Although, both have options for next season it is highly unlikely either will be brought back without at least signing a new deal that will pay them less money. Even so, I still don’t see this happening.

In Wagner’s case, he wants the role of closer, which he has held with numerous teams for the better part of the past decade. This is something that the Mets simply cannot offer him due to that position being occupied by the younger Francisco Rodriguez.

As in Wagner’s situation, J.J. Putz would also prefer to close, however agreed to setup K-Rod upon being traded to New York from Seattle. Putz is also six years younger than Wagner and in theory has a few more productive years ahead of him.

However, despite this there is no way even the Mets could justify handing out nearly nine million dollars to a pitcher, who posted an ugly 5.22 ERA. I understand Putz was hurt, but at the same time when it looks as if management may only be able to allot $20 million dollars for salary next year that amount of money becomes a significant issue.

Taking Wagner and Putz out of the equation, the Mets will have a bullpen consisting of Brian Stokes, Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green and Francisco Rodriguez. I neglected to include Bobby Parnell, who could either start or relieve next year.

This all is obviously subject to change as it is still to early to tell whether or not this tandem will be back in a Mets uniform.

It wouldn’t be unimaginable for the Mets not to tender a contract to Green, who has been less than stellar this season with a 5.13 ERA and three blown saves.

Assuming the Mets do not retain him for next year that would leave them with three quality arms for the bullpen. Clearly, that is not enough to warrant a solid bullpen. Whether it be via a trade or a free agent signing, the Mets are going to have to get a reliever that can get lefties out.

For the past two years, the Mets have supposedly been searching for a lefty specialist to take some of the workload off Pedro Feliciano. However, after some 152 relief appearances over the past two seasons Feliciano has still yet to receive reliable assistance in the bullpen.

Looking exclusively at the upcoming free agent class there aren’t that many intriguing names out there. Sure there’s Joe Beimel, but if Omar didn’t pick him up last off-season when he had the chance to last year I don’t see it happening this season when he will have even less funds to spend.

As for filling the other impending voids in the pen the Mets had a young reliever who had the ability to get both righties and lefties out in Darren O’Day, but they put him on waivers to enable Nelson Figueroa to make a spot start back in April. Another great roster move by Mr. Minaya.

Since joining the Rangers O’Day has been stellar, posting a 1.84 ERA and accumulating 16 holds.

All in all, the Mets will have a lot of voids to fill this coming off-season, however it is important that they do not neglect the one aspect of the team that lead to a very disappointing season in 2008.

Immediately after the game, the Mets designated Figueroa for assignment and came close to losing him as Figueroa refused the assignment and opted to test the free agent waters. Nothing happened for Figgy so he sucked it up and went back to Buffalo. Figueroa is 3-4 with a 2.61 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. In 76 IP he has allowed just 63 hits and has a solid 58/21 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He was just selected to be the Bisons’ lone representative in the AAA All Star game. Wow…

One little tidbit that is missing from this drama, is that fact reliever Darren O’Day was released to make room for that one and only start by Nelson Figueroa. Remember him?

The 26-year old righthander was originally signed by the Mets after they selected him in the Rule 5 Draft in November. O’Day had a terrific spring and made the trip up north on opening day. He only appeared in four games for the Mets and pitched three scoreless innings before the Mets designated him for assignment.

Two days later he was picked up by the Texas Rangers and he is now one of the biggest weapons in their bullpen.

The young side-armer and former Angels top prospect, has established himself as the Rangers’ premier setup man and currently sports a 1.27 ERA. In 29 innings pitched he has allowed just 21 hits and 8 walks while striking out a whopping 27 batters. His 1.02 WHIP leads the bullpen and he has two wins, one save and nine holds for the Rangers.

Teams and GM’s make mistakes like this all the time. Every team can name one or two costly cuts they never should have been made. But what makes the O’Day cut so bad was how the Mets thought so little of him that they cut him just for one Nelson Figueroa start. In fact the Mets came close to losing both pitchers in a matter of 24 hours with nothing in return to show for them.

So every time you look at the mound and see a Jon Switzer or a Ken Takahashi, remember what we could have had instead.

Remember what we did have and let slip through our fingers.

O’Day reported to Rogers Centre for a game against the Toronto Blue Jays before there was a chance to stitch up a jersey with his name, so he was forced to wear Texas minor-leaguer Kason Gabbard’s jersey. O’Day was thrown into the game in the 11^th, with runners in scoring position in a tied game. Kevin Millar drove O’Day’s offering into the outfield for the walk-off single.

Rangers 7, Blue Jays 8 (11)

In other news, the Philadelphia Phillies were almost no-hit against the Milwaukee Brewers. Brewers starter Dave Bush held the Phillies hitless through 7.1 IP before giving up a pinch-hit HR to Matt Stairs.

The Brewers got HR’s from Ryan Braun and Bill Hall, and a bases-loaded double by Prince Fielder.

Bush became the sixth pitcher this season to lose a no-hit bid in the 7^th inning or later, following Tim Wakefield, Ted Lily, AJ Burnett, Randy Johnson, and Trevor Cahill.

Brewers 6, Phillies 1

Till Next Time

I would have loved to be a fly in the room when Omar and his brain-trust made the decision to DFA Darren O’Day, promote Nelson Figueroa, DFA Figueroa 18 hours later and promote Casey Fossum.

I bet the conversation went just like this…

Omar: Have a seat fellas, we need to figure out what we’re gonna do about this Mike Pelfrey situation.

Adviser 1: What’s there to think about? DL Pelfrey, he’ll miss two starts and call up Figueroa to replace him.

Adviser 2: That makes sense to me, based on their numbers at Buffalo, Figgy’s the logical choice. Shall I call the league office and tell them we’re placing Pelf on the DL retroactive to April 13.

Omar: That won’t be necessary, we’ll cut Darren O’Day instead. I’m not big on sidearmers anyway.

Adviser 1: But boss he had a solid spring, and he hasn’t given up a run yet this season…

Adviser 2: Huh, you want us to just release him?

Omar: Don’t worry about it, we have plenty of depth in the bullpen or haven’t you heard, our bullpen ERA is the best in baseball.

Adviser 1: Whatever…

18 hours later…

Adviser 1: Hello Omar, it’s me Adviser 1… Tough loss, but what a gutsy performance by Figgy, huh?

Omar: I’m glad you called. Get a hold of Manuel and tell him to designate Figueroa for assignment.

Adviser 1: Hey boss I think I have a bad signal, it sounded like you said we should DFA Figueroa.

Omar: That’s exactly what I said, I want to bring up Casey Fossum and make him our long man.

Adviser 1: But boss, Fossum is getting torched in AAA, I think his career ERA is well over 5 and he’s not fooling anyone with that mediocre stuff of his.

Omar: Nevermind all that, sometimes you have to go with your gut instincts, and I got a good feeling about this Casey guy.

Adviser 1: Well, you’re the boss, but I don’t think the fans will be pleased when they learn we just let two serviceable guys go without getting anything in return. I mean, what if they resurface with the Phils, or worse yet the Fish?

Omar: Huh, stop being such a pessimist… I think Casey Fossum is a great baseball name… It’s to bad he wasn’t a hitter or we could have had our marketing guys come up with a Casey at the Bat Calendar Day some time in July.

Adviser 1: I gotta go Omar, I have Manuel on the other line. I’ll tell him the news…

Johan Santana proves that you don’t quibble about prospects when you are getting a proven Major League talent in return. The Twins will be lamenting this trade for years while Mets fans get treated to a pitching gem every time Santana takes the mound. One of those prospects we gave up was Phil Humber who was released on Friday. Santana has been the best pitcher in the Milky Way since last years All Star break. He has totaled 123.1 innings pitched in 17 starts, has a 1.61 ERA, while striking out 117 and walking just 30. So let’s go after Halladay next.

Sure it’s still early, but how comforting is it to know that the Mets currently have the best bullpen in baseball?  It’s true, the Mets bullpen is sporting a 1.80 ERA, while closer Frankie Rodriguez leads the way with a 0.00 ERA. He’s accompanied by O’Day at 0.00 (more on him later), Putz at 1.29, and Parnell at 1.69. Not too shabby… 

While some are worried that CitiField may be too pitcher friendly, that’s the least of their concerns over at the new Yankee Stadium, where the Yankees suffered a humiliating 22-4 loss at the hands of the Cleveland Indians. Mercy rule anybody? One day after the Yankees belted five homeruns on Friday, the Indians come right back and swat six of them in what may soon be called the house that Grady built. Meanwhile, Chien-Ming Wang has no options and must go through waivers before getting demoted to the minors. This can get fun.

Brad Lidge cannot walk on water. When Lidge entered the game in the ninth inning against the Padres, he blew the save by giving up 4 earned runs in 2/3 innings pitched. Ouch… There will be no perfect season for him in 2009 after converting 41 of 41 save opportunities last season. The Phillies are playing some pretty bad baseball right now. Big mouth starting pitcher, Cole Hamels has an ERA of over 11.00 right now. <cough, cough, choke, choke>

Deja Vu? 2008 Cy Young award winner, Tim Lincecum struck out 13 batters and walked none while pitching eight scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks on Saturday. He came away with a no decision as the Giants lost 2-0. Johan Santana had a very similar start against the Marlins on April 12th.

Darren O’Day leaves the Mets with a 0.00 ERA in three innings after being designated for assignment to make room for Nelson Figueroa who takes the hill this afternoon against the Brewers. I had hoped it would have been Bobby Parnell that could have been sent down for a couple of weeks without having to lose anybody, much less a solid reliever who was once considered a top prospect before an injury dropped him off the radar for one season. The very first time Parnell, Stokes, or Figueroa cough up a lead, I’m predicting a dozen stories about why did the Mets let Darren O’Day go for nothing and how Omar should get some heat over it.

Hopefully the Mets will be able to score more than one run today, because I have a hunch that a similar offensive outburst won’t get the job done against the Brewers and Jeff Suppan.  Wouldn’t a two homer game by David Wright or Carlos Delgado be a perfect way to close out the series?

Later…

“We’re going to exercise caution in this matter,” Manuel said. “We don’t want any more setbacks. We want him to make all his starts for the rest of the year. If this was September, he would pitch.”

Pelfrey echoed those sentiments. Although he was not in favor of skipping a start, Pelfrey already was feeling immediate improvement in the forearm. He played catch before yesterday’s game and did not experience the same discomfort.

Figgy had some good moments for us in 2008, and I’m looking forward to a solid start tomorrow.

The question is, will he remain with the team and stay on in the bullpen afterward now that O’Day has been designated for assignment.

As long as his right rotator cuff strain continues to feel better, he hopes that will lead to a promotion by the end of the month, although manager Jerry Manuel cautioned that he won’t come up until he’s able to pitch starter’s innings. That doesn’t mean he’ll be a starter – not as long as Livan Hernandez pitches like he did Saturday.

Once Tim Redding is activated, someone will have to go to make room for him. I believe the choice might come down to Bobby Parnell or Darren O’Day. Parnell has options and can easily be sent to AAA without any ramifications. O’Day however, would have to be returned to his original team, the Angels.

It looks like this decision may come next week or  a short time after, so the Mets still have time to evaluate.

Who should the Mets keep on the active roster, Bobby Parnell or Darren O’Day?