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.
CHAT ROOM
“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.
Last year we were told that John Maine was going to have minor surgery and be ready for Spring Training. Today we’re told Johan Santana is having minor surgery and will be ready for Spring Training. Hope he’s getting a different doc.
Harry (1): Good point. Everybody heals differently. Going back to an earlier point you made on a previous post, you could be right. Santana was examined at the All-Star break and deemed fine, but the longer it dragged on when he wasn’t throwing perhaps they should have taken a more proactive stance.-JD
Pat Misch will start Friday if Oliver Perez can’t make it. He’s back in New York having his knee examined.-JD
Figueroa pitched both Saturday and Sunday. You have to wonder what he’ll have.-JD
2. The Mets may suck but they are giving us things to debate aren’t they?
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
–with apologies to the late Jim Morrison
My new hope for the post season is that the Rays beat out the Wagner Sox for the wild card, win the AL playoffs again and Pat Burrell comes back to Philly and beats the crap out of them. He’s had a horrid year and the WS would be the perfect time for him to break out.
Harry (5): The Mets do provide, don’t they?-JD
Harry (7): That would be an interesting WS storyline. Wouldn’t mind seeing Manny Ramirez back in Fenway. … Don’t want Yankees and Dodgers, even with the return of Torre to NY.-JD
The Marlins are supposedly in a pennant race, but nobody is at the park. … Francoeur’s thumb didn’t seem to bother him on that swing.-JD
John (10) Howie and Wayne estimates fewer than 5,000 people in attendance. Wonder how many will still go to Citi Field…
Annie (11): They’ve already sold a lot of tickets. They sold many of them before the season. People will still go.-JD
Do you remember when we used to have Ramirez vs. Reyes debates?-JD
I barely remember Reyes…
Annie How could anyone forget Argenis Reyes? LOL.
Harry (15) Of course I remember him, it’s Jose that is slipping away.
What a day in MetsLand isn’t it??
This isn’t the first time Ramirez has been plunked by the Mets.-JD
Not that Warthen had anything to do with Santana’s injury, but with Minaya and Manuel coming back, he might be made the scapegoat.-JD
You just knew Murphy was going to throw that ball away as he scrambled after it.-JD
18. I don’t think Warthen deserves to come back. He has no answers for any pitchers. None of them can put a guy away, there are too many walks etc.
19. Yeah, it was a given. Murphy doesn’t seem to have any good instincts on the field. He is trying to compensate by being overly aggressive and it doesn’t work too often.
Harry (20): The two things that are red flags for Warthen is he hasn’t gotten through to Perez and all the walks.-JD
I also think Pelfrey might have taken a step back this year.-JD
Yeah, no doubt about it. Reyes isn’t close to the player Ramirez is.-JD
22. He definitely went backwards.
23. Ramirez is a great player.
Anderson Hernandez is horrible everywhere. Amazing they touted him as a glove man when he was in the farm.
Harry (25): Personifies what’s wrong with the Mets. Not good enough to stay, but because the farm system is so horrid they had to trade to get him back.-JD
Cramp in Sheffield’s back. If not the hamstring, it is something. The man is breaking down. Let him go.-JD
It is hard to believe that at one time the Mets were good this year.-JD
Its hard to beleive that they go into the Winter with questions about 4 starter positions, basically no bullpen again, no leftfielder, no catcher, no first baseman, a center fielder whose health is unknown etc. I don’t think Omar should be fired. Here’s his chance to show just what a genius he is!!!!!!!!
Annie: Did Howie put this one in the books or was he sleeping?
Harry (29): Don’t forget the issues with the starting pitchers. All five slots have questions.-JD
john
not true we have ollie.
Harry (30) I was resting – haven’t been feeling well today, but I was listening to Howie and he did put this game ‘in the books’ an unfortunate loss.
Same place, same teams tomorrow night.
See you then…
I was out at a meeting, got back in the car and switched on the radio just as FAN was playing the closing theme — followed by endless commercials — so I never heard the score. Not that it matters. But I see Annie has termed it “an unfortunate loss” and judging from the dearth of comments about the game itself, and Harry’s question about whether Howie was sleeping, I guess I didn’t miss much.
just read that even tho the sox will not pick up his option they can offer arb and get picks.
so other than a salary dump what is our upside on letting him go?
stupid trade.
35
Dave
If the Sox offer Wagner arb he does not have to accept.
Wagner could out fox everyone and wait till after the June draft and sign with anyone he pleases. If this happens the Sox get nothing.
Wagner may figure he has only so many innings left in his arm and may even get better money and a better situation.
It’s a shame the Mets can’t find a pitcher like Darren O’Day to come out of the bullpen and get some big outs.
It’s over.
I’m talking about this season for the New York Mets.
Never before in all my years of following baseball have I seen a more inept management of a team. The Mets “organization” simply cannot tell the truth to either their fans or – as it looks now – to some of their own players.
And now, the house of cards falls. Yesterday afternoon, I listened to the news as hour by hour the truth came out about how many players were seriously injured and needed medical treatment and/or surgery.
Bart Giamatti once wrote “there is nothing bad that accrues from baseball” but he was mistaken – and he didn’t live long enough to see what Mets management has wrought.
scott(35)
my understanding is if you offer arb and someone else signs you they have to compensate the team.
the key is offering the arb not that it gets accepted.
at least that is how i understand it.
39- right on. That’s why at first wagner vetoed the trade but the Sox intention is to wave the option and take Wagner to arbitration next year so the sox will get 2 picks. This is why the Mets organization is a joke. This is why the Sox have a good team and farm system. The Mets would have been better off keeping wagner for this season and than taking Wagner to arbitration next year for the picks. Believe me folks, it won’t matter much anyway. The wilpons stink as owners and Jeff is the worst out of the two which is really bad. I don’t see much of a future for the Mets going forward except watching baseball in a new ball park.
(40) It could be finances, too. If they kept Wagner, they would be paying $3.5 million and, if they offered him arbitration and he walked, those two draft picks would probably each cost seven figures to sign. That’s the best-case scenario.
The worst-case scenario would have Wagner accepting arbitration and being awarded a salary greater than the figures mentioned above.
It will be interesting to see who the other player to be named later is. I read somewhere that the player cannot be named yet because he is on the 40-man roster and would be subject to a waiver claim in order to be traded during the month of August; if that’s accurate, I’m wondering whether it’s one of the young(er) catchers made expendable by the recent acquisition of Victor Martinez.
If Wagner waits till after the June ( high school / college ) draft to sign a new contract.
The Red Sox will not get draft picks since the draft will have already passed.
This is part of the CBA.
Tiffany (41): If there’s a position the Mets need help in it is their catching.-JD
(41) If Wagner was awarded arbitration, the Mets could have released him and been responsible for 1/6 of his salary. That’s the way the arbitration rules are. We’ll have to see who they are getting back if it is indeed on the 40 man, but remember we have guys like Pat Misch on OUR 40 man roster, so I wouldn’t hold out much hope. Already the guy they did get is just an older version of Nick Evans.
I thought you guys might appreciate this little item that appeared today in the Red Sox Insider:
Lastly — I’m happy to announce the creation of a new section of this Insider newsletter which will be featured from time-to-time. The section is called “Two Truths and a Lie.” This week, I’m going to focus on the newly-acquired Billy Wagner. I’ll give you three statements about Billy, and you have to guess which two statements are true and which is the lie. I think you’ll enjoy this one, so check it out below.
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE ABOUT
BILLY WAGNER
Which statement is the lie?
A. Wagner has received Good Guy Awards from the media for his accessibility, cooperation, and candor.
B. Wagner’s birth name was William Edmund Wagner.
C. Wagner breeds and sells the wool of 40 alpacas.
Scott(42)
Let us assume you are right about timing.
Why would billy wait that long?
All the closer spots will be closed, he wants records. what is his motivation?