Feliciano Arrived Late

Adam Rubin at Surfing The Mets writes about Pedro Feliciano not getting to the park in time for the game due to flight problems:

Pedro Feliciano was unavailable because he arrived at the ballpark in the seventh inning. Feliciano had permission from the Mets to go home to Puerto Rico for a family issue after Sunday’s game in Atlanta. His 6 a.m. flight from San Juan to JFK was cancelled, and he had to be re-routed through Orlando. Mets security picked him up at the airport, but couldn’t get him to the ballpark in time to contribute.

I guess we can blame yesterday’s game on JFK Airport, because when Feliciano was needed, he was stuck in an airport. Well now that he’s back let’s just hope we can take the remaining two against the Phillies. That was directed at you Pelfrey.

Some Bullpen Suggestions

The number one place where the Mets need to make some major improvements is their Bullpen. In order to accomplish this feat and return it to it’s 2006 for there is really only a couple of moves that are going to be required, in my opinion anyway.

1. First of all the Mets have to figure out what they are going to do with Guillermo Mota and his 5.76 earned run average. After he spent the first 50 games on suspension, Mota showed us Met fans why baseball players go on the juice in the first place. He had the knack of making every in game situation considerably worse and cost the Mets some vital games as we can all tell. The Mets can try and move him in a trade and add some cash, or simply eat his contract and send him down to Triple-A to figure himself out.

2. The next move would have to be to sign a legitimate set up pitcher and one such a pitcher will be available.

Scott Linebrink was traded to the Brewers last season and will become a free agent at the end of the World Series. The Mets would become a considerably better team with his veteran presence in the pen. I would say they should sign him to a one year deal, worth $1.75MM. If there is another team willing to go beyond this bid, then the Mets should double up on the deal. They have no other option for a proven veteran set up man and must bring someone of Linebrink’s credentials in to help turn around the mess.

3. Duaner Sanchez has to do anything and everything to make sure that he will remain healthy for the 2008 season. After getting hit by the drunk driver in Miami in 2006, he has missed a year and a half to rotator cuff surgery and a hairline fracture. With Sanchez back in the pen, the Mets will have the option of pitching Sanchez or Linebrink in the eight inning role on any given night and the other, possibly pitching the seventh.

4. Joe Smith, the youngest member of the Mets bullpen, must do everything in his power during the off season to make sure that he doesn’t get dead arm syndrome in the middle of the season next year and let’s not forget to remind Willie Randolph not to over use the youngster and let him get his rest in between appearances.

5. Orlando Hernandez has shown that he doesn’t have the endurance to go the stretch in the starting pitcher’s slot. So the logical move would be to the pen, where he can act as a two headed long inning monster with Jorge Sosa and make the inning or two appearance if the Mets know that they don’t need to get those kinds of innings out of him and his Bugs Bunny pitch.

With all of the above mentioned moves made the bullpen would shape up to look as follows:

Joe Smith
Pedro Feliciano
Jorge Sosa
Orlando Hernandez
Scott Linebrink
Duaner Sanchez
Billy Wagner

This will surly be a far cry, in the good way, from the 2007 bullpen and if you were wondering about Scott Schoeneweis, I would have to try and include him in a deal for a starting pitcher from the Athletics or the Pirates (my personal preference).

Pedro For Game 2?

At Rotoworld they write about Pedro martinez and his chances of gettingthe ball in game two of the NLDS:

If Pedro Martinez pitches well in his final two regular season starts, he could start Game 2 of the NLDS behind Tom Glavine.

Pedro could very easily be 3-0 in his three starts if Pedro Feliciano didn't blow a two-run lead in Saturday's contest. He's logged a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings over that span. He increased his endurance to 98 pitches in his last start. "Stay healthy is the biggest key," Martinez said. "Maybe I'll sneak in 6-7 innings (in a playoff game), who knows?"

Feliciano And Mota: The Split

The Pirate over at Mets Geek takes a close look at the decision tobring in Guillermo Mota over Pedro Feliciano in the eigth inning of last night's game against the Braves:

I wasn’t sure about the wisdom of replacing a pitcher who’s been lights out with a pitcher who’s stunk up the joint all year, just because he’s right-handed. So I decided to look into it and see who’s been better against RHB this year, lefty Pedro or righty Mota. I seriously doubt the answer will surprise anyone.

Wow. One of these pitchers has been very effective against right-handed batters, and the other one is Guillermo Mota. Anyway, Willie has to know this, right? I mean, Pedro hadn’t pitched for a few days, so he wasn’t tired; and the Mets have a day off before taking on Philly, so you wouldn’t need to save his arm, either. I just don’t understand why Willie would let the worst pitcher in his bullpen come in to pitch in the most important situation in the game. Especially when he had a better reliever in there already.

What Is Going On?

As I eluded to yesterday in my post Tommy’s Time To Shine, I eluded to the fact that Glavine needed to pitch like an ace in last night’s game. The only problem with this story was that I completely left the bullpen out of the picture and rested the game solely on Tom’s shoulders.

What a travesty last night. I don’t know about any of you but I would be completely all right if Guillermo Mota were to blow his arm and disappear into baseball ambiguity. This guy has cost the Mets more game than I care to think about. But you can’t blame it entirely on Mota. Feliciano and Heilman combined to blow the lead in the eighth inning, after Tommy threw SEVEN SCORELESS INNINGS up. How hard is it to get six outs? Please someone tell me because I’m not understanding something.

I Just Don't Get It

When a pitcher comes out of the bullpen and has held opposing batters to a .185 (right - .200; left - .169) batting average, you expect to see him for at least one inning. This isn’t the case with Pedro Feliciano.

For some unknown reason, manager Willie Randolph, must, keep telling himself that all Feliciano is good for is as a loogy (lefty one out guy). Never mind that right handed batters are hitting only .200 against him. Never mind the fact that Feliciano has been one of the Mets most consistent arms out of the pen and in my eyes, should be setting up for Billy Wagner. No, that doesn’t even come into play for Willie.

Feliciano has made 55 appearances out of the bullpen this year and has only gone one inning plus 24 times and the most he has been allowed to go for is two innings (June 30th @ Phillie). Instead Randolph relies on guys like Mota and Schoeneweis, whom have allowed batters to hit .254 (Schoeneweis) and .265 (Mota) against them.

There is no action against one kind of batter, be it lefty or righty , that Feliciano demonstrates, that in any way suggests that he should be the specialist in the pen. If anything, Schoeneweis should, in fact, be the lefty specialist, because left handed batters are only batting .185against him. That’s a far cry from rightys (.323). So wouldn’t this conclude that Schoeneweis should be the pitcher coming out to face one batter every couple of games instead of Feliciano?

By the way, it almost seems that Willie is still holding some animosity towards Feliciano for the incident that took place last August, when Pedro berated Randolph, to the media, about not using him in a game he felt he needed to be. None of us can be sure this is what’s happening, but there’s always going to be that air of suspicion when it comes to how Feliciano is used.

Now I’m not, by any means, calling Willie Randolph a bad manager. Like every manager in the game, he makes some questionable calls and I can live with that, because, let’s face it, managing a Major League team is not nearly as easy as it might seem. The only thing I’m trying to say is that the Pedro Feliciano decision is, by far, boggling my mind and I can’t seem to get over it.

Whatever the case may be with the relationship of Willie Randolph and Pedro Feliciano, it has to get fixed soon because if it’s not, we’re probably going to be seeing a lot more bullpen meltdowns before the season comes to a close.

Bullpen Looked Abysmal

Last night was the most disappointing moment since Carlos Beltran struck out in the NLCS. The bullpen didn’t even give Glavine a fighting chance.

What has happened to Pedro Feliciano? The guy was lights out in the first half of the season and then goes ahead throws two balls and then drills Prince Fielder in the elbow. I really thought he was going to charge Feliciano when he started yelling and jumping around. Then Mota comes in and gives up a screaming double to tie the game and erase any hope Glavine had at 300. The most disappointing part of the night was the two run homer given up by Sele. That just broke my heart.

About the only good sign was Jorge Sosa getting used to his eventual new role as the long man. It’s coming and I can’t wait because Sele will be sent down or optioned.

Feliciano's The Mets Best Reliever

John Delcos at Lo Hud, writes about Pedro Feliciano and how he's become the Mets best reliever:

Billy Wagner called Feliciano the best reliever on the team right now. Last night he came in with the bases loaded in the seventh and got Scott Spiezio on a grounder back to the box.

The situation created the funniest line of the night. As Feliciano made his way to his locker, Joe Smith called out, “you’re just lucky I loaded the bases for you.’‘

A Devistating Tag Team

I may be wrong, but I don’t think there’s a better one two punch than Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith this season in the Majors.

Feliciano made his first appearance in 2002 for the Mets, but didn’t fair too well. Posting a 7.50 ERA in 6 innings. 2003 and 2004 didn’t fair too much better when he posted a 3.35 and 5.40 ERA. Some time during 2005, in the Minors, Feliciano got it together and in 2006, he was unstoppable with a2.09 ERA. 2007 appears to be the year of the middle relievers for the Mets. Feliciano has posted a 0.90 ERA in 23 appearances.

Smith came out of nowhere to be a dominant reliever and maybe one day a premier set up man. Posting a 1.46 ERA in 27 appearances is great. What makes this feat even more impressive is the fat that Joe Smith was drafted last year. That’s quite the jump and Smith has been more than up to the task.

There’s nothing more the Mets could really ask for out of the bullpen from their tag team middle relievers. They’ve pretty much gone through anyone that has stood in their way (from the batters box).

Not Quite Maris & Mantle...

Over at Fox Sports.com, baseball writer Kevin Hench, in his latest Beyond The Boxscore column (click here for a link), has fun comparing Mets' relievers Joe Smith & Pedro Feliciano's scoreless streak and inter-squad competition to that of the late Yankees' sluggers Roger Maris & Mickey Mantle.

From Hench:

While it hasn't — and will never — grab the headlines of that epic contest, there is a fairly amazing intrasquad competition under way in New York. Mets setup men Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano have made it all the way into the second week of May — 31 appearances — without allowing a run.

He continues:

When the Mets lost righty setup man Duaner Sanchez last year, it put a huge dent in their chances at winning a title. When Sanchez underwent shoulder surgery last month, the NL East champs with the potentially shaky rotation found themselves in dire need of a quality middle reliever. Enter Joe Smith. The drop-down righty has started the season with 17 straight scoreless appearances as part of a lights-out Mets pen. In addition to his 0.00 ERA, he has a sterling 0.98 WHIP, 18 Ks in 15.1 IP and a .154 OBA. Righties are hitting .132 against him and, get this, slugging .158. While not quite as dominant as Smith's start, New York's lefty setup man Pedro Feliciano has begun the season with 14 straight scoreless appearances, holding lefties to two singles in 15 at bats (.133). It may not be Maris-Mantle '61, but Smith and Feliciano's scoreless streaks are a New York intrasquad competition that bears monitoring. (Though it's worth noting that a mention like this in Beyond the Box Score should knock one or both of these guys off his perch in the next 48 hours.)

Let's hope he does NOT jinx this scoreless run, on our way to the return, shortly, of Mr. Mota and, we hope, eventually, Mr. Sanchez.

Willie on Feliciano

Matthew Cerrone at Mets Blog, writes about Willie Randolph and his thoughts on Pedro Feliciano so far this season:

Nice job by Feliciano, and Tommy for that matter, right? I think he goes unnoticed a lot, but Mr. Feliciano has done a nice job for us this year, coming through the meat of lineup and a couple of big strike outs. Those guys, who are short down there, don’t get a lot of credit, but Pedro’s had a nice year so far.

Staff defying The Odds

So, once upon a time, critics were saying that the Mets starting pitching was either too old or too inexperienced. That Maine, Perez and Pelfrey couldn’t be counted on. That Glavine and El Duque were going to show their age. That the great offense the Mets possess wasn’t going to be enough to make up for erratic pitching and a depleted bullpen.

Now fifteen games into the season, the Mets pitching seems to be enormously sounder than the team critics said had the best staff in baseball (Phillies). So going down the list, here’s what the Mets starting rotation looks like so far:

Tom Glavine – 3-1; 2.70 ERA
John Maine – 2-0; 1.93 ERA
Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez – 1-1; 4.00 ERA
Mike Pelfrey – 0-0; 3.18 ERA
Oliver Perez – 1-1 3.72 ERA

With none of our starting pitching over the four earned run average mark, it seems that the Mets were right in staying away from, new Giants ace, Barry Zito and his ridiculous demands.

The bullpen has been equally effective in their efforts to remain one of the strongest in the Majors. Here’s a look at what the boys in the pen have been up to:

Ambiorix Burgos – 4.26 ERA
Pedro Feliciano – 0.00 ERA
Aaron Heilman – 4.91 ERA
Scott Schoeneweis – 0.00 ERA
Aaron Sele – 2.84 ERA
Joe Smith – 0.00 ERA
Billy Wagner – 0.00 ERA; 2 Saves

If you ask me, that’s a pretty solid pen.

So, critics, keep writing about how the Mets pitching is horrendous and keep writing about our weaknesses. The Mets will just keep proving you wrong.