Blogging Mets

The Mets revealed Monday that embattled closer Francisco Rodriguez tore a ligament in his right thumb them while allegedly slugging his girlfriend’s father last week at Citi Field. If surgery is required, K-Rod is likely lost for the year. And he could be done for good — the Mets are reportedly looking into voiding his contract over all of this.

After pitching in pain on Saturday, he was examined Monday at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Doctors recommended surgery, but no final decision has been made. However, his agent Paul Kinzer told a Venezuelan newspaper, “Frankie is going to have surgery.” 

“You can make the assumption that the injury resulted from the incident last week,” a Mets official said. That is significant, because if K-Rod did indeed hurt himself in the alleged attack, he could forfeit his salary for the rest of the season since the injury occurred during a non-baseball event. 

And it could cost him even more. The official told ESPNNewYork.com the Mets will investigate voiding Rodriguez’s contract. “We will look into everything,” he said.

Rodriguez is owed $11.5 million in 2011 and has a vesting option for 2012 at a whopping $17.5 million that will kick in if he finishes 55 games next season.

Kinzer said that discussion is for another day. ”We are focused on that (the surgery) right now. We will address the other issues later.”

From a strictly baseball point of view, I’m not sure voiding his contract would be the best thing for the Mets. On one hand, that $11.5 million could be used on much-needed starting pitching or a slugging outfielder. But who replaces K-Rod as the closer? None of the Mets relievers has stepped up to show they are ready for the job. $11.5 million for an elite closer is not bad. That possible $17.5 million the following season, though, is a payroll-buster.

 As far as the trade front, there are rumblings out of Boston that Jonathan Papelbon could be made available. He would probably cost more than $11.5 million, plus he would probably not sign a long-term contract, either. He has gone on record that he wants to test free agency. I would do a Carlos Beltran-Pabelbon swap in a second. That would get the Mets out from under Beltran’s $20 million salary for next season and begin the badly-needed remake of the club.

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The worst part of this story is that it appears the Mets will call up Sean Green to replace Rodriguez. What, they couldn’t find a box of rocks or some hobo to do the job instead?

So Pat Misch finally got the long-awaited start I’ve been pushing for all season. And he didn’t disappoint. Yes, he and the Mets lost the game, but that was hardly Misch’s fault. The Mets committed three errors (one by Misch himself, although that turned out to be harmless), leading to three of the four runs the Phillies scored off Misch. One earned run in six innings will certainly gain Misch another start. What a shame that stiffs like Oliver Perez and John Maine took up a roster spot that Misch could have handled competently all season long.

Speaking of competence, that’s something the Mets offense strives to be. In 12 games this month, the Mets have scored just 27 runs — that’s a little more than two runs per game. It’s amazing that the Mets have managed to win five of those games. That’s because in four of the wins, Mets pitchers managed to throw shutouts.

The offense has been horrid since the All-Star break. I’m not blaming Carlos Beltran, but it’s interesting that that’s when he returned to the lineup. Beltran’s arrival was supposed to solidify things, not lead to a downfall. Although Jason Bay has not done much all season, his absence takes away a big threat in the lineup.

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Luis Castillo has said the words Mets fans have been hoping to hear for years now: “I can’t be here anymore. I know I’m not going to be here next year.”

Castillo has been benched in favor of Ruben Tejada. And even though Tejada has not gotten a hit since he was given the job, he’s been a huge improvement over Castillo. Tejada can actually move around at second base, something Castillo’s limited range prohibited him from doing.

Even though Castillo was hitting a paltry .241 with just six extra base hits, he thought he was doing just fine.

“I came here to be an everyday player and I know it’s been hard with the injuries I’ve had, but I feel good now and thought I was playing well. I know I can play every day. I’m not a bench player. I can still play.”

Let’s hope some other team agrees and takes Castillo off of the Mets hands. The best the Mets can hope for is that a contending team’s second baseman goes down with an injury over the next few weeks and they need a quick replacement. Even then, it’s unlikely any team would want to absorb the $6 million he’s due next year. That’s a bill the Mets will probably be paying themselves, whether Castillo is in a Mets uniform or not.

So this is the way to motivate starters to finish their games — eliminate the closer. In the two games Francisco Rodriguez has been suspended, both Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey threw complete game shutouts.

Dickey was particularly masterful — a one-hitter against the Phillies on Friday, with opposing pitcher Cole Hamels getting the only hit off the knuckleballer. The offense was anemic as usual, but slumping David Wright and Carlos Beltran hit back-to-back doubles to score the game’s only run.

The Mets now have four shutouts in less than a week — three of them by 1-0 scores. With all that’s been going on both on and off the field, the Mets are pretty much at their depths right now. Imagine how lower that depth would be if the pitching had been just average instead of magnificent.

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Pat Misch gets the start Saturday night against the Phillies. I’ve been calling on the Mets all season to bring Misch up from Buffalo. He looked pretty good in limited time last year for the Mets — he pitched in 22 games, seven as a starter, and was 3-4, with a  4.12 ERA. He’s been tearing up Triple-A this season working exclusively as a starter – 11-4, 3.23 ERA. He better not disappoint, or I’ll look like a jerk.

SNY should be commended on the way it handled the Francisco Rodriguez arrest throughout Thursday afternoon’s matinee against the Rockies. Instead of giving it a brief mention early on, or ignoring it entirely, Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Ralph Kiner brought it up several times throughout the game.

First, they talked about exactly what happened, with a report from Kevin Burkhardt who said he witnessed part of the incident. They went into the implications for the Mets on and off field, broke the news that K-Rod was suspended for at least two games, and read a very brief statement from Jeff Wilpon, which said the Mets are taking this seriously. They even showed video later of Rodriguez leaving Citi Field, where he was detained all night, for his arraignment.

Darling went so far as to mention his own arrest, along with several other Mets, for a barroom brawl in Houston in 1986. Kiner told the funny story about how he was locked up when he was 14-years-old for breaking windows while playing baseball. He said the officer read him the classic baseball poem ” Casey at the Bat,” and let him go. Kiner wondered if that officer ever knew that the kid to whom he read that poem would later be in the Hall of Fame.

That humorous tale aside, the broadcasters handled this incident with the seriousness it deserves. And by not shying away from a story that is sensitive and embarrassing to the team, the entire production crew deserves credit. I assume Mets management deserves credit as well  — as co-owners of the network, it could have demanded that the subject not be broached. That would have been ridiculous, but the Mets have not handled such incidents well in the past, so it would not have been out of the realm of possibility. Fortunately the Mets did the right thing this time.

Jerry Manuel’s stupid decision not to bring in Francisco Rodriguez with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning with the Mets clinging to a 2-1 lead cost more than just the game. It may have led to K-Rod being behind bars. The closer was arrested at Citi Field following Wednesday night’s loss for allegedly assaulting his father-in-law.

The Daily News reports investigators say Rodriguez threw at least one punch during the altercation in a tunnel just outside the Mets clubhouse in the moments following the 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies. His father-in-law suffered facial abrasions and was taken to a nearby hospital.

Rodriguez is charged with third-degree assault.

Witnesses say K-Rod was yelling as he was pushed back from the stadium’s Family Lounge into the hallway, which was crowded with people who were waiting for players after the game. Team security then pulled the pitcher away and rushed him into the clubhouse.

When a reporter who witnessed the incident asked Rodriguez about it, he snapped, “Mind your own f**king business.”

Rodriguez then left the clubhouse but was taken into police custody a short time later.

The Mets confirmed Rodriguez had an altercation with a relative but referred all further questions to the NYPD.

Here’s where Manuel might be to blame (not really, but why not?) — moments before the fight, Rodriguez got angry with reporters who asked why he was not brought into the game at that crucial  juncture. Instead, Manny Acosta gave up the game-deciding grand slam to Melvin Mora.

So let’s see — the Mets are all but out of the race for the post-season, Johan Santana gets hit with a civil suit over that alleged rape, and now K-Rod is in the slammer. What’s next, the Mets re-hire Tony Bernazard as a consultant?

The good Mike Pelfrey made an appearance at Citi Field Tuesday night, throwing seven shutout innings as the Mets beat the Rockies 1-0. That terrible Pelfrey who was 0-4 with like a 9.00 ERA over his past seven starts nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he really was John Maine wearing a Mike Pelfrey mask, and Pelfrey was tied up in some basement somewhere before managing to escape Tuesday morning to make his start. When was the last time we saw the two of them in the same room? 

In any case, it was good to see Pelfrey throwing like he did early in the season. He was aggressive with hitters, just rearing back and letting the ball fly instead of aiming it, as Ron Darling said. Hopefully he can pitch this way the rest of the season.

And it shows just how important good pitching is — a lesson Omar Minaya apparently never learned as he neglected the starting staff and concentrated on, well, whatever he was concentrating on.

The old adage is “good pitching beats good hitting,” and it is proven correct time and time again. Of course, a team needs hitting, but weak hitting teams with strong pitching and strong defense seem to beat power lineups with no pitching all the time. Minaya claimed he was building a pitching and defense team, but his words never matched his actions.

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Carlos Beltran was given the night off, making a pinch hitting appearance in which he was intentionally walked. He’s been looking absolutely horrible since he came back, topping it off with that “when did they put a wall there?” move Sunday in Philly. I’ve never been a Beltran fan, and I advocated trading him last off-season (before he needed knee surgery) when they actually could have gotten some value for him. 

Unless he shows over the remainder of the season that he is fully recuperated, he will be virtually untradeable this off-season — that is, if Minaya has any intention of moving Beltran at all. He has only one year and $20 million left on his deal, so if he shows he’s healthy, a contender which thinks it is one player away might take him on.

If the Mets can get some pitching for him, they can slide Angel Pagan over to center and get a big-time power hitter for right. A 2011 outfield of Jason Bay, Beltran and Pagan does not thrill me.  Bay, Pagan and a power hitter is good. Bay, a healthy Beltran and a power hitter would be good as well, with Pagan traded for pitching. I would trade whichever one brings back the best pitching. But my guess is that if the unimaginative Minaya is still the GM, we’ll see an outfield of Bay, Beltran and Pagan next season.

Those of you old enough to remember when Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith (the best broadcast team ever, by the way) used to do ”Monday Night Football,” you’ll recall that when the game was finally out of reach, “Dandy” Don would sing “Turn out the lights, the party’s over…” Well, that tune ran through my head as I was watching Sunday’s game ended with yet another Mets loss.

Now, I know that less than a week ago I wrote that I thought the Mets still had a chance. Ah, what a difference a week makes. The Mets needed to win at least  two out of three from both the Braves and the Phillies in order to get back into the race. Instead, they lost two out of three to both teams.

The Mets are now nine games behind the Braves and seven games behind the Phillies. I don’t see them making up that distance. They are also seven and a half games out of the wild card with five teams ahead of them. That is an even taller order, because the Mets would need all five teams to go into slumps. Stranger things have happened (oh, I don’t know, blowing a seven game lead with 17 games to play comes to mind), but the odds are against them.

So what do the Mets do now? They shouldn’t throw in the towel, but it’s time to start thinking about next season. If guys like Jeff Francoeur and Luis Castillo are not part of the plans for 2011, let them go now and play guys who may actually be on the team next season. The same goes for Jerry Manuel. If he won’t be in the dugout in 2011, get rid of him now.

Whatever happens, the next month and a half will not be very fun. Unless the Mets have one more hot streak left in them. We can only hope. As Mets fans, we’re used to doing that.

The Mets made a couple of moves Saturday morning, releasing Alex Cora and demoting Jesus Feliciano. In their places, the Mets called up two of their most promising prospects — Fernando Martinez and Ruben Tejada. These are excellent moves that could breath new life into the dormant club.

Tejada hit just .212 in 35 games for the Mets filling in for Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo as they battled injuries, but he showed flashes of promise. I predict he will get the bulk of the playing time at second base, with Castillo finally being shown the door.

As for Martinez (left), I can’t imagine he is being called up to sit on the bench. I think he will replace Jeff Francoeur in right field, who will stick around and get some spot starts until Jason Bay comes back from his concussion, and then he will join Castillo either on another team or on the unemployment line. It’s about time for Martinez. I called on him to start the year in center. It’s time to see what the Mets have in this kid. Either he will live up to his potential or he won’t, but let’s find out already. He hit just .176 with one homer in 29 games with the big club last season.

The Cora move is more about next season than this one. In that ridiculous contract Omar Minaya gave him, if Cora played 80 games this year, he would get $2 million guaranteed for 2011. Cora, hitting a whopping .207 this season, was 18 games away from that guarantee, and almost certainly would have achieved it had he remained with the team. I wonder if a grievance is in the offing. Cora would likely lose that since his performance this season was so subpar and warrants being released.

In dumping Cora and possibly Francoeur, the Mets do lose something from the clubhouse. But their positive vibes did not translate into wins, and that’s what it’s all about.

These latest moves show what a poor job Minaya did building this team during the off season. The opening day bench consisted of Cora, Mike Jacobs, Gary Matthews, Jr., Fernando Tatis and Henry Blanco — a bunch of washed up veterans except for Blanco, who is the only one left from that unimpressive group. If Minaya can’t even asssemble a strong bench, what does that say about his ability to put together a solid club?

Just two days ago, I nominated that horrible, error-laden 6th inning against the Braves as the worst inning of the year so far for the Mets. Well, now we have a new nominee and the likely winner — the 8th inning against the Phillies Friday night. This one was more significant, because it might be the final nail in the Mets coffin that is the 2010 season.

The Mets went into this series with the Phillies needing a sweep to get back into serious contention. Jon Niese (left) gave the Mets seven strong innings, leaving a slim 2-1 lead in the hands of the bullpen. Three relievers quickly coughed it up, allowing six runs in the blink of an eye. A ninth inning rally was too little, too late, and the Mets lost 7-5.

If the Mets couldn’t hold a lead with the usually reliable Bobby Parnell on the mound against a team without its two best hitters (Ryan Howard and Chase Utley), how will they be able to compete with the rest of the league down the stretch? The answer is they won’t. I really hope I am wrong about this, but it appears the Mets are done.

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As bad as Mets management is, we can take some solace in the fact it is not the worst in New York. James Dolan has once again claimed that crown with his ridiculous hire of Isiah Thomas as a “consultant.” Thomas led the Knicks into an abyss out of which they are only now crawling out, and he embarrassed them off the court with that sexual harassment lawsuit against him and the team. In what world does that resume get him another chance? James Dolan’s world, of course. Not even the Wilpons, with all of their poor decisions, would do something that stupid. I least I hope not, or we may see Art Howe return as Mets manager.

Well, he’s got to be one of those (or both), based on comments he made Thursday. During an event announcing some SNY-UConn partnership that no one really cared about, reporters asked questions that really matter, about the Mets.  At first he smugly shrugged them off.

“This is about the Huskies. This is about SNY and the Huskies this is not about the Mets right here so we have to get back home to talk about the Mets.”

But reporters didn’t let up,  asking if Omar Minaya would be coming back for the 2011 season.

Wilpon’s response? “Is the sun going to come up tomorrow?” That would be a yes, beleagured Mets fans. When asked to elaborate further, a flustered Wilpon, as described by the Daily News, said, “I don’t know, I told you.” Then he asked for directions home.

Before being allowed to leave, however, he was asked about the job his incompetent son Jeff (left) is doing as Chief Operating Officer. “Excellent. Everybody knows that.” I don’t know what Wilpon’s definition of “everbody” is, but I assume in his world, everybody means him and Mrs. Wilpon. And the Dolan family.

When pressed further on Mets issues, Wilpon uttered this baffling, poorly structured sentence. “”I have a feeling that Jeff talks and he’s more talking about the Mets and the important thing is really Omar.” Huh?

After listening to these comments, it’s amazing that Wilpon was able to build a financial empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It does explain, however, why the Mets are such a mess. I mean, when Omar Minaya is the smartest guy in the room, look out!