With Carlos Beltran likely heading for the disabled list, the Mets are starting to wear thinner and thinner. Just take a look at the 4, 5 and 6 in the Mets order…
Yikes.
Update – 4:14 p.m.: Carlos Beltran must be heading to the disabled list, according to Adam Rubin.
That’s because Fernando Martinez is heading back to the Mets, he reports.
Also coming up is Pat Misch to replace Takahashi.
Original Post: According to various tweets, the Mets have optioned Ken Takahashi back to Triple-A Buffalo.
Does this mean that Lance Broadway is coming? Maybe.
Here’s the collection of designs I’ve made. Click the image to be taken to the CafePress store to purchase assorted items emblazoned with the design.
I don’t agree with all of them (guess which?), but some fans might, so enjoy…
Check out the interview of Francisco Rodriguez from FOX5 New York where he talks about a fan that fainted when they met.
On the bottom of the bullpen depth chart, Lance Broadway’s name is listed. No longer on the list is Jon Switzer.
Broadway, as you may remember, was the player the Mets landed when they traded away Ramon Castro.
Broadway is 1-3 in six starts with the Bisons. He has a 5.97 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP in 31 2-3 innings.
It seems the people over at Hot Foot spotted this too.
Haven’t heard anything about this possible move yet, so who knows what is up here. I wouldn’t be against the move if it did come to fruition.
Via Bisons.com:
New York also announced that INF/OF Wily Mo Pena and INF Javier Valentin have been released.
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Pena hit .276 (40-145) with five home runs and 21 RBI in 41 games with the Bisons.Valentin, who had been on the disabled list since June 15 with a strained right shoulder, hit .260 (20-77) with three home runs and 10RBI in 23 games with the Herd.
Valentin I can understand due to his shoulder issues.
Why release Pena? Not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but Pena was second on the team with five home runs. His 21 RBI was good for third. His OBP was pretty poor, standing at .296 , but not low enough to warrant a release.
Again, not that huge in the grand scheme of the Mets, but something that might come back to bite them, especially with all these injuries.
Much has been made of the workload of the bullpen lately. Even Jerry Manuel has admitted to overuse.
“I've probably, to a fault, used them too much,” Manuel told David Lennon. “What I have to do is probably trust the other people I have down there. If I'm not trusting them, then I should find someone else.”
Selecting the six main members of the bullpen, I took a look at games pitched in, innings pitched and pitches thrown. No surprise Pedro Feliciano leads the way in games pitched in, but look who has thrown the most innings and pitches.
K-Rod is sitting at 4.19 pitches/plate appearance through 139 plate appearances. His highest in his career is 4.20 P/PA, when he faced 285 batters and threw 1,198 pitches in 2007. He’s faced as many as 335 batters and thrown 1,352 pitches, both coming in 2004. At least he’s somewhat used to it.
We’ve also seen Bobby Parnell’s season hit the skids lately. He’s allowed six earned runs in his last four innings pitched, sporting a 13.50 ERA over those six games.
The answer to all of this bullpen usage is simple. The Mets need to get longer outings out of their starters. For that to actually happen, isn’t so simple.
We, as fans, don’t want to see repeats of 2007 and 2008 with the bullpen falling apart late in the game and late in the season. Hopefully something changes before 2009 gets added to the list.
-Jerry Manuel on the Rays bullpen
“I've probably, to a fault, used them too much. What I have to do is probably trust the other people I have down there. If I'm not trusting them, then I should find someone else.”
-Jerry Manuel on his own bullpen
“I'll be honest with you: I can't figure it out. I really don't have [an explanation].”
-Jerry Manuel on David Wright’s offensive season
My father is the reason I’m a Mets fan.
He grew up in Newark, New Jersey and has always told me he started off as a Yankees fan. I block that out of my mind at times, but I am constantly reminded when I glance over my desk to a framed photo of the 1949-1953 World Champion New York Yankees that was passed from my grandfather to my dad.
But my dad eventually saw “the light” and started rooting for the Mets when the Yankees took a bit of a turn in the late-60’s (not that the Mets were any better (except in ‘69, of course)).
When I was born many years later, there was a battle for my baseball allegiance. My entire mother’s family was, and still are, die-hard Yankees fans. My dad, the lone Mets fan, had to take them all on to have his son become a Mets fan.
I can remember the day I got “Metty-Bear,” a small teddy bear dressed in Mets pinstripes. That was the day my heart was tied to the Mets.
I carried that thing everywhere when I was little and had it in my bed when I would sleep. To this day, it sits on a stool next to my bed.
My father and I (and now my mother, too) always have the Mets. Even if he is one of the grumpiest fans I know, we always have the team in orange and blue.
Thank you Dad, for fighting the good fight and making sure I turned out all right.
Happy Father’s Day and Let’s Go Mets!
On Monday, Carlos Beltran will join the long list of Mets players that have had an MRI 
Beltran’s right knee has been the problem, as he has a bone bruise below the knee area. He is starting in centerfield today despite the planned visit tomorrow.
For all the woe Beltran has caught for his various injuries since joining the Mets, he has played at least 140 games every year and played in 161 last season.
Let’s just hope everything is OK with his knee, because losing Beltran might just be the final straw with this beat up Mets team.
