Good Riddance, Bullpen

There was no possible way that Omar Minaya could send a relatively similar bullpen out on the field in 2009. After the 2007 season, I could agree with him giving them the benefit of the doubt. I'm all for giving second chances. Losing streaks happen; these were all players who were productive in the past who just happened to get cold at the same bad time, plus they were without the key component of the 2006 bullpen in Duaner Sanchez.

In retrospect, it was a wrong decision, as the team suffered the same problems in the 2008 season, even with Sanchez back in the mix. After the second "collapse" (2008 wasn't much of a collapse, but it's easy to lump it together with 2007), something had to be done. The fans would begin to riot if Omar didn't make much of an effort to change, even if he still thought these guys deserved a chance, and he would certainly be out of a job when they continued to struggle again.

The bullpen was obviously the biggest change the fans wanted to see, and Omar wasted little time in giving us what we wanted. I'm not even going to talk about the acquisitions right now. Last year I wrote about how happy I was to see Guillermo Mota traded away for basically nothing. Addition by subtraction. Some players just needed to go.

Aaron Heilman was projected as a great starter. He was converted to a reliever where he was unhappy but performed. Now, he had become our biggest liability. He was the first that had to go and probably our easiest to move. I wish him well in Seattle if they allow him to be a starter again. But good riddance.

Then there is Scott Schoeneweis. I thought he would be tougher to move because of his contract. But like Mota, we were able to find somewhere to dump him off in return for someone that will probably hardly be worth anything to this team. He needed to go. Good riddance.

Unfortunately, you cant just dump the bad pieces in an attempt to rebuild. The one piece of our bullpen that I loved and wanted to see return was Joe Smith. However, he had to be packaged into the deal that rid us of Heilman and brought in our great new set-up man. I will certainly miss him.

That leaves Pedro Feliciano, Duaner Sanchez, and Brian Stokes as the returning members of our bullpen. Stokes did a fine job in his role last year, but I am still wary about a full season of production in the bullpen from him. Feliciano I would like to see gone, but it seems like Omar doesn't want to have too much of a turnover, and will hope that he returns to form. Sanchez also struggled last year, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. After being away from baseball for so long with the injury, his pitches and his stamina may not have been what they should be. I expect to see him return to form in 2009, but if not, then it will be time to move on.

In the upcoming days, I will discuss the key additions to our bullpen, which I am very excited about.

4/15: Pre-Game Report

Jose Reyes returns to the lineup after taking a few days off with his injury, and with his return comes a shake-up in the lineup. With Luis Castillo struggling, and after Angel Pagan did a great job replacing the two at the top of the lineup, Castillo drops to 8th in the batting order. However, it is not Pagan batting second, but rather Ryan Church has been moved up into that position.

This would not be as surprising if the Mets were facing a right hander today, as Willie Randolph has put Church above Pagan against some righties. But Odalis Perez, a lefty, will pitch for the Nationals, yet Willie still chose to put the left-handed hitting Church second. It seems like an odd move, but I think Pagan is pretty valuable batting 6th behind Carlos Delgado. I certainly missed his presence lower in the order when he was batting 1st and 2nd. The move also moves Church out from in between the left-handed bats of Delgado and Brian Schneider. I don't know how permanent this will be, so it will be interesting to see what kind of lineup Willie sends out tomorrow.

Of bigger news though is the reactivation of Duaner Sanchez from the DL. Sanchez was a major part of the bullpen's success in 2006, and his absence may have helped lead the bullpen to falter down the stretch in 2007. He last pitched in a Major League game on July 28, 2006. It will be great to see him back.

Carlos Muniz was sent back to the Minors to make room for Sanchez. Muniz did a tremendous job in his three games filling in for Matt Wise, throwing 4 scoreless innings with just 2 hits and 2 strikeouts.

Finally, the Mets will be honoring Jackie Robinson today. All the Mets will be wearing #42.

A recap of last series will come later today. Enjoy the game.

Pitchers and Catchers in Port St. Lucie

More important than any roses or boxes of chocolate, Johan Santana and the other Mets pitchers and catchers reported in Port St. Lucie, Florida, to begin Spring Training!

As happy as I still am about the Giants winning the Super Bowl, I still can't help but to look forward with great excitement towards this 2008 baseball season. And baseball is finally, officially, right around the corner.

As my excitement grows about the addition of Johan, I'm starting to also get excited about a much less talked about addition: the return of Duaner Sanchez to the bullpen.

After being injured for the entire 2007 season, and being pretty much completely off the radar, it's easy to forget how big of an impact he had on this team. He was probably our most reliable pitcher in the bullpen leading up to Billy Wagner in 2006 until the Curse of the Taxis struck again (although we got Oliver Perez as part of a last-minute desperation trade before the deadline because Sanchez got hurt, so it wasn't all bad). I loved watching Duaner pitch, and I always had great confidence in him whenever he came in a game.

Then, obviously, we ran into a bit of bullpen issues at the end of 2007. The Mets' bullpen completely fell apart with guys like Joe Smith and Guillermo Mota having to take innings that Duaner Sanchez would have handled in 2006. I hate to think of the what-ifs, but who knows how things would have been different at the end of last season with that extra anchor in the bullpen helping to take the pressure off not just down the stretch, but for the whole season.

Duaner is looking good and ready to come back strong in 2008. Like Guillermo Mota getting traded for essentially nobody seemed like a new acquisition, so does Duaner Sanchez coming back to this team after over a year on the disabled list. Say what you want about Johan taking pressure off the bullpen by pitching deeper into games; just having Sanchez return will naturally take some pressure off the bullpen and make it better.

First Spring Training game in 13 days.