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the pen

smg58 Apr 08 2008 06:06 PM

Any word on Feliciano? If he is healthy, there were two situations in the game where he would have been the prudent choice. If he is not healthy, then I don't care what Ollie's control was like in the sixth, he HAD to throw more than 94 pitches and get the team into the seventh inning. We have one reliever (Feliciano) ailing, one (Wise) just put on the DL, and three qualified starters. The biggest reason, I think, for the collapse last year was that too much was asked from the bullpen. Heilman and Sosa have pitched 5 and 4.2 innings, respectively, in six games. While that's hardly an excuse at this point for their current struggles, that's a trend which simply cannot continue. But what are the options? Waiting for Sanchez is like waiting for Godot, Schoeneweis is only useful within very strict limits, and Wise has a track record of being useless after the All-Star break even when he starts the year healthy.

AG/DC Apr 08 2008 06:13 PM

One option was allowing your starter to go seven Another was using Feliciano.

Gwreck Apr 08 2008 06:20 PM

Feliciano wasn't available. From Adam Rubin's blog: Pedro Feliciano was unavailable because he arrived at the ballpark in the seventh inning. Feliciano had permission from the Mets to go home to Puerto Rico for a family issue after Sunday’s game in Philadelphia. His 6 a.m. flight from San Juan to JFK was cancelled, and he had to be re-routed through Orlando. Mets security picked him up at the airport, but couldn’t get him to the ballpark in time to contribute.

Frayed Knot Apr 08 2008 06:51 PM

Well assuming that his family's OK (they did have a sick kid but I think that problem is behind them) this is the best of several scenarios as it: a - rules out injury or other availablility issues and b - rules out unexplainable decision making And while now is definitely a bad time to go defending the bullpen, with the usual caveat about avoiding injuries thrown in, I think we're reasonably well-stocked here to the point of being better than most. As far as today's game, I would have liked to see Ollie get at least that final out in the 6th ... although he certainly has a history of losing it in a hurry at times so keeping him could have just as easily blown up on us too. Two bad outings for Heilman in a row but it's tough to complain about his past year & change overall (even though some certainly will). I'm not worried about him bouncing back.

Frayed Knot Apr 08 2008 07:22 PM

Adam Rubin on WFAN: - talked about Feliciano (nothing new beyond what's in his blog above) - Sanchez: Due to pitch tonight in St Lucie and then probably bumped to N.O. for some back to back action later this week and (if all goes well) to the Mets by next week - El Duque: Back in NYC for an MRI on sumthinerother. Doesn't sound like he'll be back anytime soon.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 08 2008 07:30 PM

Frayed Knot wrote: El Duque: Back in NYC for an MRI on sumthinerother. Doesn't sound like he'll be back anytime soon. Ugh. Let's hope that either Figgy or Pelfrey steps up.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 08 2008 07:38 PM

Bullpen woes do a good job concealing the fact that the offense scored 3 runs in the last 18 innings.

Number 6 Apr 08 2008 09:31 PM

Frayed Knot wrote: Well assuming that his family's OK (they did have a sick kid but I think that problem is behind them) this is the best of several scenarios as it: a - rules out injury or other availablility issues and b - rules out unexplainable decision making Totally agree. On the IGT I was looking at it as a choice between an injury and poor bullpen management; glad to see it's none of the above. I do hope that, in the future, Schoeneweis will be kept far away from righties. Frayed Knot wrote: And while now is definitely a bad time to go defending the bullpen, with the usual caveat about avoiding injuries thrown in, I think we're reasonably well-stocked here to the point of being better than most. Not so sure I agree here. Mets were 18th in the league in WXRL last season, and I don't see the offseason bullpen moves putting much of a dent in that, especially now with the injury to Wise. The Mets need someone to step up even if Heilman, Feliciano and Wagner remain solid, and the candidates to do so could best be described as "unlikely." A possible significant exception could be Smith/Schoeneweis pulling a Bradford/Feliciano, if used correctly.

AG/DC Apr 08 2008 09:44 PM

Well, they didn't have to make a whole lot of moves to improve from 18th to better than most. Just by trading the worst offender for a player to be non-tendered later, committing to specialize the Show more, a year of healing and chastity for Sanchez and Padilla, and a few modest moves can help make them a worthy group.

AG/DC Apr 08 2008 09:49 PM

By the way, what a bunch of all-knowing punks we turned out to be, wondering why Willie wasn't using Feliciano when none of us noticed his absence during the introductions.

Number 6 Apr 09 2008 12:25 AM

AG/DC wrote: Well, they didn't have to make a whole lot of moves to improve from 18th to better than most. Just by trading the worst offender for a player to be non-tendered later, committing to specialize the Show more, a year of healing and chastity for Sanchez and Padilla, and a few modest moves can help make them a worthy group. Personally, that's not something I'd bet on. It's more likely IMO that half of those "ifs" go the wrong way. Subtraction helps, but Mota needs to be effectively replaced, and the jury is out on Wise based on both injury and last year's performance. I think we have enough evidence at this point to figure that Jorge Sosa is useful, but we're in trouble if we're relying on him to be a high-leverage reliever. Being generous, we're just as likely to get nothing or Mota-value out of Sanchez than something approaching 2006 value. And Willie's usage of Mota last year doesn't make me confident in his ability to deploy his pen according to the strengths of the individual parts. Of course, Heilman and Feliciano need to continue to be solid back-end relievers, because the depth is likely to be questionable (though I see no reason to doubt them at this point). The keys are the "few modest moves" and using the current elements in the pen properly. Can Omar bring in effective resources if we don't get all the breaks? Can the existing elements be used properly? Neither happened last year (though, to be fair, they did to some extent in '06). I'm hoping that lessons have been learned, but I can't say I'm confident about it. Maybe I'm being cynical, but if we're still using Jorge Sosa in high-leverage situations and sending Show up against righties in August, I wouldn't be shocked. Anyway, I know that we're discussing this under "better than most" parameters, and I'm taking this a little further now, but I'm not sure that the Mets as a team are good enough to survive having a bullpen that's just "better than most."

AG/DC Apr 09 2008 05:59 AM

Well, call me naive, but I think Willie learned a little something about roles last year, and it will impact his Show usage. Your August would be a little more surprising to me than to you. I hear you on the last paragraph, however.

smg58 Apr 09 2008 07:25 AM

I think we need to get to "better than most" first, before deciding if that's good enough. It's definitely a relief (no pun intended) to know that Feliciano was neither hurt nor available. But I think Willie yanked Perez too soon knowing that he had a short-handed bullpen, and that Pelfrey's no lock to go six tonight either. Maybe it wouldn't have affected the outcome yesterday, but a priority needs to be made of keeping the pen from wearing down for as long as possible.

AG/DC Apr 09 2008 07:35 AM

I'll go with that. Willie was managing to not lose, rather than to win.

Benjamin Grimm Apr 09 2008 07:42 AM

Billy Wagner would scoff at my observation here, but it looks like, when the Mets play the Phillies, the entire team is trying not to lose. And last September, that feeling carried over into the games against the Marlins and the Nationals. They have to shake that approach in a hurry if they want 2008 to amount to anything.