Omar Minaya announced that Oliver Perez would be placed on the disabled list with “tendinitis in the knee”. (Ha), and that Jonathan Niese would take his place on the 25-man roster.
He also announced that Niese would start on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates instead of Ken Takahashi. Thank goodness someone in the organization realized starting Takahashi was a bad idea.
Interestingly, Minaya had a giddy, gleeful look on his face when he approached the microphone to address the press. Was he pleased with himself for putting one over on the late-shift administrative assistant processing DL requests over at the MLB offices?
This is good news. There really was no point of keeping Perez in the bullpen. Now Takahashi is available for the Phillies finale tomorrow in case Pelfrey needs replacement before the 7th inning. With Frankie presumably unavailable, Feliciano, Parnell and Putz should take care of the rest, keeping Stokes fresh for a possible (long) relief appearance after Niese on Friday.
This peice of news is like a belated birthday card. It’s the right thing to do, but did not take place on time and there’s really no good excuse for it. But I agree with the whole: Takahashi belongs in the pen, the Mets are best served with 2 lefties available in relief, and Ollie belongs either on the DL or in the minors, not in the bullpen. Intersting it’s Niese who gets the call and not Redding or Gee, but it’s probably the right idea to ease his way to the majors with a start against the Pirates at home. It’s an envious hypothetical, but I wonder what happens to Ollie if Livan and Niese hold their own as the #4 & #5, not to mention Tim Redding. I guess we’ll cross that bridge if we get there.
I think that Omar was very pleased because the MRI results came back positive, and there was a reason to put him on the DL.
Can we think of a better way to spend $24.5MM dollars in 2009?
Billy Wagner; and
Ollie The Brain?
Factor in that Delgado will have this hip-thing flaring up all year — and tack on another iffy $13MM (or more — depending on what he re-upped for)….
This team’s reckless use of the “extra year” — and “extra couple million” to get an aging/declining player in here to play — is shocking.
Yeah, we spend…..but when you look at what it’s being spent on — there has to be a better way.
i told u so (see Ollie in the bullpen). Ollie was never going to make a BP appearance. I watched Ollie on Sat, and I thought as that 3rd inning progressed something was wrong with him (physically) as he was aiming the ball (early) then simply could not throw a low speed strike.
PS: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ao5UR18DjJ60ibqq12Ye1bIRvLYF?slug=ap-tigers-willis&prov=ap&type=lgns
sound similar.
Anyway…NOW i am not worried about the Mets or Ollie. In fact I still think Ollie will payoff.
2nd PS: watching on ESPN as Doc Gooden and Cone throw….
Niese: If he flunks this start, looks like Redding could be up soon. He had a 1run/6hit line LAST night.
Isuzu- Dillon Gee would be on turn, but Niese last pitched Fri (or sat), and had his best start.
When Ollie comes off the DL for his knee, maybe the Mets can send him back with “motivational disorder”.
Walnutz – interesting point. $40M for Ollie, Wags, and Delgado. But the Mets won’t spend $6M on Abreu or O-Dog. Funny stuff.
I believe the Mets want to give Redding a bit more time to get ready. If they bring him back too soon his season will be shot. Niese has an option, and they probably feel better about burning his option than Gee’s, if possible. I’m sure they don’t want to expose Gee to MLB yet, either, as they may need him as trade bait later in the year.
WOWOWOWOW…
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-manny-ramirez8-2009may08,0,6324894.story
Thanks ‘nutz … there is a new post where everyone can comment.