Archive for the ‘J.J. Putz’ Category

Alex Cora would bat second in my lineup of injured Mets. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

Recently, while I was trying to decide what kind of new story to write, I got a very good idea from a friend. Can I go and see if I would be able to field a full team based on who is currently out of commission right now. Well, I can’t nab a full team, but I can do a lot with what I’ve got. Here’s my starting lineup.

1. SS Reyes
2. 2B Cora
3. 3B Wright
4. CF Beltran
5. 1B Delgado
6. RF Francoeur
7. LF Martinez
8. C Martinez
9. P Nieve, Maine, Putz, Niese
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I cringe at the thought of Daniel Murphy in the outfield once again. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY ANTHONY LAFAMAN
STACHE WRITER

Has this been the worse NY Mets season? Let’s review the TOP 25 Moments.

1. Our owner lost 750MM in a Ponzi Scheme.
2. Daniel Murphy in Left Field.
3. Mets lose the first game in Citifield. (On a balk, no less)
4. Oliver Perez to the DL with a strained “I SUCK” injury.
5. Mike Pelfrey falls off the mound a couple of times and balks three times in one game. (Damn balks)
6. Delgado legged out a triple then never played a game again because it lead to a labrum tear in his hip.
7. Ryan Church misses third, Dodgers win in extra innings, after some dropped fly balls.
8. Jose Reyes strains his vagina then later tears it “re-habbing” in a minor league game.
9. JJ Putz keeps getting lit up yet continues to pitch ultimately leading to elbow surgery.
10. Everyone wearing a Met jersey can’t homer in CitiField. Ironically everyone wearing a Phillies jersey CAN homer and promptly do so.
11. John Maine’s boobies hurt. He is put on the DL.
12. Mets backup catcher Ramon Castro traded for sticks and light bulbs then catches a no hitter in Chicago.
13. Luis Castillo drops a routine pop-up that would have ended the game, off the bat of super clutch A-Rod, the game tying and WINNING run score and the Mets lose.
14. Beltran’s bone bruise finally gets the best of him, never heard from again.
15. Mets fire Bernazard for his bare chested fight challenge to the “B” Mets team. Then Omar blames a Daily News beat writer for doing his job but hints that the beat writer’s motivation in writing such a story was for his own benefit. The beat writer took offense and they had a pillow fight resulting in nothing.
16. Fernando Martinez, the Mets only “known” commodity tears his meniscus and misses the rest of the year.
17. Trade deadline comes and goes with the Mets making no major moves. “The reinforcements will arrive shortly”, Met fans are told.
18. Castillo falls down the dugout stairs and injures his ankle.
19. Alex Cora, the then starting SS, tears a ligament in this thumb.
20. Pujols, Reynolds treat CitiField like the 1994 version of Coors field.
21. No one covered first base on a slow grounder. No seriously.
22. David Wright took some 94mph cheese off his noggin.
23. Jeff Franceour, a man who was never injured during his years in Atlanta, tears a ligament in his thumb that will require surgery.
24. Mets lose to the Phillies on a unassisted triple play. Eric Bruntlett laughs his ass off.
25. Johan Santana experiences elbow discomfort and may need season ending surgery to correct it.

I’d certainly say so.

Does Fernando Tatis earn the honor for the Most Worthless Met? (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the first ever Horrible Awards, which have been inspired by the 2009 Mets. After much deliberation, a panel of judges (or just me) have selected a few special individuals to win certain awards for this disappointing 2009 season. But let’s welcome the host for the 2009 Horrible Awards, former Met reliever Aaron Heilman!
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All The Injured Mets Stars, About 5 Players Too Many This Season (Courtesy of Weretheteamtobeat.com)

BY ZACHARY SCHULMAN
STACHE WRITER

The Mets continue to get injured. When it is thought to not get any worse, Murphy’s Law kicks in. Jon Niese and Fernando Martinez’s injuries were only two of the many that happened to Mets young players.

The Mets have not had much luck in recent years, with the exception of Wright and Reyes, in developing a lot of useful talent in their minor league system. This year I have paid much more attention to the Mets minor league affiliates. I was curious to see if the Mets really lacked the talent that everyone claimed they did. While the Buffalo BIsons are a lost cause for this year and probably the short term future, the AA level and below has a lot of promise.

With Delgado getting hurt in a walk year, it all but finalized his career with the Mets. Daniel Murphy has been a very pleasant surprise defensively at first and is showing some signs that he might break out hitting wise.

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Building a Team after this Moment has been very hard for the Mets (Courtesy of Boston.com)

BY JOSEPH STONE
STACHE WRITER

I have heard it said the the Mets mission statement over the last two years was to win Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. That they wanted to eradicate the memory of the loss and somehow change the course of history. I don’t think that’s quite true. I think that was something we the interactive fans and the professional writers inferred upon the team, that that particular game was somehow still winnable.

The Mets, in a wise move, just stuck with the core of a team over the next three years that was thisclose to the World Series in 2006, and are just now feeling the fallout from a long barren run at post-season success. After the outcome of the 2006 season, obviously the Mets, as an organization, felt that essentially standing pat with a team that was so close to the promised land was the right choice, hence the Alou signing as a stopgap to shore up RBI production and keep the train rolling.

Management felt that the veteran presence would assist, and not even a beat would be missed on the march back to October. They were absolutely correct. The 2007 season was going along according to script until…no need for specifics in rehashing at this point, we are all well versed. The team that had steamrolled along all year hit the wall and blew up. It happens. Only once in a blue moon, but strange things can happen in baseball. Ask the Cubs, or the Phillies.

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Carlos is praying to the Injury Gods that he can come back soon, but is it worth it?

BY ZACHARY SCHULMAN
STACHE WRITER

With the recent news that Carlos Beltran wants to come back earlier than expected and play through pain, it may not be the best idea. I think I am in the minority that I don’t was Beltran rushing back and potentially jeopardizing the rest of his Mets career. In recent reports, it has been said that if Beltran rushes back to play this year, then he might miss the entire 2010 season. After seeing how injuries have ravaged the team this year, I’d rather have a healthy Beltran for the longer term.

Beltran’s replacement, Angel Pagan, has been a spark plug for the recently resurgent Mets. Capped by tonight’s game winning Grand Slam, Pagan has shown that he belongs. He fits the Mets perfectly. He has some pop in his bat, speed, and plays very good defense. As I have written before, these are all qualities the Mets need to have playing in the spacious Citi Field.

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Letting JJ Putz just walk away would definitely be a major mistake. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

The Mets made a big trade this past off season to acquire one of the game’s better closers to become their eighth inning specialist. The Mets’ pen was supposedly set. The starters would hopefully get us six innings, Feliciano and the righties would team up for the seventh, and then Putz and K-Rod would finish it off.

It hasn’t been exactly as we may have expected it to be.
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Sean Green has certainly had his ups and downs with the Mets this season (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

Back in December, Mets fans had everything to look forward to. We recently found out that Francisco Rodriguez was going to be our new closer, and that seemed to solve some of the problems that prevented the Mets from winning the Division last season. But then, on December 11, a trade happened that nobody saw coming.

The Mets, Mariners and Indians would make a three team trade that lined up like this:

Mets Get: JJ Putz, Jeremy Reed and Sean Green from the Mariners
Mariners Get: Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp, Maikel Cleto, Jason Vargas and Ezequiel Carrera from the Mets, and Franklyn Gutierrez from the Indians
Indians Get: Joe Smith from the Mets and Luis Valbuena from the Mariners

It seemed like an awful lot to give up the time, and the two pieces that hurt Mets’ fans the most were Endy Chavez and Joe Smith. The young Smith had established himself as a quality situational reliever, and Chavez had endeared himself to the fan base with some unbelievable defense, which included possibly the best play in Mets’ history.

But as they all say, in order to get talent, you need to give up talent. And the Mets acquired backup outfielder Jeremy Reed, reliever Sean Green and former closer JJ Putz. Putz was obviously the main catch in the deal, as he has proven to be a valuable closer for several years in a small market. This gave the Mets some insurance in case K-Rod got injured or needed a day off.

It seemed like a no brainer, but was it worth it?
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A big reason why JJ Putz is out is because the Mets ignored a doctor's advice. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY JOSEPH STONE
STACHE WRITER

The state of the Mets: Mid-Season Edition hit the streets the other day by none other then the preeminent Met scribe, Adam Rubin. As you would expect of an under .500 big market team, the review is scathing.

From the Front Office to the trainers, noone escaped the poor review. The title alone says it all. All Met fans have basically thought and said everything that was stated, but to see it all laid out in front of you in black and white brought it all home.

The injury front, the most glaring of problems with the team at this time was exposed as more the fault of management than anything else. J. J. Putz, who was probably damaged goods when he was picked up, underwent an examination by the teams doctors. Here is the quote that encapsulates the entire mindset behind the scenes.
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JJ Putz has really been missed since he landed on the DL. (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY JOSEPH STONE
STACHE WRITER

Thank God the break is here finally. The past month and a half, ever since the calendar rolled over to June, everything has gone south for the Mets. At one point, early in the Mayish part of the season, this team was on an upwards trajectory, even with all the injuries. However, June meant a step up in competition, something this team wasn’t prepared for. The bloodbath in Pittsburgh began the slide, and the hits kept on coming. The tide went out, and the team got sucked into the undertow.

The low lights came in the Yankee series, both home and away, where the team looked pathetic. From Game One’s gut punch, to the 15-0 destruction, then on to the sweep at Citi Field, the Mets were beaten like rented mules. Somehow, through all this, the Mets were able to stay close in the standings and give the fans that glimmer of hope to hang on.

The St. Louis series was a brief oasis from the down tick, but then came The Holiday lost weekend. From .5 games back to 6.5 in the blink of an eye. More shutouts than you can shake a stick at. Blowout losses in Livan’s starts. Nieve becomes, well, Nieve. Pelfrey’s one step forward, the going right back. Beltran’s MVP-type bat vanishing from CF.

All these things added up to a replacement level team. It’s not looking too good in the world of the Mets right now, hopefully, the break will bring about a reversal in trend, or at least a return to respectability. Pray to your divine being this occurs.

This article appeared on the Metsblog yesterday. I am not going to rehash my thoughts on the trade, but my question is, when exactly did management lose faith in Church? Here’s a quote from the article.

“I am still unsure of what to think of this deal, and I suppose I won’t really know until the end of the season, which is probably the point. I don’t see this is bad trade, I just think it’s a trade, a bizarre swap that could go either way: The Braves grew tired of Francoeur, the Met lost faith in Church, and so the two rivals swapped situation and are hoping to get lucky.”

Huh? This is Lupica think speak in real time. Church was loved, until he wasn’t. Last I heard we liked him, we really liked him. All this talk of doghouse/no doghouse with Manuel, what is going on? Is who he likes and dislikes dictating the team’s roster? It’s frustrating to think that a manager, still in his first contract, can have this profound an affect on the front office. I think this is a case of the tail wagging the dog.

Atlanta fans, (I didn’t even know they could type!) chimed in from their end, but the reason I linked this is the ReGaFlaWa (really gay flame war) that broke out between meddler and chickendirt. Really? I can’t express how I feel about this other than to say, chickendirt? Really?

Modernization is coming. This might be the most interesting thing baseball has come up with since Charlie O passed away. Maybe I can just get a channel that shows every pitch in Pitch Tracker, and I can toggle to this view in real time. Got to be better that Buck and McCarver, at least until the robots take over.

Wise potato chips somehow set up this promotion, thus fulfiling the prophecy, “If you shill it, they will crunch.” Way to sell out the fans, Wilpon. Turn them into a promotion. Class.

Erin Andrews’ “chin”cident goes under the microscope of Fox Mulder. Conspiracies are everywhere.

Mad Dog schadenfraude rounds out the list. Its always nice to see a true dick sink under the weight of his own hubris.

Not even mentioning Lupica’s article to day, other than to tell you I’m not mentioning it. Enjoy the break. See you on the flip side.