The John Delcos New York Mets Report Featuring Mets' commentary, analysis and news.

The Mets announced today both Johan Santana and Oliver Perez will undergo surgery tomorrow at the Hospital of Special Surgery in Manhattan. The team said both are expected to be ready for spring training.

Santana will have bone chips removed from his left elbow and Perez will have scar tissue removed from his right knee.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

With the competitive aspect of the season long since over, the Mets are planning for 2010 with every move they make. The decisions on surgery and the disabled list were made to protect players and give them proper rehab time.

Sticking with Daniel Murphy at first base and Bobby Parnell in the rotation were made with an eye on holes that need to be filled over the winter.

Economically, the Mets should also be thinking about next season.

With Mets tickets on the Internet at times selling for less than face value, and the economy still in shreds, the franchise could be faced with a large number of season ticket cancellations for next year in light of how the team has performed.

Business-as-usual for the Mets would be to send out renewal notices after the playoffs. But, these are not normal times and they should be considering a more aggressive approach to get their ticket holders to return.

With 15 home games remaining and nothing to play for, the Mets should consider giving season-ticket holders the opportunity to credit September’s unused tickets toward next year’s packages. If there’s no reason to go to the park, many ticket holders will be likely to dump their tickets for whatever they can get to cut their losses.

For those ticket holders who already decided about not renewing for 2010, there’s nothing the Mets can do. However, this gesture might push those sitting on the fence to renew.

Here’s a chance for the organization to thank its ticket holders for supporting the team during this lost season, and at the same time make a dent in its off-season sales.

It’s not as if the team would lose money because the Mets could always re-sell the returned tickets, or donate them to charity for a tax write-off.

And, the team should also be considering selling one-month packages, perhaps at a discounted rate.

I can’t imagine the Mets doing this because the first impression would be they would be making less money, but with how things have gone, and taking the economy into consideration, it could turn out to be a win-win for everybody.

The Mets might be in fourth place in the NL East, but this is no time for fourth-place thinking.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

I’ll start off today asking for a little peace and courtesy toward each other on the blog. Tomg is probably right in I have let things slide too much. I’ve always said I want the blog to be like a bunch of friends together is a sports bar. You can disagree, but please stop the name calling.

It’s rough enough having to watch the Mets play out the string isn’t it?

The Mets try to avoid a sweep today in the wake of Bobby Parnell’s third consecutive horrible start (22 runs in 12 2/3 innings) yesterday afternoon. Parnell gave up eight runs on nine hits and two walks in just 4 2/3 innings to put in jeopardy his experiment as a starter.

Manager Jerry Manuel said Parnell will take his next turn, but isn’t sure beyond that.

“This is the third time he’s had these types of issues, so we’ve got to find a better way to get that straightened out and pitch ahead in the count,” Manuel said. “You’d just like to see better command from a starting pitcher.”

Parnell gave up an 0-and-2 grand slam to Jake Fox on a hanging slider in the fifth. He hasn’t been the only Mets pitcher to give it up while ahead in the count. The staff has given up seven 0-and-2 homers this season, including two slams.

Said Parnell: “I know it’s going to be a process, and there’s going to be some tough lessons learned. I haven’t been keeping my team in the game, so I’m going to have to go back to the drawing board.”

It’s tough to make the conversion from reliever to starter during the season. Parnell has stamina questions because his body hasn’t adjusted to the work load. The team isn’t going anywhere this year, so letting Parnell start for the rest of the season can only benefit him and the Mets in finding out the answers.

Figueroa is 0-4 with a 4.40 ERA in nine career appearances, four starts against the Cubs.

Here’s today’s starting line-up against Carlos Zambrano:

Angel Pagan, CF
Luis Castillo, 2B
Daniel Murphy,1B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Jeremy Reed, LF
Fernando Tatis, 3B
Brian Schneider, C
Anderson Hernandez, SS
Nelson Figueroa, RP (1-3, 5.40)

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

With the competitive aspect of the season long since over, the pitching-hungry Mets continue their audition of Bobby Parnell for a starter’s role next year as he makes his fifth start today against the Chicago Cubs.

Manager Jerry Manuel said he’s looking for presence and if Parnell has the tools and make-up to be a starter. He has the fastball, clocked in the mid-to-upper 90s, but has trouble with his secondary pitches. As a reliever going one inning or facing one hitter, Parnell can get by with his fastball. However, he can’t make it three times through the batting order with one pitch.

Parnell (3-6, 5.08) has had a rough go of it, going 1-3 with an 8.82 ERA as a starter. That included giving up five runs in five innings in his last start.

With four of the five starters on the Opening Day roster gone – Johan Santana, John Maine and Oliver Perez are on the DL and Livan Hernandez was released – Parnell could get another four to five starts this season. Santana and Perez will have surgery and are expected to be ready for spring training. Maine had surgery last off-season and hasn’t pitched in over two months.

NOTES: David Wright rejoined the team for workouts today. He’s expected to be activated from the disabled list (post concussion syndrome) when the Mets are in Colorado. Manuel said Wright will play after being activated, then plans to rest him the following day. … Angel Pagan has three homers in his last eight games and is continuing to make a statement for a job next season. … Adam Wogan has taken over Tony Bernazard’s old position as vice president of player development. GM Omar Minaya said he will evaluate the position after the season. … Carlos Beltran is expected to have a third MRI by the end of the month and could need microfracture surgery on his right knee. I’m not expecting him back.

The Mets’ (58-71) line-up against Ryan Dempster (7-7, 4.07):

Angel Pagan, CF
Luis Castillo, 2B
Daniel Murphy, 1B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Cory Sullivan, LF
Fernando Tatis, 3B
Brian Schneider, C
Anderson Hernandez, SS
Bobby Parnell, RP

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Yesterday on the blog we talked about a Reuters story which quoted Erin Arvedlund, author of “Too Good to Be True,” of saying the Wilpon family lost $700 million in the Madoff scam and would be forced to sell the team by early of 2010.

Fred Wilpon told the New York Times, “I’m fine, my family’s fine, my business family’s fine.”

Wilpon also said the family has an emotional attachment to the Mets and would not sell the team. Wilpon said the team’s revenue from its share of the MLB television deal, luxury suits, ticket sales, concessions, ad revenue at Citi Field and its share of SNY were not affected by the scam. He said the Madoff losses were significantly less than $700 million, but did not specify.

Wilpon paid $135 million to buy out Nelson Doubleday’s share of the team in 2002, and the Mets, according to Forbes Magazine, are currently worth $912 million.

Major League Baseball monitors the finances of each team quarterly, and president Bob DuPuy said the team is under no financial distress.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Jose Reyes has been on the disabled list for months and the Mets are only announcing today he might need surgery on his knee. Well, that’s a shock. It’s hard to believe when this first happened in mid-May when the Mets were in San Francisco the prognosis was he’d miss only a few days.

In retrospect, Reyes could have had surgery weeks ago. Is it a stretch to say he “should” have had surgery? Perhaps. Hamstrings are always tricky injuries and the Mets gambled, and obviously lost, he’d be able to return this year. However, it became increasingly clear he would not come back, and manager Jerry Manuel even conceded that point.

The Mets released the following statement this afternoon: “Jose Reyes continues to receive physical therapy for a torn hamstring tendon behind the right knee. Should he not respond to the physical therapy, surgery is an option.”

Let’s face it, surgery is inevitable. The sooner, the better, so he’ll be ready by spring training. And, we know being ready for spring training isn’t the same as being ready for the season.

Meanwhile, David Wright is scheduled to come off the disabled list from post concussion syndrome Monday when the Mets are in Colorado. Manuel said the Wright might not be physically ready to immediately play and is no hurry to push the envelope on his return. Wright is getting antsy, but must look at the big picture, that his health is the primary concern of the team, and with the competitive aspect of this season long over, there’s no reason to push him.

From the confidence level of returning from a beaning, it probably is important for him to get to the plate again this season and not wonder over the winter, but there is time.

Wright said he was embarrassed to go on the disabled list, but he needs not be. He’s a gamer in every sense of the word, and after watching what happened last season with Ryan Church he should be patient. It must be remembered Wright has not had any rehab games and should be eased back, after all, the Mets don’t want to take the chance he might hurt something else.

The Mets will be without Gary Sheffield (back spasms) again today. That’s three straight games.

The Mets (58–70) begin a three-game series at Chicago (63-62) this afternoon with Pat Misch going against Ted Lilly.

Here’s the line-up:

Angel Pagan, CF
Luis Castillo, 2B
Daniel Murphy, 1B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Fernando Tatis, 3B
Omir Santos, C
Cory Sullivan, LF
Wilson Valdez, SS
Pat Misch, LP

Misch (0-1, 4.09 ERA) will make his first start of the year after throwing four scoreless innings last Sunday against Philadelphia.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

It was the Mets’ first season when Casey Stengel asked: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

It has proven a timeless quote, as the same question must be asked this season. Sure, there have been injuries that crippled this year, but even so, the Mets should be better. As much as they miss David Wright, John Maine, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, and now Johan Santana, they are also missing something else. They are missing the intangibles possessed by all winning teams.

The Mets have given up on the season and you can see it in their faces. You can also see it in their efforts and attention to details and fundamentals. Part of this responsibility must be assumed by Jerry Manuel, who has not always cracked the whip. He treats his players like men, assuming they will focus, not like the minor leaguers they often resemble.

The Mets don’t consistently do what winners do. They don’t take the extra base. They don’t advance runners. Manuel said it himself, they habitually leave runners on third with less than two outs. They give away far too many at-bats.

Defensively, and we saw this last night, they don’t consistently execute the double play and often give the opposition extra outs. Some of this is due to players, such as Daniel Murphy, learning new positions. But, Luis Castillo has played second for a long time.

And, the pitching. Injured as it is, walks far too many batters and doesn’t finish them off when they are ahead in the count. Staggering are the number of two-strike and two-out hits, and pitches left over the plate.

And, it isn’t all Oliver Perez, either. Mike Pelfrey, a supposed rotation stalwart of the future, has taken a step back.

This is not a healthy team, but it is also not a fundamentally sound team, either. You are what you are, and the Mets aren’t a good team. They have been a study in creative losing.

They are in Florida today, the site where Murphy dropped the fly ball that beat Santana. … There was blowing the five-run lead to the Pirates. … The Ryan Church game in LA. … The Castillo pop-up. … The triple-play game. … The wild-pitch loss in Philly.

As Stengel once said, and we can repeat it this year: “Been in this game one-hundred years, but I see new ways to lose ‘em I never knew existed before.”

They have lost five straight and are on the verge of being swept today by the Marlins. Standing in their way is, gasp, Tim Redding, and this line-up:

Angel Pagan, CF
Wilson Valdez, SS
Daniel Murphy, 1B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Cory Sullivan, LF
Fernando Tatis, 3B
Omir Santos, C
Anderson Hernandez, 2B
Tim Redding, RP

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Another day, another season-ending injury. Mets fans were put out of their misery today of having to watch Oliver Perez pitch again this year with the news the combustible and wild left-hander has patella tendon tendinosis in his right knee and will have surgery.

This can’t be a shock to anybody, is it? Or, even a disappointment. I don’t like to see anybody hurt, including Perez, but I won’t miss having to watch him until next year.

Perez, 28, who was signed to a three-year, $36-million contract last winter, was 3-4 with a 6.82 ERA in 14 starts. His balky knee forced him to spent more than two months on the disabled list earlier this season.

Yesterday, it was Johan Santana who was announced would have surgery. The Mets say both Santana and Perez will be ready for spring training, but what they don’t know, is what condition they will be or if they’ll be ready for the start of the season as no surgery is guaranteed.

The Mets had enough pitching questions as it was, now they must have to think about how much they’ll have to add in the off-season via free agency to protect against the chance of either of those two not being ready.

Only Mike Pelfrey remains in the rotation that opened the season. The rest includes Pat Misch, Tim Redding, Bobby Parnell and Nelson Figueroa.

Lance Broadway has been called up from Triple-A Buffalo to replace Perez. He’s got a great New York name, but also a combined 5-9 record with a 6.17 ERA with Buffalo and Charlotte.

Is he the answer? I think not.

The erratic Pelfrey (9-8, 4.67) will start for the Mets tonight at Florida in a match-up that does not favor New York. Pelfrey has been strong in his last two starts, including a win over Philadelphia. However, Josh Johnson (12-3, 2.99 ERA) will start for the Marlins. He has dominated the Mets in three starts this season, going 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA. He is 6-0 lifetime against the Mets.

Johnson will face this line-up:

Angel Pagan, CF
Luis Castillo, 2B
Daniel Murphy, 1B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Cory Sullivan, LF
Fernando Tatis, 3B
Brian Schneider, C
Anderson Hernandez, SS
Mike Pelfrey, RP

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

The year was 1998, the season of the great home run race and when the Yankees steamrolled through Major League Baseball. It was also the year Cal Ripken’s streak came to an end.

That was also my first year on the Yankees beat and I’ll always remember a flight I took from Boston to Washington. I was sitting in the exit row by a window reading a magazine when this man plopped down in the aisle seat. I recognized him immediately, and a few minutes later he extended his hand and said, “I’m Ted Kennedy.”

I said, “I know,” and introduced myself. A few minutes later, I told him, “in all fairness, I should tell you I’m a newspaper reporter.” I didn’t think it would be right for him to be ambushed the next day in the papers by something he might have said or done.

He appreciated the gesture and we began to chat. When I told him I covered baseball, he responded with stories of how his father, Joseph, took him and his brothers to games in Fenway Park. He then spoke of the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run race and Ripken.

I told him I once wrote a term paper my freshman year in college about him. I was a big liberal at the time.

Not once did we talk of politics or social issues. I figured he gets that all the time. I did want to tell him how touched I was about the eulogy he gave for his brother, Robert, but wasn’t sure if it would strike a sad nerve. I always wonder what he might have said had I brought it up.

It was a pleasant conversation. After awhile, he started reading some files and I returned to my magazine. We started talking again before the end of the flight, and when we landed we shook hands and went our separate ways.

I was surprised nobody bothered him during the flight and nobody approached him at the gate when we left the plane. A few days later, I sent him a note telling him how I enjoyed our conversation.

I told my editor of the meeting, and his response was a curt, “What in the hell were you doing in first class?”

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

Big news day for the Mets, with the trade of Billy Wagner to Boston and announcement Johan Santana will require elbow surgery to remove bone chips and will be done for the season. Nelson Figueroa takes Santana’s spot on the mound tonight at Florida.

The Mets will have in the line-up Jeff Francoeur, who tore a ligament in his left thumb diving for a ball Sunday afternoon.

“The right thing now is to let the swelling go down. It’s kind of big,” Francoeur said. “I’m going to try to play through it to the end of the season. If I can rest it for two or three days and then play, I’m going to do it. You might say, ‘Why bother? We only have 38 games left.’ But I came here to play and I want to play.”

Since joining the Mets for right Ryan Church, July 11, Francoeur is batting .305 with six homers and 24 RBI in 39 games.

Figueroa has given up nine runs on 15 hits over 7 2/3 innings in two starts this season.

This is the line-up that will face Marlins rookie Sean West (4-5, 4.70):

Angel Pagan, CF
Luis Castillo, 2B
Gary Sheffield, LF
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Fernando Tatis, 3B
Daniel Murphy, 1B
Omir Santos, C
Anderson Hernandez, SS
Nelson Figueroa, RP

NOTEBOOK: Oliver Perez returned to New York to have his right knee examined. … Nick Evans and Pat Misch were recalled to replace Santana and Wagner on the roster. … Reliever J.J. Putz, who was supposed to start a rehab assignment in Brooklyn, was scratched, and here’s a surprise, could be lost for the remainder of the season.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09