With all the talk of the Mets plans for 2010 and beyond, few if any have mentioned the bullpen. As one of the lone bright spots for the team this season, the bullpen is going to need some attention next season. 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 [...]

You know, I can accept the fact that the injury bug has bitten our Mets hard this season, and that freak accidents have hurt, as has being beaned in the head by opposing pitchers.  We’ve learned to accept that we have average to below-average replacements and that the season was basically over before the all-star break.  Now we’re biding our time and waiting until next year, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t [...]

Did any of you see the cover story of the USA Today sports page yesterday?  If you didn’t, here is a link, but let me warn you—it’s going to make you both angry and jealous.  It’s about Phillies’ rookie GM Ruben Amaro, Jr., and how the guy has earned the respect of his players by not only going out and grabbing what turned out to be a tremendous free agent in Raul Ibanez over the [...]

As I’ve been watching our beloved Mets this season, going through cases of Pepto-Bismol and Alka-Seltzer, I’ve still kept an interest in seeing the team win, no matter how many games out of first we’ve been.  Recently, it’s gotten much tougher to get genuinely excited over wins, though having them spaced so far apart does help increase the excitement when we get one.  But, for the first time in a few years, I have a [...]

It has been only 11 months since undergoing Tommy John surgery, but Billy Wagner has been progressing quite well in his minor league rehab assignment.  He has made four appearances facing live hitters and is yet to give up a run.  His fastball has been clocked at 94 MPH and most importantly, he has not felt any pain in his surgically repaired elbow.  Although he has not pitched in back-to-back games, the team expects him [...]

Francisco Rodriguez was supposed to be the answer to the bullpen problems the Mets suffered last year.  For the first half of the season, he was as good as advertised, picking up save after save and keeping his ERA south of 1.00.  Then Luis Castillo dropped the pop-up at Yankee Stadium, giving Rodriguez his first blown save of the season.  This was followed by long periods of inactivity due to the lack of save situations [...]

If you were watching today’s game when Gary Sheffield left the bases with apparent leg stiffness, Gary and Ron were reciting the litany of Met injuries, and having trouble remembering all of them. That got me wondering who has not been injured out of the Opening Day roster. Take a look: Out of the Opening Day lineup, only Wright and Murphy have never been injured. Castillo is listed because we don’t have enough information on [...]

We all have them—friends who are overly optimistic, even when things with our Mets look as grim as they possibly can.  To put this in perspective, during Game 6 of the ’86 World Series, I was hanging out with a bunch of friends in a bar on Long Island.  Among those friends was my buddy Tom from Bayside, and I distinctly remember Tom’s insane optimism through my beer-soaked haze as the season was slipping away.  [...]

Every time an updated injury report is released, August appears to be the month circled for the majority of the disabled players to make their return to the Mets.  What will this mean for the players who have been thrust into everyday roles over the past few months?  Let’s start analyzing what August has in store for the Mets, beginning with the hitters. The key Mets injuries in 2009 have been the ones to Carlos [...]