According to David Lennon of Newsday, Terry Collins starter Mike Pelfrey into his office on the morning of March 19th and delivered a not-so-subtle message that his his place on this team was in danger.

“This front office isn’t like the one you’ve had in years past. This kind of stuff isn’t good. They want answers.”

This happened the day after Pelfrey allowed eight runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Astros. Pelfrey told Lennon,

“It was my understanding that I didn’t have to compete for a job, that this was the time to work on stuff, my cutter, my circle changeup. Then when Terry talked to me, I was like, I better get some people out.”

It was right around that time that the 28-year-old Pelfrey had become a topic among the club’s decision-makers, who were kicking around the idea of releasing him before Opening Day to free up roughly $4 million, the non-guaranteed portion of his one-year, $5.7-million contract, writes Lennon.

“Their job is to put the best team on the field that they can, and I know that I haven’t performed maybe as well as I should have or could have,” Pelfrey said. “Obviously, they were worried. I think Sandy’s really smart, the people in the front office are really smart, and it’s their job to explore every option, to look at everything.”

Original Post 3/30

Andy Martino of the Daily News, reported that the Mets have recently discussed releasing Mike Pelfrey before Opening Day.

In a recent meeting that included the Mets’ executives and coaches, members of the front office suggested releasing Mike Pelfrey before Opening Day, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. None of the uniformed staff was in favor of the idea, and it was downplayed.

Pelfrey strengthened his case for the team to keep him after a good performance yesterday, but as one of our readers pointed out, FL Met Fan Rich, who was at the game:

Lets not all get crazy on “BIG PELF”! I was at that game. I bet I could have come out of the crowd, taken 8 warm up pitches and shut down that broken down Astro team also. Does it even count as a win if you beat the Astros?

Pelfrey now has an ERA of 8.59 this Spring and was satisfied with his performance:

“The command was by far the best it has been all spring training. I did a good job of keeping the ball down.”

Martino’s article does a good job of characterizing how the Mets players and coaches like Mike Pelfrey and want him to stay, but it’s the decision makers upstairs that feel uneasy about keeping Pelfrey especially at his price tag of $5.7 million dollars.

Sounds like quite the predicament.