Updated by Joe D. 6/10

Adam Rubin reports:

Seven weeks after fracturing his left foot, it looks like Travis d’Arnaud finally can shed the protective boot. Otherwise, this is a very odd tweet …

I can start buying left shoes again!!

— Travis d'arnaud (@Travisdarnaud) June 10, 2013

“I’m all smiles’” he added…

Updated by Satish on 6/3

The Mets official press release stated that d’Arnaud will remain in the boot for a week.

Travis d’Arnaud was seen today at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York for follow up on his fractured toe. Travis was cleared to begin weight bearing rehabilitation, but will remain in a boot for the next week.

Updated by Joe D. on 6/3

Travis D’Arnaud spoke with the New York Post today and told them that he will find out on Tuesday which workouts he’s permitted to start and was not cleared to remove the boot.

“I’ve got to wear the boot still,” d’Arnaud told The Post, adding that he’s unsure of a timeframe for its removal.

He had hoped to receive clearance to begin working out two weeks ago.

“A couple of weeks ago when I found out it was still broken it was real tough to take,” d’Arnaud said. “But there was nothing I could do except go home and relax and make sure my foot healed, and that’s what I did.”

Original Post 8:50 AM

Mets assistant GM John Ricco spoke to reporters and said that catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud is in New York this morning to be reevaluated by team doctors.

D’Arnaud, who suffered a non-displaced fracture of his first metatarsal in April, is still wearing the protective boot. The goal today is that doctors will find his foot sufficiently healed so that he can stop wearing the boot and head to Port St. Lucie to begin rehabbing.

“He hasn’t been able to run or anything like that, so it would really just be getting back into shape at first.

“He’s been able to do some upper body stuff,” Ricco said. “It’s gonna take time for us to know. We have to see where he is at. First things first. He has to be cleared and then we can get him out on the field to see where he is.”

Last year, D’Arnaud suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament in June, and missed the rest of the season. Since then he’s played just 12 Triple-A games in the past calendar year. He was batting .250 before he broke his foot.

GM Sandy Alderson preached caution concerning Travis d’Arnaud on May 22 when he visited Gary Cohen in the SNY broadcast booth. Sandy was concerned that D’Arnaud has played in so few games in the past year due to injuries and said the first priority once D’Arnaud is healthy is getting his body used to playing baseball games again.

The New York Mets transferred RHP Jeurys Familia from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list.

It’s just a procedural move to open a spot for RHP David Aardsma on the 40-man roster.

Familia underwent surgery Wednesday to remove bone spurs from his right elbow and is likely out for the season.

Original Post

Terry Collins told reporters before tonight’s game that Jeurys Familia will likely miss the remainder of this season.

“I don’t think we’ll have him this year,” Collins said.

Familia underwent surgery to remove loose bodies and bone spurs in his elbow. Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek performed the operation.

Familia was initially diagnosed with biceps tendinitis until being reexamined by team doctors yesterday who discovered the problem in his elbow.

“He’s a good worker and I know he’ll bounce back,” Collins added. “I’m just happy there’s no other damage.”

The starter turned reliever complained that he was unable to extend his arm fully in his delivery and has been on the disabled list since May 12.

Familia, 23, posted a 3.48 ERA in 10 1/3 innings pitched for the Mets this season.

Sad to see his season cut short like this. Look for him to be added to the 60 day disabled list at some point when the Mets need o open up a spot for a promotion.

Tonight’s game between the Mets and Marlins has been postponed due to rain.

The game will be made up as part of a single-admission doubleheader on September 14 at 4:10 PM..

Original Post 8:00 AM

Despite Thursday night’s rainout against the Washington Nationals, righthander Matt Harvey will still remain the scheduled starter on Friday when the Mets begin their homestand against the Miami Marlins.

Shaun Marcum, who was initially Thursday’s scheduled starter, will instead pitch on Saturday, bumping lefthander Jon Niese to Sunday. This will give Niese an extra day of rest while keeping Harvey on his regular routine.

On Wednesday, Niese tossed 39 pitches in a successful bullpen session at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. He had no problems, threw the ball free and easy, and was able to get his arm angle to where he wanted to.

“It was nice to throw a bullpen without feeling any soreness or pain,” Niese said.

Updated by Joe D. at 3:50 PM

It’s official. The Mets just announced that they have recalled RHP Jeurys Familia from Las Vegas (AAA) and optioned RHP Greg Burke to Las Vegas.

Hat tip to Mr. North Jersey….

Original Post 2:40 PM

The Mets’ bullpen allowed 14 hits, 10 runs, eight earned over 9.0 innings during yesterday’s doubleheader and appear to be showing some leaks. Entering the Colorado series, the bullpen had posted a 2.08 ERA in their previous six games.

Overall, the Mets relievers are 2-1 with a 4.21 ERA (20 earned runs/43.2 innings) and they rank seventh in the NL in ERA.

The backend of the Mets rotation is certainly not helping matters and only adding to their woes.

With that in mind, the Mets have opted to call-up righthanded reliever Jeurys Familia, who is on his way to Denver to join the Mets, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.

This looks like a Taxi Squad move and it’s not immediately clear whether Familia would be activated upon his arrival or if he would be activated at all, writes Rubin.

Familia has allowed five hits in five innings with one save in four relief appearances with Triple-A Las Vegas and has yet to allow a run. In his last appearance, Familia pitched a hitless ninth two strikeouts.

The young fireballer ranked No. 7 in our 2013 Met Top Prospects Rankings where we wrote:

There is so much to like about Jeurys Familia. I am going to go out on a limb and say that Familia could be a successful reliever in the MLB right this second because of his electric stuff.

I saw a lot of this kid down the home stretch at Citi Field in 2012 and his fastball is everything scouts say and more. Electric and explosive.

Josh Edgin (7.50 ERA), Greg Burke (7.35 ERA) and LaTroy Hawkins (6,75 ERA ) have all struggled, and if I had to guess I’d say the 31-year old Burke will be the first to go if the team does activate Familia from the Taxi Squad..

Updated by HoJo at 10:45 PM

Pedro Feliciano tossed a scoreless seventh inning for Advanced-A St. Lucie tonight in his first game action in nearly a month and the results were encouraging.

The Mets’ southpaw allowed one hit, one walk, and had one strikeout. But his velocity was in the 84-86 mph range, according to Adam Rubin, which was up from 82-83 in spring training last month.

Original Post 7:00 PM

Other Mets News

• Tonight’s game between the Mets and Rockies has been postponed due to snow. The two teams will play a split doubleheader tomorrow, the team announced. The first game will begin at 3:10 PM, and the second game will  start around 8:40 PM. It was the Mets second straight postponement for the Mets after wintry conditions in Minneapolis on Sunday forced the game against the Twins to be called off. It was rescheduled for August 19. Weather forecasts call for additional snow on Tuesday.
• Pedro Feliciano has officially joined Class A St. Lucie, the team announced today. The lefty reliever spent the past two weeks building up shoulder strength. According to Adam Rubin, the Mets asked Feliciano to give them a month in the minors from Opening Day before leaving the organization.
• Frank Francisco is set to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday with Class A St. Lucie, a club source told ESPN New York. Francisco underwent surgery in December to remove a bone spur from his pitching elbow. He experienced inflammation upon arriving at spring training. An official rehab assignment starts a maximum 30-day clock after which the pitcher is due to be activated. The right-handed Francisco has disappointed since signing his tw year, $12 million deal before the 2012 season.  He went 1-3 with a 5.53 ERA in 48 relief appearances last season.
• Shaun Marcum will not be ready to be activated from the DL until the middle of next week at the earliest. He has been on the 15-day disabled list with biceps tendinitis, retroactive to March 22. Marcum is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Tuesday and then throw a three or four inning simulated game in Port St. Lucie on Thursday. Marcum, who signed a guaranteed $4 million dollar deal in January, has been injured with one ailment or another since he reported to spring training.
• A Monday morning fire damaged parts of the administration building at Citi Field, the club announced, though sprinkler systems contained the blaze before it was extinguished by FDNY. The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to the team, though it did not damage areas accessible to fans and nobody was injured or harmed.

According to ProSportsDaily.com Manuel was asked if the emergence of Fernando Nieve in the pen could free up Mejia to become a starter, Manuel declined, instead noting that he’d like to work him more into a late-inning role.

“Not for me at this point,” Manual said. “I just think there’s tremendous value for a young player to come to the big leagues and maybe the role might not seem as prominent, but the experience being gained here is invaluable for him, even if he has to go back at some point. Even if he stays all year and pitches as a starter in winter ball, I see this as a very valuable lesson for him in going forward.”

While there has been a roar among Mets fans wishing that Mejia would be in the minors readying for a starting job, Manuel feels Mejia is not suited for starting job in the rotation, at least for now.

“I don’t think he has had enough of his repertoire to show,” he said. “He’s been mostly a one-pitch or two-pitch guy, but as a starter, the repertoire of the curveball, the change-up, the sinker, all those type of things are needed.”

It isn’t hard for any Met fan to make a decision about weather to have Mejia become a starting pitcher. As much of a key member of the pitching staff Mejia is, I would love to see him stay in the bullpen and continue working on his pitches, stamina, and his emotions in tough situations. I would hate to see him become a starter way too soon and completely loose his cool.

Pineiro reportedly received a much similar offer from the Washington Nationals earlier this off-season, but he may be leaning toward signing with a contender like the Mets.

Last year the 31 year old right hander was 15-12 with an ERA of 3.49 in 32 starts. Pineiro also has a ground ball rate of 60.2% which led the major leagues.

I really hope Omar is looking closely at Pineiro, especially his ground ball rate which will only help him at Citi Field. The Mets could really use another arm in the starting rotation and there are few healthy options left out there.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are also engaged with Pineiro, but it is not known what the length of contract is being discussed.

We shall see where this latest development will takes us.

Happy Birthday to New York Mets third basemen David Wright!

As Wright turns 27 today, we still have so much to look forward to from our homegrown all-star third baseman.

Last year David Wright had the worst season power-wise of his career. Wright hit just 10 homeruns, but with 39 doubles and 72 RBI. Also on the downside, he saw his strikeout rate jump 8% over his 2008 level. There were, however, still some positives from Wright. He posted a very solid .307 batting average along with a .390 OBP. The question is, where did his power go?

As we all know, 2009 was a terrible season for the Mets in terms of injuries. Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, and a slew of others missed significant time which crippled the heart of the Mets order.

The only player to not miss any significant time last season was David Wright, that is until he was hit in the head by a pitch toward the end of the season, but still he returned faster than anyone could have imagined.

As usual, Wright was positioned into the 3 hole and he was expected to hit his typical 25-30 homers while driving in 110 plus runs. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way, and worse yet he saw his contact, both inside and outside of the strike zone, fall significantly. His performance was down against almost all pitch types, most notably fastballs and sliders which he usually smashed. His offensive woes even translated negatively on the defensive side of the ball.

The argument for Wrights hitting woes was that Citi Field had diminished his power stroke, but his power was down both at home and on the road.

I’m not sure what this all means for Wright in 2010, but personally I still have the same lofty expectations for him as I’ve always had. Wright can still work some miracles for the Mets.

So Happy Birthday David Wright, and have yourself a great day!

You deserve it!

Long before Bradley was dealt to Seattle, the Mets were without a doubt Bay’s primary suitors. The team is reluctant to drastically improve its offer of four years for about $65 million until the Mets believe another team is in the running.

“We’re still close to that,” a team insider said Friday night. “Everything’s pretty much the same.”

Even though this Jason Bay saga continues to unfold, we can now breathe easier. There was no doubt in mind that the Mets would sign Bay it just continues to be a matter of when, how many years, and how much money he will need.

I have a good feeling that Bay will be ready to sign before Christmas. We will hear much more about this here on Mets Merized Online throughout the weekend, so stay optimistic!