After yesterday’s 2-1 ninth inning loss, David Wright didn’t blame the bad call at third base and instead pointed the finger of blame for the loss on himself and the rest of the offense.

“Sometimes the calls go your way. Sometimes they don’t. What we need to do a better job of is offensively going out there and scoring more runs. We can’t expect to win games 1-0. Offensively we need to do a better job … It seems like the better teams, they go through a rut like this and it only lasts a series or two. We can’t allow it to kind of consume us and take over for a week, two weeks. We’ve got to snap out of it. That starts offensively and going out there and having good at-bats.”

As I wrote in my recap last night, Anthony Recker should have fired the ball to first base to get the easy out and keep the winning run from getting on base. Seems like Recker understands now that he screwed up:

“He dropped it pretty much right in front of the plate for me,” Recker said. “I knew we needed to get an out. I just tried to make a play I probably shouldn’t have tried to make. We talked about it before the bunt — ‘get an out.’ But he laid it in front of the plate. My instincts told me to go to third. Obviously the throw was a little bit high. If it was a good throw we might have had him. I probably don’t need to make that play. I just need to get an out.”

Recker’s passed ball before the play at third base also had a lot to do with how things unravelled as that was what got Chris Coghlan to third base in the first place. Maybe subconsciously the Mets catcher was thinking he could erase that ply by getting him out, but regardless it set up the chain of events that eventually led to the loss.

As for Wright, what he says is true, The team needs to score more runs. By my count they’ve scored 11 runs in their last six games. That’s not going to translate into many wins no matter how good your starting pitching is.

But beside the lack of runs, the Mets bullpen must shoulder much of the blame. They can’t seem to hold a lead of any kind including a recent four-run lead. Reportedly, Bobby Parnell was pissed that he wasn’t called upon for the save opportunity last night. He of course had the blown save the night before and has registered just two saves on the season thus far. He has a good beef. Brandon Lyon was just plain awful and as I wrote yesterday, he has been for the last two weeks. Hope he treated Jeremy Hefner to a great meal after the game as he cashed in his $100K bonus check he picked up before the game.

His contract stipulates that Lyon is to receive roster bonuses of $100,000-$125,000 roughly once a month.

The 34-year-old righty who signed a  a guaranteed $750,000 deal with the Mets before the season, received his first $100K bonus check by making the Opening Day roster. But then this morning, Lyon took in his second check, also worth $100,000.

In his last ten appearances, Lyon has allowed five earned runs in 9.0 innings pitched with a 5.00 ERA during that span.

Lyon’s ERA for the season has risen to 4.35 in 12 appearances after a rough two weeks. That ranks last in the Mets bullpen among relievers with five or more appearances.

Overall, the Mets bullpen has a 5.29 ERA which ranks 29th out of all 30 MLB teams.

Terry Collins believes that part of the problem with the team’s bullpen is because the starting rotation is failing to go deep into games. He says it has been putting an incredible strain on all of his relievers. Ya think?

Aside from Matt Harvey and Jon Niese, who combined are averaging over six innings per start, the rest of the rotation has been averaging 4.2 innings per start. Case in point was yesterday afternoon, when Shaun Marcum lasted just four innings, forcing the Mets bullpen to pitch five innings.

When you take Harvey and Niese out of the equation, the cupboard is bare and that’s why the Mets bullpen has a National League worst 5.28 ERA which also ranks second worst in the majors.

The Mets bullpen has allowed 45 earned runs in 76.2 innings pitched this season.

Don’t just blame the rotation however, this bullpen is bad. Eleven teams have logged more innings than the Mets, and their ERA’s are all lower.

The Pirates’ pen has logged a league high 91.0 innings already. But they also have an incredible 2.47 ERA for the season. The Bucs have allowed just 25 earned runs compared to the Mets’ 45.

“I completely agree with Terry Collins.”

JAYSON WERTH WHIFFS: Sit your ass down, sucker!

You know that feeling when Scott Rice walked the first two batters in the 8th inning yesterday with the Mets clinging to a 2 run lead? Kind of a helpless sense of doom and despair where you can’t bear to watch? With a little help from Jayson Werth the result didn’t turn out like so many other late-inning debacles have, but as I exhaled and wiped the sweat from my forehead it got me thinking about the psychological effects of these recurring meltdowns.

Lets consider for a moment a couple of researchers who tortured some dogs for the sake of behavioral science. Like Pavlov only more twisted … they conditioned these animals to expect an electric shock after they heard a tone. Initially the dogs would leap and jerk and look for escape in an attempt to avoid the shock, but after a while the dogs became conditioned to the stimulus and quit trying to avoid it. Once the animals were thus acclimated, the researchers observed that even when the animals were presented with a lowered wall in their boxes they made no attempt to jump over it. Even with a clear avenue of escape, they did nothing to avoid the shock. The researchers were Martin Seligman and Steven F. Maier, who went on to develop a theory they called “Learned Helplessness.”

Now lets look at an unpleasant set of random shocks that the Mets have experienced over the past six seasons:

September 27, 2007

After a 3-0 loss to the Saint Louis Cardinals the Mets are tied with the Phillies atop their division. Between the beginning of their September 14th series against the Phillies and the start of last night’s game against Saint Louis, Mets relievers have given up 30 earned runs for a 6.54 ERA. The Mets are 4 and 10 in their last 14 games.

September 21. 2008

With 7 games to go and the Mets clinging to a shot at the post season, Aaron Heilman gives up a two-run double to Martin Prado that gave the Braves a 7-4 lead rendering Carlos Delgado‘s two-run home run in the ninth inning irrelevant. It was the 16^th blown save since the All-Star break.

August 21, 2011

After another masterful performance by R.A. Dickey, Manny Acosta walks Nyjer Morgan to start the inning. With runners on first and third and two runs in, Tim Byrdak is brought in to pitch to Prince Fielder who hits a routine double play ball to second base. Justin Turner makes a wide throw on the double play attempt as the winning run crosses the plate. The Mets fall to 6 games under .500.

July 18, 2012

With the Mets only 5 games out of the wild card, Miguel Batista in relief of Chris Young comes in and gets two quick outs. He then allows two singles to Jesus Flores and Roger Bernadina before allowing a 2-run double to Steve Lombardozzi putting the Nationals ahead 4-1. Riding a 6 game losing streak the Mets bullpen ranks last in the Majors with a 5.03 ERA.

April 18, 2013

The Mets are swept in a weather-shortened three game set in Denver as Met relievers give up 18 runs to the Rockies.

April 20, 2013

After coming back from three runs down in the 4^th inning to take a 5 – 3 lead, the Mets bullpen gives up 4 runs as the Nationals win 7 – 6 on a Saturday game following an inspiring win by Matt Harvey.  The Met bullpen has given up 28 earned runs so far this season. As of this writing the Mets have the worst bullpen ERA in baseball.

No escape … Learned Helplessness.

The “D” adjectives keep coming … disheartening, demoralizing, deflating … Met fans have been stuck in a perpetual electro-shock holding pattern for the greater part of a decade owing primarily to this organization’s persistent inability to construct even a league average bullpen. We know this, we’ve been over this ad nauseam … the above list is just a sampling, there were other grueling losses, too many to list.

In May of 1978, Diener and Dweck published a fascinating analysis of Learned Helplessness in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in which they concluded that helpless children showed marked decrements in performance when put in situations where they failed, whereas children who were oriented to mastery focused more on self-monitoring and self-instruction. The study looked specifically at the attribution of failure in these learners. It was posited that for helpless children (their “helplessness” was based on how they perceived the tasks), failure was internalized and attributed to a lack of ability (even when that wasn’t necessarily the case), while mastery oriented children tended to engage in more positive behaviors following a failed attempt.

Learners who are conditioned to fail, show performance decrements with each failure. They give up, they stop trying, even when subsequently presented with tasks that are well within their ability, they stumble. Like the dogs in the electrified pens, they neglect to look for a solution, they acquiesce to their condition.

Baseball players are only human and they reflect the same patterns of response to failure that any of us might, but bullpen meltdowns are unlike other kinds of failures in some very important ways. They tend to be games that were “in the bag” at some point – which is to say many other aspects of the team’s play (namely starting pitching and offense) were successful for the greater part of the contest. The team played well, the team should have won, but the game unraveled somehow at the very end. These losses are gut punches to morale, exasperating in that they reinforce a sense of helplessness … no matter how well you play, no matter how many runs you drive in or how well your starting pitcher performs, you become conditioned to believing that the bullpen will find a way to give it up.

Players can only suffer through so many games of this sort before they stop investing their heart and soul into a game’s outcome – if only to preserve their sanity. You might call it developing a thick skin, letting failure bounce off of you, turning the page — there are lots of clichés to describe moving past failure — but, in the end, acclimating to failure increases the likelihood that it will recur. As shown in the study above, failure itself can be toxic — individuals conditioned to fail show decrements in performance relative to individuals oriented towards success even when their ability levels are commensurate.

This should not be confused with the notion that a good reliever has to have the temerity to ignore the occasional bad performance … that trait is advanced by the innate confidence that the reliever will return to his successful norm. The above has more to do with players who experience repeated failure, and thus begin to expect it.

Take two kids of equal ability who are learning to play shortstop. With player one you hit 20 hard smashes always just out of his reach. Then you bounce 20 routine grounders to player two. Follow that up by giving both players an identical set of grounders at a variety of difficulty levels and you will find that the player conditioned to failure is likely to make more errors than the player who handled the easy grounders. This is why coaches like to end sessions with a few successful reps.

Over the past few seasons the Mets have been conditioned to the late inning (and the late season) collapse. Beyond the hard work and talent unquestionably necessary to reverse this malaise of the spirit, this team needs individuals who refuse to turn the page, individuals who do not accept the loss. Sometimes all it takes is one guy. In 1967 it was Tom Seaver, perhaps Matt Harvey can act as this sort of catalyst in 2013. We need more Matt Harveys, we need players who refuse to acquiesce to failure.

But you absolutely have to have a bullpen that will hold it’s own and prevent these recurring gut-wrenching morale-killing failure-conditioning losses, because one thing is certain, you can only take so many late inning meltdowns before the dog decides to just stay in the box.

Mets’ relievers Frank Francisco and Pedro Feliciano threw a simulated game in Port St. Lucie on Tuesday.

Francisco continues to recover from off-season elbow surgery, and is currently on the disabled list, retroactive to March 22. The righty threw an inning of work, which consisted of 20 pitches.

Mets lefty reliever Feliciano continues to work on his arm strength, and also threw one inning of work in Tuesday’s simulated game.

Both Francisco and Feliciano remain serious candidates to join the Mets bullpen, should someone falter. Francisco is more likely to get the first crack first due to his contract ($6.5 million) and potential to close games, especially if Parnell struggles early this season.

K-Rod said he would welcome a reunion with the Mets and would be extra motivated if given a second chance to redeem himself.

Rodriguez is currently a free agent, and the Mets showed minimal interest earlier in the offseason.

But please, please, please Sandy Alderson: Don’t bring this guy back!

The Mets have moved on from K-Rod and his antics, and there’s really no point in reverting. Why watch a washed up reliever struggle when we have some young guys capable of getting the job the done?

And if those younger guys struggle, give them the chance to work through their mistakes rather than keep giving the same guy numerous chances.

He has already been given a second chance with the Mets. After the whole incident with his girlfriend’s father in 2010, he returned to the Mets in 2011 – after many rumors of a potential release – and actually pitched pretty well.

In fact, he pitched so well that the Milwaukee Brewers traded for him for their stretch run, and he resurrected himself as a setup man.

That was his second chance. The Brewers re-signed him for the 2012 season, and he tanked to 2-7 record with a 4.38 ERA.

So basically he’s now seeking a third chance. Well, he’s come to wrong the place.

With the game on the line in the seventh and eighth inning, I’d much rather see the ball handed off to Bobby Parnell (if he’s not closing), Jeurys Familia, Josh Edgin or Robert Carson.

Give these guys a chance. We know that K-Rod is more of a headache than what his production will be on the field. He was actually charged with domestic abuse in September, 2012, so it doesn’t seem he’s changed too much.

It’s great that K-Rod wants to redeem himself to Mets fans for a three-year period of craziness. But hopefully, the Mets stay far away from this guy.

Updated by Joe D.

According to Mike Puma of the NY Post, after telling reporters that Frank Francisco has been shut down due to inflammation in his right elbow, Mets manager Terry Collins told Puma that “he wants Bobby Parnell to take over as the team’s closer.”

“We keep talking about 2014 … why not get a head start?” Collins said. “I’m not panicking, but you’ve got to get somebody ready, and Bobby to me is that guy.”

Adam Rubin of ESPN New York quotes pitching coach Dan Warthen, who says:

“His last 11 outings, he didn’t give up anything. I thought his maturity changed. I thought he and [Jon] Niese both had breakout years last year. And I think he’s there. I think he’s ready to close.”

Not surprising news, but big news nonetheless.

The Mets developing their own homegrown closer? This is unheard of, somebody pinch me!

I would love to see Parnell grab this opportunity and run with it.

I want to see him succeed and earn a big, huge paycheck next season as a top shelf closer – hopefully, still with the Mets of course.

Take the bull by the horns, Bobby… This your time to shine…

Original Post 2/8

Frank Francisco told the New York Post yesterday that he is the Mets’ closer.

Sure, he might have been signed last offseason to be the Mets’ closer, but it’s not like he went out last year and was stellar on the mound.

In fact, his numbers (5.53 ERA and 23 saves) were pretty poor for a closer.

So while he “thinks” he is this team’s closer, nothing is set in stone.

The Mets today agreed to a contract with another veteran reliever, Brandon Lyon. He’s been mostly a setup man in his career, but he does have experience closing. He may push Francisco for save opportunities.

In a perfect world, Francisco, who will earn closer’s money at $6.5 million in 2013, will have a great season and cement his role as the closer early on. Meanwhile, the veteran bullpen options like Lyon, Scott Atchison and LaTroy Hawkins will push youngsters Bobby Parnell, Jeurys Familia and Josh Edgin in spring training to pitch at a high level.

But nothing in this world is perfect.

With the expectations low for the Mets this season, the organization needs to have a short leash with overpriced veterans. If Francisco tanks, get him out of there. He’s not part of this team’s future, so the Mets should just bite the bullet on his salary if necessary.

I’d rather see Parnell, Familia and Edgin, as well as a few others, get the chance late in games rather than run a struggling Francisco out there. Leads will be precious for the 2013 Mets, so the most qualified relievers – not the highest paid – should get the first crack at saving games.

Again, maybe the most qualified relievers this season will in fact be Francisco and Lyon. They’ve shown in their careers that they can be effective late in games, so it’s certainly possible that they can be productive.

But as far as Francisco claiming that he is the Mets’ closer before spring training has even started, that’s a little much.

I’m glad that he’s confident in his abilities, but he should have said that he’s willing to work super hard to rebound from a poor year last year in order to re-earn his spot.

He could have said, “I am this team’s closer, and I am going to prove that right from the start of spring training.”

The key word here is “prove.” It’s not like Francisco is Mariano Rivera. Even with Rivera coming off an injury, his track record suggests he’ll be just fine.

Francisco’s career has been middling at best, and with Parnell waiting in the wings, Francisco’s job should be far from safe.

The Mets seem to be rolling the dice when it comes to bringing in veterans on minor-league deals to compete for spots in the bullpen.

The team will likely head north in about two months with seven relievers, but spring training will decide who those lucky seven are.

LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Atchison were recently signed to minor-league deals. Do these guys have enough left in the tank to be contributors to this year’s bullpen?

Seriously, what do the Mets have to lose? At the very worst, Hawkins and Atchison will light a fire under the younger relievers who are battling for a roster spot.

Robert Carson and Josh Edgin had strong moments in 2012 but were inconsistent for the most part. Bobby Parnell is expected to keep progressing, and Jeremy Hefner will likely latch on as the long man in the pen.

The Mets signed side-armer Greg Burke to a minor-league deal early in the offseason, so we’ll see what he’s got this spring. Youngsters Jeurys Familia and Elvin Ramirez will also be given a long look.

With the exception of Parnell (who has been inconsistent in his own right), none of the above in-house bullpen candidates are proven commodities. But since relief pitching in general is such a volatile position, the Mets could either have the makings of a solid bullpen, or they could completely tank.

If a few of these arms can get hot at the right time, they could form a strong unit, especially if either Hawkins or Atchison (or both) can be effective. With the team’s lack of offense, it will be imperative for the bullpen to hold rare leads late in games.

And then of course there’s Frank Francisco. The Mets took a gamble bringing him in last year, and for the most part that backfired. But it wasn’t just a one-and-done with Frankie; he signed a two-year deal.

I wish the Mets would bring in some legitimate closing competition for Francisco. Parnell is on the doorstep of becoming a closer, but he needs to work through his inconsistencies to take the next step.

On the free-agent market, Brian Wilson, Matt Capps and Jose Valverde are still available. Valverde fell out of favor with Detroit in last year’s playoffs, while Wilson has already auditioned for the Mets but seems unwilling to accept a minor-league deal.

But as spring training nears, Wilson may be forced to lower his demands and prove that he can still close.

On a minor-league deal, I would love to see the Mets sign Wilson. Nothing would be guaranteed, and he would have to show the organization in spring training that he’s still got it.

Maybe Capps could be a guy the Mets bring in to push Francisco. However, he missed several months last season with the Twins dealing with shoulder inflammation.

Capps will probably draw interest on a Major-League deal, but again as the clock keeps ticking, he too may be forced to swallow his pride.

Signing one of these two closers to a minor-league deal would fit with Sandy Alderson’s theme of trying to piece together a bullpen of reclamation projects trying to resurrect their careers.

The good thing about this plan is that if it falters, not only would it be a short-term problem, but also none of the contracts would be guaranteed.

Pedro Feliciano spent his entire career in a Mets uniform until the day he left via Free Agency following the 2010 season. At the time our well documented financial situation got in the way, and the Yankees came in and offered the lefty specialist a nice contract to join our crosstown rivals.

Well, two years and $8 million dollars later, Pedro is once again on the verge of Free Agency. He never made his Yankees debut during his two year deal, and will leave the team without ever throwing a single pitch in the Bronx.

Early in the 2011 season, Feliciano was placed on the disabled list due to soreness in his left shoulder. In late April he made a trip to see the dreaded orthopedist Dr. James Andrews who recommended a six-week strengthening program for the pitcher.

The cause of Feliciano’s trip to the disabled list was a torn capsule and rotator cuff in his left arm, requiring arthroscopic surgery to repair. After the diagnosis was confirmed the Yankees front office claimed the reason behind Feliciano’s injury was that the Mets had overused him.

Feliciano, now 36 years old, owns a career 3.31 ERA. He was never known for his velocity, routinely sitting in the mid-high 80′s. Lefty relievers can pitch well into their early 40′s, so if he could regain his health he could be a potential steal this off-season. He had 96 holds over his last five seasons with the Mets, and has a career .214 opposing batting average versus left handed hitters.

Coming off surgery and missing the last two years I’m sure Pedro will be looking to prove himself, both health and talent wise. That will most likely require no more than a league minimum or minor league commitment from a Major League Club. With Byrdak set to hit Free Agency and Edgin the only real lefty on the roster that has any experience, Pedro might be a nice low cost, high reward investment.

Pedro Feliciano was one of the best, if not the best reliever we had from 2006-2010. We have seen plenty of players return from injury to regain their form, or come close to it. I think it’s worth taking a shot on Feliciano who we know can get the job done when he’s right. If he inks a minor league deal, it doesn’t cost us anything to find out if he still has the goods.

I’m in, are you?

Jenrry Mejia, the youngest player in the Majors when the season started, came out of the gate in impressive fashion and finished his first month of the season with a pristine 1.64 ERA and all the previous banter that he was prematurely promoted began to fade away. Then May came.

Initially, Mejia was only allowed to pitch in non-pressurized situations, but now he is being used more often with the game on the line and the results so far have not been good.

This month he has appeared in eight games, and in 6.1 innings pitched, Mejia has allowed 14 baserunners either by a walk or hit. His ERA for the month has been 4.25 which is not exactly terrible until you spot his unsightly 2.20 WHIP. You could see he clearly doesn’t exude any confidence with runners on base and it brings out his wild side.

There is now talk of sending him to the minors and having him resume his career as a starter. Sounds like a good idea.

Before Jerry Manuel completely burned Fernando Nieve out, there was talk of him taking over the setup role for the Mets, but that talk is completely dead now. After getting off to a solid month in April, when he led the NL in appearances, Nieve started to go down hill in May and has completely crashed and burned now.

Nieve is sporting an 8.31 ERA this month and has just one strikeout in his last eight appearances spanning 7.2 innings in which he allowed 8 hits, 4 walks and 3 home runs.

He is a ticking time bomb, and would probably benefit from some down time in Buffalo where he won’t be abused by his manager. Incidentally, in looking at Nieve’s splits he would have been a poor choice for setup job anyway as lefthanded batters have scorched him for a 11.26 ERA. As long as he remains in the bullpen, he shouldn’t be allowed to face the likes of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Robinson Cano during the next homestand.

You could make the case that Jerry Manuel had a strong hand in burning these two pitchers out, but then again you could also point to John Maine and Oliver Perez as the culprits too. Both have averaged less than five innings pitched per start causing undo stress on an already heavily taxed bullpen.

Hisanori Takahashi has been priceless out of the pen, but now he is being yanked and added to the rotation leaving Oliver Perez as the team’s potential longman. Last night against the Nationals, Perez came in and faced two batters, predictably walking one of them almost as if on cue.

There is a ray of hope however. Ryota Igarashi is rehabbing in Buffalo and could be activated from the disabled list in time for the Subway Series which begins tomorrow. Iggy was having a fine season before he got hurt, and should provide the bullpen with a nice boost upon his return.

That said, unless the Mets can get their rotation to go deeper into games, it wont be long until Iggy suffers the same fate as his bullpen mates. Until Jerry Manuel learns to manage his bullpen more efficiently, it can get even more uglier and more heartache could be coming our way late in games.

His role with the team was supposed to be the seventh inning bridge to J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez, and foor the first half of the year his role on the team was just that.

Parnell embraced his spot in the bullpen rather nicely and in the first two months of the season he compiled a very impressive ERA of 2.13.

During this time period he also maintained a respectable K:BB ratio of 19:9.

After getting roughed up a bit in the month of June, Parnell returned to form in July by pitching 10.1 scoreless innings.

What impressed me the most about Parnell was his velocity. At times, his fastball was clocked at 100 mph, and normally hovered somewhere within the 94 mph range.

Unfortunately mid-way through the season, like many other teammates, Parnell was thrust into somewhat uncharted territory when he was called upon to join the starting rotation.

To be fair, Parnell had spent his minor league career as a starter, but he never really showed that he was more than an average starter, at best, during his four years in the Mets farm system, as his ERA generally hovered in the mid-to-high 4 range.

On August 15th, Parnell made his first start as a New York Met, going up against the San Francisco Giants. His debut was stellar as he pitched six scoreless innings, while striking out seven batters.

The success was short-lived and Parnell was rocked in the following three outings against division rivals, Atlanta and Philadelphia, as well as the Chicago Cubs.

In those three games alone, Parnell was clobbered for 22 earned runs in only 12.2 innings pitched. In simpler terms he gave up, on average, nearly two runs per inning.

Despite not having much success, aside from another shut-out performance, Parnell remained in the rotation until mid-September due to the team not having any other options.

Upon being moved from the rotation back to the bullpen, he finished the year strong by hurling 6.1 innings and only allowing one run.

One of the main reasons behind Parnell’s lack of success last year was the fact that many of his secondary pitches were unpolished and he ended up relying too much on his fastball.

While a pitcher may be able to get away with throwing fastball after fastball for one inning or so, it just doesn’t work when they face the same batters two or three times in a game.

I know it’s been said before, but Parnell really needs to develop secondary pitches in order to become an effective starter. Surprisingly, when the Mets wanted to send him to winter ball to work on these pitches, the righty declined, citing fatigue.

Until he has better command of his “other stuff”, Parnell should remain in the bullpen where he has shown he can flourish.

Final Verdict:

Unless he is shipped out in a trade, Bobby Parnell should be in a New York Mets uniform next year and rightfully so. Despite not having much success as a starter in 2009, he did prove to be a very effective reliever.

On top of that, Parnell made the league minimum of $400,000 last year, which is cheap when you consider that even with his struggles his performance was valued at two million dollars.

Next year, I envision Parnell taking the spot that once belonged to J.J. Putz, which was setting up for Frankie Rodriguez. Depending on how well he performs, it wouldn’t surprise me if one day he took over the role as closer after Rodriguez departs.

When they acquired the hard throwing righty, the Mets envisioned having a proven closer that could fill in the closer’s role if needed.

However, as usual, things did not work out as planned for the Mets.

Throughout his brief season Putz found himself filling in for closer, Francisco Rodriguez only four times. He was able to successfully convert two of these four opportunities into saves.

On top of that, Putz never seemed to be completely healthy. In April, he posted a lackluster 4.09 ERA in eleven appearances.

During his second full month with the team, in May, Putz began to settle down and had an ERA of 3.63 in 17 games.

Putz also, improved his K:BB ratio to 15:12, which is by no means good, but it was definitely an improvement of his April ratio of 4:6.

Just when things appeared to be turning around for the better, Putz’s season took an alarming turn in only two appearances. Both were against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were by no means a powerful team.

In the first game that he pitched, Putz surrendered four runs, three of which were earned before being lifted without recording an out.

In the second game of the series, Putz didn’t fare much better. This time around, he was able to get through the inning, however not before giving up two runs.

By the end of these two nightmarish performances, Putz nearly doubled his ERA to 5.22. Before long, the fears regarding Putz’s struggles were confirmed…he was hurt.

In mid-June it was announced that Putz would need elbow surgery to remove a bone spur, but that he would return to the team later on in the season.

Unfortunately that day never came, and he ended up requiring additional surgery. Putz ended up finishing what was one of the worst seasons in his big league career on the sidelines.

As has been discussed a countless number of times, the Mets hold an option worth $8.6 million for the pitcher’s services in 2010.

All indications are that Putz will be ready to pitch by the time Spring Training rolls around next year. However, is that enough of a reason to bring back the veteran pitcher?

It is an interesting case, as despite the fact that Putz is coming off a terrible injury ridden season, it is hard to ignore his impressive track record. An All-Star in 2007, Putz has had numerous successful seasons in the hitter-friendly American League.

Final Verdict: While I believe it is fair to say that 2009 was not an accurate gauge on whether or not J.J. Putz will be an effective pitcher in the future, there are just too many question marks to commit nearly $9 million to.

Turning down Putz’s option is a no-brainer. However, I believe the team should pursue him as a free agent and try to sign him to a one year deal at a significantly lower salary to help rebuild his value.

Keep in mind, this year’s free agent pool will be filled with numerous potential closers, so Putz will not be able to command as high of a paycheck as he would if the pool was more shallow.

If the team is unable to come to terms with the pitcher then I wish him well as he seemed to bring a sense of spunk that no one else on the team seemed to have last season.

At the conclusion of each article, I would make a determination on whether or not I thought the pitcher should be brought back.

The articles, for the most part, were met with solid reader reception so this year we will continue the tradition.

To kickoff the off-season we will analyze the most criticized member of the 2009 bullpen, Sean Green.

Green, who was acquired in the J.J. Putz trade, was supposed to provide the team with solid middle relief and replace the void left by Joe Smith.

Needless to say, Green wasn’t as spectacular as ownership was presumably hoping he would be.

After getting off to a rough start in April, in which the righty posted an ugly ERA of 8.49, Green seemed to begin to find his groove in June and July posting two straight months of an ERA in the mid-to-low threes.

However, the pitcher regressed in August and his ERA for the month was nearly double its predecessor (5.91). There came a point that many fans, including myself, began to turn green at the very sight of the pitcher (pun intended).

It seemed as if Green was becoming Aaron Heilman 2.0.

After hearing a chorus of boos over and over again, Green recognized a change needed to be made and he tweaked his delivery to more of a side-arm style in an attempt to throw off opposing batters’ timing.

The change proved to be effective, as he had a 2.79 ERA for the month of September, along with two shut-out relief appearances in October.

To be fair the sample size with the new delivery is a rather small one and it isn’t wise to judge a player based on their September performance.

Having appeared in 79 games for the Mets last season, Sean Green’s final line consisted of a 4.52 ERA and a (1-4) record.

While these numbers are certainly far from ideal, keep in mind that they do not stray far away from Green’s past seasons with Seattle. Also, it is important to note that Green only took home a salary of $471,000, which isn’t much more than league minimum.

Final Verdict: Although, I am not a fan of Sean Green, personally, I do believe the Mets should bring back the reliever because he is a low risk option that offers the potential of solid middle relief at a rather affordable rate.

With that being said, this post might come off as being a little bit too nit-picky.

I am somewhat befuddled by Jerry Manuel’s incessant overuse of Sean Green so far this season. Green is mired in the midst of a dreadful start that has seen his ERA swell to 9.00. Opposing batters are hitting .339 against him.

For some unknown reason, when Green came over in the Heilman trade, he was given the keys to the kingdom and had already been anointed as the Mets 7th inning man.

 The Mets wouldn’t stop gloating and repeatedly commented on how excited they were to get the Mariners to kick in Green in the deal. Why?

When I looked at Green’s stats I saw a reliever who had a 4.67 ERA last season, and had given up 80 hits and 36 walks in just 79 innings pitched. Hardly anything to get excited about.

He was also being sold as a crossover reliever when in fact, lefthanded hitters had knocked him around for a .300 batting average against.

Jerry Manuel believes that Sean Green can and will be fixed. Why are the Mets always trying to fix pitchers? Going back to Victor Zambrano (sorry for bringing him up) and including a long list of other pet projects, the Mets have one of the worst success rates when it comes to fixing pitchers. In fact, I can’t think of one such pitcher that was fixed.

They were going to fix Aaron Heilman and discovered a flaw in Scott Schoeneweis that was supposed to be the cure-all for their bullpen problems. We all know how that ended up.

Here is what Manuel said about Sean Green after last night’s game.

“Just to me, I think it’s the different arm slots in his delivery right now,” Jerry Manuel said. “Just like anybody, he has to find his proper slot. And I think once he does that, his ball moves enough that he can be a guy who can be very effective for us. It’s just a matter of time before he figures that out.”

Why not let him get fixed in AAA before he starts to do some real damage to our won-loss record. If you really feel he can be fixed and that you can suddenly transform a pitcher with a lifetime ERA of 4.59 into something that he’s never been, knock yourself out. But do it in the minors, not in the bullpen of a team that has aspirations for winning a title in the toughest division in the National League.

We currently have more worthy options we can use in Brian Stokes (0.00 ERA) and Bobby Parnell (1.29 ERA).

Why tempt fate when we all now how fickle it could be?

Sean Green is not a crossover pitcher. Sean Green allows too many baserunners to be used late in games. Sean Green does not have overpowering stuff and can’t even maintain a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio.

Let’s stop making more out of him than he really is.

The Mets and their habit of fixing pitchers have had disastrous results in the last five years. Why not accept players at face value?

Why maintain such enormous amounts of statistical data on a player and than arbitrarily choose to ignore the overwhelming evidence?

Before this whole fixing Sean Green comes back to bite us on the ass, let’s just nip this thing in the bud and send him off to AAA-Buffalo where you can fix him to your hearts delight, and do it without damaging our chances for a division title.