Stop the presses! The Mets have acquired a pitcher!

That’s right, he has a pulse and everything!

According to MLB.com and Joel Sherman, the Mets have come to terms with righthanded reliever Andy Cavazos, formerly of the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

Cavazos had a stunning MLB debut season, managing to allow and equal amount of hits and runs (27) in his 20 innings of work. He also walked 16 batters in those 20 frames, but here’s the good news: he struck out 15 and threw only 2 wild pitches. His 10.35 ERA was excessively bloated through no fault of his own — surely it was due more to the weak range of the St. Louis infielders and outfielders, a notoriously poor defensive group. Cavazos should see at least 6-7 runs shaved off that ERA the minute he moves into the vast confines of Shea Stadium and has genius catcher Brian Schneider calling the pitches.

For those who hadn’t already been following the illustrious career of this nine-year minor leaguer, Cavazos was originally drafted by the Rangers in 1999 for his athleticism — he was a hotshot shortstop and basketball standout at Brazoswood High School (Clute, Texas). After someone clocked him at 94 MPH on the radar gun, he was moved from the infield to the mound before getting chosen in the fifth round by the hometown Rangers in the same draft that produced Kevin Mench and Hank Blalock.

Stuck behind a number of brilliant arms in the perpetually pitcher-heavy Rangers organization, Cavazos caught a break when the Cardinals swiped him in the 2002 minor league draft. He responded to his good fortune by posting a sparkling 3.99 ERA with 10 saves and 5 wins in high A ball, being used as both a starter and reliever. The next year he was bumped to AA and posted a 6.14 ERA, but rebounded with a 3.41 ERA when demoted back to A ball in 2005, finishing the year in AA.

His breakthrough year came in 2006. He started well in AA and jumped right up to AAA, where he posted a 3.51 ERA in 44 appearances — striking out 55 in 56 innings and allowing just 47 hits and 23 walks. (Hmmm … sudden spike in performance … teammates with people like Rick Ankiel and Larry Bigbie … nah … ) He followed that up with another strong performance in AAA, again pitching in 44 games and this time posting a 3.21 ERA, with 48 Ks in 47 innings, before being promoted to the big leagues. In his minor league career, he has a 4.28 ERA, with 531 strikeouts, 303 walks, and 646 hits in 662 IP.

If things don’t work out for him as a pitcher, perhaps he can go back to shortstop. According to Baseball America’s post-draft analysis almost ten years ago:

“The most intriguing arm in the state may belong to RHP/SS Andy Cavazos, who has declared that he does not want to pitch; he wants to play shortstop on a full-time basis. Cavazos worked on rare occasions this spring. When he did, he showed exceptional arm strength, flashing a 94-mph fastball. His other pitches work well, but he’ll need a lot of refining–if someone can even persuade him to take the mound. Cavazos has good hands for a shortstop and an excellent swing … “

Also of note is that Cavazos is related to former pro wrestler Tito Santana, so he’s got an “in” there to fall back on if he needs it.

In all seriousness, I don’t think this signing is a big deal, though it might get Stephen Register and Brian Stokes a little nervous. I can’t get my hands on any recent scouting reports, and didn’t see him pitch with the Cardinals in ’07, but I’m going to guess that he’s a guy who throws really hard — so perhaps he’s supposed to fill the void left behind when the Marlins stole Marcos Carvajal from the system. Who knows, maybe the Mets will get lucky and Cazavos will turn out to be a decent arm to ride the Heath Bell Shuttle. The bullpen needs all the depth it can get, so I can’t criticize this pickup.

Happy New Year!

LaCie 301103U F.A. Porsche 500 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

In their debut year of 1962, the New York Mets set the all-time record for losses in a season, losing 120 games. However, 2007 was easily a more disappointing season for Mets fans — perhaps one of the most anguishing seasons in baseball history for a particular team’s fans. What was worse? The ’64 Phillies? The ’78 Red Sox? The ’04 Yanks?

Let’s see … the 2007 Mets were less than a .500 team from June to the end of the season. Yet, they found a way to stay in first place that entire time … well, almost. They stayed in first until the last weekend, managing to blow a 7-game lead in 14 games. That’s right; on September 12th, the Mets had a seven-game lead over the Phillies after winning game #145. By game #159, the Phils and Mets were tied for first, with the Phillies winning two out of their last three and the Mets losing two out of three to end the most miserable collapse ever seen in MLB. Oh, it didn’t help that it had to be Phillies, led by MVP Jimmy Rollins — the same Rollins who brazenly proclaimed in March that his Phils were “the team to beat”. No crow on Jimmy’s Thanksgiving table.

But somehow, in this horrendous season, we’re going to find the top 10 highlights of the year. Wish me luck.

1. Mets open the season with a three-game sweep of the Cardinals.

As terrible as the ending was, the beginning was just as sweet. After being embarrassed and eliminated in front of their hometown fans in the seventh game of the 2006 NLCS — the game that should have turned Endy Chavez into a living legend — the Cardinals had to go one further and rub the Mets’ collective noses in the dirt by hosting them for their World Series ring ceremony to open the season. In response, the Mets made certain to make 2006 a memory, beating the Cards 6-1, 4-1, and 10-zip to sweep them out of St. Louis. Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez, and John Maine all pitched spectacularly, and it looked as though the Mets might just walk away with the NL East for the second consecutive year. Ah, such optimism we had in that first week of April!

2. Easley’s Early Season, Late-inning Heroics

During the offseason between 2006 and 2007, the Mets signed journeyman utilityman Damion Easley. At the time, it made no sense to me. After all, the Mets had Jose Valentin to play second base — Easley’s best position — as well as Anderson Hernandez, Ruben Gotay, and also-acquired David Newhan. How many second basemen did the Mets need?

It seemed even more illogical after Gotay started out with a hot bat. What was the point of keeping the aging, at-best adequate Easley around?

Then the heroics began.

First, Easley parked one into Shea’s leftfield bleachers in a 7-2 victory against the Braves. Not particularly dramatic, but it was a foreshadow of something on the way.

A few days later, in a game against the Rockies. Colorado starter Aaron Cook locked horns with Orlando Hernandez, as the two hurlers threw up zeroes from frame to frame. Finally, in the tenth, the Rockies broke through with a run against the unusually wild Billy Wagner. In the bottom of the inning, Colorado closer Brian Fuentes got two quick outs and appeared to have the game sealed when he got ahead 0-2 on pinch-hitter Damion Easley. However, Easley wasn’t about to concede the game, and instead redirected a Fuentes fastball into those leftfield bleachers to tie the game one-all. The Mets won the game an inning later thanks to a dramatic bunt by Endy Chavez that scored Shawn Green.

Easley’s flair for the dramatic continued in May — eight games later, in fact. The Mets were losing by a run to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who had brought closer Jose Valverde in to save the game. Valverde, by the way, would go on to lead the NL in saves — and had been successful in ten out of eleven at this point in the year. However, on this day, he ran into a bit of trouble, allowing two runners to reach base with one out before Easley came to bat. Over in the dugout, Willie Randolph had some lefthanded bats to face the righty Valverde, but had a good feeling about Easley and left him in the game. His hunch was a good one, as Easley sent Valverde’s third offering over — you guessed it — the leftfield wall (though this time it was in Phoenix, not Flushing). The blast put the Mets ahead 6-4, and David Wright added another three-run homer later in the inning to top off a 9-4 victory.

3. Joe Smith

In June of 2006, Joe Smith was a nondescript sidewinder who had just completed classes at equally unknown Wright State and been selected in the third round of the MLB draft by the New York Mets. The selection and his eventual signing barely drew a yawn from the New York baseball writers, and no one could have predicted he’d be striking out Albert Pujols to secure an Opening Day victory only ten months later. But he did.

Smith’s sidearming slider buckled the knees of Pujols and dozens of lesser men in the first half of 2007, before overuse led him to burnout by the All-Star break. Still, Smith was one of the feel-good stories of the season, a genuinely good, humble, likeable kid who conquered the best hitters in the world in the greatest city on earth. In times when professional athletes were going to jail for murder, assault, and dogfighting, Smith’s biggest troubles were with parking tickets.

From April to July, Joe Smith was one of the biggest surprises of the young season, anchoring the middle relief corps with stunning consistency. He finished the year appearing in 54 games, going 3-2 with a 3.45 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 44 innings. Elbow tendinitis — the result of the biggest workload of his life — shortened his season and affected his overall numbers, but Smith showed enough in his rookie year to suggest that he won’t be “just another Joe”.

4. Shawn’s Walkoff

“I haven’t pulled a home run like that in a long time,” Green said.

You can say that again. Shawn Green’s brief tenure in a Mets uniform was fairly unexciting when compared to the rest of his career. Green, who through the years had been a Gold Glover, an All-Star, a 40-homer slugger, and an MVP candidate, was none of those things as a Met. Rather, he was something of a disappointment, particularly to Mets fans who were clamoring for the presence of Lastings Milledge in right field.

However, every once in a while Green would hark back to his golden years and pull off something impressive. Though his remarkable .407 hitting in September was a feat in itself (and an ideal way to ride off into the sunset), his most dramatic work came on June 25th against the Cardinals.

Through ten innings, the Mets lineup managed only two hits and one run against career scrubs Mike Maroth (making his NL debut) and Ryan Franklin. Their only run came on a third inning solo blast by rookie Carlos Gomez, while Mets pitchers combined to hold the Redbirds to one run on 8 hits.

After being no-hit through eight consecutive innings — their last safety was the Gomez homer in the third — Shawn Green led off the bottom of the eleventh against journeyman reliever Russ Springer. Green had been kept hitless by the two previous St. Louis pitchers — both lefties — and was 1 for 11 career against the righty Springer. Perhaps because of his lack of success against Springer, Green was patient at the plate, working the count full. But instead of looking for a walk, Green guessed fastball.

“When it got to 3-2, I felt he has got to throw a strike here. I figured he would throw me a fastball. I wasn’t necessarily trying to hit a home run, I was just trying to drive one somewhere,” Green said.

But homerun he did — he drove Springer’s offering far and deep over the 410 mark in centerfield, a prodigious blast that exited the Stadium in a flash. The Shea crowd, which had been bored to sleep thanks to the previous eight hitless innings, erupted in kind to only the second walk-off homer in Green’s illustrious career.

5. Tom Glavine’s Near No-Hitter

It wasn’t quite as dramatic nor as impressive as Maine’s near no-no (mentioned later in this post), but if not for a lucky infield hit by Scott Rolen in the top of the second of Game 76, Tom Glavine would have pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history.

Of course, the feat would have been slightly tainted, in that the game was shortened to five and a half innings due to rain. Still, it went into the books as an official game, and had it not been for that 55-bouncer off Rolen’s bat, Glavine’s shutout would have been hitless.

6. John Maine Gets Mad
John Maine is a fine pitcher, but not exactly a fireball of excitement — not flashy, not outspoken, nothing over the top about him. One might call him stoic, balanced, unemotional — possibly even nondescript. It seems that nothing affects him — good or bad. Unflappable might be a good word.

However, for the first time as a Met, we saw John Maine mad — though he’ll never admit to it.

After pitching lights out in the first half of 2007, someone with even less personality — Tony LaRussa — left Maine off the NL All-Star team. Instead of rightfully placing Johnny on the roster, LaRussa chose Brandon Webb and Roy Oswalt — both of whom were outpitched by Maine from April to July. As fate would have it, Maine’s last start before the All-Star break came in Houston against Oswalt. Showtime.

Maine didn’t just beat the Astros that night — he pistol-whipped them. It was by far his most dominating and intimidating outing in a Mets uniform. Not only did he mow down batters, he got up close and personal with them. Back in the day, we called it “shaves”. That’s right, Maine was buzzing his fastball up and in and under the chin, getting the Houston batters to “move their feet” and otherwise respect Maine’s ownership of the inside part of the plate. The defining moment of the game for Maine came in the sixth, when Craig Biggio led off with a basehit and Hunter Spence reached on routine fly that Ricky Ledee misplayed into a single. With none out, the meat of the Astros order was up — Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, and Mark Loretta (the Killer L’s ?). Maine struck out Berkman and Lee and disposed of Loretta via an easy popup to end the threat and the inning.

Though he was bounced from the game the next inning, the Mets won easily (6-2). More importantly, Maine made his statement, and proved that he was worthy of an All-Star berth — one that never came.

7. Tom Glavine’s 300th Victory

Now that Tommy’s a Brave again, this milestone is somewhat bittersweet. But at least we can say we saw it, and Glavine’s 300th victory — an 8-3 win over the Cubs on August 5th at Wrigley Field — came with the lefty adorned in orange and blue.

8. Pedro’s Return

Though the 2006 Mets season was a great success in many ways, the end was sour in that the team lost the man that made them matter — Pedro Martinez. It was the signing of Pedro, after all, that justified the Mets, that turned them from pretenders to contenders. So there was a certain emptiness in September when Martinez went down, despite the Mets’ running away with the NL East title.

But it was worse than that — Pedro’s shoulder had finally given out, and he would face career-threatening surgery to his shoulder. Dozens of pitchers before him had undergone rotator cuff surgery before him, but few came back with any kind of success — his older brother Ramon included. It was expected that in a best-case scenario, Pedro would miss nearly all of 2007 — he’d be lucky to return at all.

Pedro, however, is unlike most mortals, and always has been. He worked through his rehab relentlessly, and was on a mound by May. He took the ball in a Major League game for the first time on September 3rd, beating the Reds 10-4 in a five-inning outing — less than 11 months after going under the knife.

Martinez went on to make four more starts, and finished the season 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA. Though the Mets suffered an historic collapse, you couldn’t blame Pedro — he came up big in final stretch of the season. Even his sole loss was hardly his fault; a 7-inning, 8-strikeout, 2-run performance against the Cardinals — a game in which the Mets offense was shut out on three hits against Joel freakin’ Pineiro.

9. John Maine’s Must-Win

When Willie Collazo gets into a “must-win” game at the end of the year, it’s either really good news, or really bad news.

After a fantastic first half — one in which he established himself as the Mets’ stopper — John Maine fell apart. He wasn’t awful in the second half, but in the second half, he wasn’t anywhere near the dominating pitcher we saw from April to July. Some of it was blamed on falling out of his routine during the All-Star break. Pundits claimed the rest of the league caught up to him. There were whispers that he was wearing down in his first full MLB season.

Then, just when the Mets needed him most, the “first half” John Maine reappeared.

There were two games left in the season, the Mets’ 7-game lead a distant memory. They had just lost five consecutive games and were about to play the Marlins in the second game of the final three-game series of the season. With two games left, the Phillies were ahead of the Mets by one game. In order to stay alive in the pennant race, and salvage a season that turned into one of the worst collapses in history, the Mets absolutely, positively had to win this game — no ifs, ands, or buts.

And all John Maine did was take a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

Maine struck out 14 Fish in the process, leading the Mets to an easy 13-0 victory. Since the Phillies lost that same day, the two teams were once again locked in a tie for first in the NL East. After the game, the staff ace said:
“We weren’t going to lose today,” Maine said.

Thanks to John Maine, the Mets held their destiny in their control — it would all come down to the final game of the season.

10. David Wright – Almost an MVP
In April, it appeared as though Jose Reyes was building on the breakout year he had in 2006, and reach the ranks of superstardom. At the same time, his pal David Wright was struggling mightily, and some wondered if Wright might take a step back in 2007.

Nothing could have been further from the truth — in either case.

Despite a homerless April, David Wright spent May through September as a man on a mission — the one solid rock in the lineup in a rollercoaster year for the Mets offense. Wright was the first Met to collect 30 HR and 30 SB in the same season since mentor Howard Johnson, and batted .325 with 107 RBI en route to a sparkling season for the young star with the shiny grin. Chants of “MVP!” began erupting from the Shea Stadium stands during his at-bats in late July, and the praise was well-deserved.

Wright turned it on in the final stretch, rising to the occasion during their deepest despair. While the rest of the team stumbled, Wright hit .394 in August and .352 in September, literally carrying the Mets on his shoulders. Although big-mouth Jimmy Rollins won the award, David Wright finished in a respectable fourth in the MVP voting, tallying 182 points.

There you have it — the top ten highlights of the Mets’ 2007 season, presented in order according to date. No doubt I’ve missed some of the high notes, so please post what YOU thought were the best performances of an otherwise disappointing season. With a New Year upon us, and spring training nearing, now’s the time to talk about the positives, to help raise our optimism for the 2008 season.

So now the rumor is that the Mets may be interested in Jon Lieber. What a novel plan.

Funny, isn’t it, how we come up with great ideas on MetsToday and a few days later they become reality?

OK, it’s probably a lucky coincidence … we make a LOT of suggestions here, and only about .03% are exercised by Omar Minaya.

In any case, going after Jon Lieber makes a heckuva lot of sense for the Mets. He’ll be cheap, he’ll only be a one-year commitment, no one will think twice about cutting him loose if one of the youngsters outperforms him in spring training, he can be used in the bullpen, he’s had success in New York City before, and there’s a decent chance he’ll be able to fill the #5 spot in the rotation for most of the year. Did I miss anything?

Above all else, it would be nice for the Mets to finally sign someone to add to their starting pitching depth — particularly someone not named Jose Lima.

To keep you entertained, I’ve put together a quick little quiz. To do well on the quiz, you need to have visited Shea Stadium in the last two years and have a decent idea about the various songs and music played during games.

Test yourself here: Mets Music Quiz

Let me know if you enjoyed taking the quiz, and if you’d like to see more of these in the future. If there’s enough positive feedback, I’ll make quizzes a regular part of the site.

Good luck!

Being a big fan of his all-out, hard-nosed style of play, I was very disappointed to find out Ben Johnson had been non-tendered by the Mets earlier this month. It didn’t help that Heath Bell — the man for whom he was traded — was also one of my favorite Mets.

However, I had not been aware that Johnson was still struggling in his recovery from an ankle injury back in early August. It turns out he tore the ligaments in his ankle and broke his fibula while diving for a ball in the outfield. Since I personally suffered a similar injury about a hundred years ago, I know that it’s more difficult to get the torn ligaments healthy than the bones. In Johnson’s case, he has been on crutches for four months and won’t be able to put on a sneaker until the first week of January. Now it makes sense as to why the Mets cut him loose — there’s almost no chance of him being 100% by the time spring training begins, and equally little chance of him being ready to play in ballgames by April. But perhaps there is still some possibility that the Mets will re-sign him to a minor league contract, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. He would provide exactly the kind of depth the Mets will need ready and waiting in AAA — a strong defensive outfielder who can hit from the right side. Lord knows Moises Alou will be hitting the DL at some point in ’08, and there’s no guarantee that Damion Easley will have another fluke year. Assuming Carlos Gomez isn’t traded, we do have him, but it’s nice to have Johnson as an addendum — especially a year after the Mets saw at least seven outfielders go down with injuries.

Hopefully we’ll get another update on Johnson in the coming weeks, as he begins hobbling around sans crutches. And perhaps the update will come from the Mets’ media department, along with the announcement of a contract for 2008.

Do the Mets really need pitching? Omar Minaya doesn’t seem to think so. Maybe he’s right … perhaps Matt Wise, Steven Register and Brian Stokes were the only additions this team needed to fortify the pitching staff for 2008. Of course, there’s still about a month and a half before spring training — plenty of time to sign up a Jose Lima or Chan Ho Park.

But if spring training began today, this is what the list of arms might look like …

Starters

Pedro Martinez
Orlando Hernandez
John Maine
Oliver Perez
Mike Pelfrey
Philip Humber
Kevin Mulvey
Adam Bostick

Relievers

Billy Wagner
Aaron Heilman
Pedro Feliciano
Scott Schoeneweis
Matt Wise
Jorge Sosa
Joe Smith
Brian Stokes
Willie Collazo
Carlos Muniz
Steven Register
Steve Schmoll

Question Marks (injury)

Duaner Sanchez
Juan Padilla
Jason Vargas

Longshots

Eddie Kunz
Brant Rustich

Out for the Year

Ambiorix Burgos

Quick Review

Going over the above list, things don’t look all that bad. OK, maybe they do. For instance, there are four very shaky candidates for the #5 spot in the starting rotation, and if you add up all of their combined MLB experience there’s barely 100 innings. That might not be such a big problem if Orlando Hernandez weren’t 147 years old and almost certain to spend at least two stints on the DL. On the one hand, I’m all for giving a shot to the kids. On the other hand, it’s imperative to have depth, particularly when you know one of your guys is bound to go down. For example, what happens if Maine or Perez suffers an injury during the season? Who is next on the totem pole? There needs to be at least another arm or two — ideally someone with MLB experience — saved for a “rainy day”. Personally, I think it would be extremely irresponsible of the Mets not to either move one of the relievers (Heilman, Sosa) into a starting role or sign at least one or two starting pitchers with MLB experience — even if it is someone as awful as Byung-Hyun Kim or Josh Fogg. The kids have promise, and should get their chance, but there has to be a backup plan in place.

As for the bullpen, there are a lot of names but an equally large number of question marks. Whether Duaner Sanchez can come back healthy AND return to form is the biggest question of all — and everything flows from there. In a perfect world, Heilman and Sanchez will handle the eighth innings of games, Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith will have an entire year like the first half of 2007, and Matt Wise and Scott Schoeneweis will both pitch like it’s 2005. The reality may not be so rosy. Even if all six of those pitchers pitch to their capability, it’s still not enough arms to get through a 162-game season of contests started by 5- and 6-inning pitchers. So the questions continue. Will Jorge Sosa continue to be a perpetual enigma? Can Carlos Muniz or Willie Collazo be more than AAAA pitchers? Is Brian Stokes any better than Jon Adkins? Can Steven Register make the team? Will Brant Rustich or Eddie Kunz pull a Joe Smith? What happens if the answers to all of those questions are “no” — a distinct possibility?

Again, it appears to me that the Mets need more depth — preferably another arm or two with MLB experience. Someone along the lines of Octavio Dotel would be most welcome — the problem is, after Dotel, there aren’t many others available “along those lines”. Shawn Chacon or Brett Tomko might be the next-best pitchers available, and then you’re getting into Aaron Sele / Scott Schoeneweis territory — guys who will command MLB contracts, and likely won’t be shuffled between AAA and the bigs. But if they can’t get a Dotel, that’s exactly what the Mets need — a few Heath Bells, who can go up and down throughout the course of a season. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many of those types available. Register would be a candidate, but he was a Rule 5 draftee and therefore can’t be sent down (without losing him). That leaves Stokes, Muniz, Collazo, and perhaps Schmoll — a group that could use a little help. Maybe Jorge Julio or Brendan Donnelly would be willing to sign up for such a role; otherwise there are guys like T.J. Beam, Chris Reitsma, and Brian Moehler still out there — not exactly promising, huh?

Right now, the pitching looks so-so, and vulnerably thin. Let’s hope Omar Minaya is working diligently to fortify the troops — or it could be another disappointing season.

As mentioned yesterday, the starting pitcher market is shrinking quickly. The one legit starter still available that definitely would bolster the Mets’ rotation is Livan Hernandez, and at this late point in the offseason, he might be an economically reasonable pickup. It’s possible, for example, that he could be had for a two-year contract — something the Mets should be willing to offer. But I have a sneaking suspicion that a team such as the Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, or KC Royals will blow Livan out of the water with a silly four-year deal. Just a hunch.

If that’s the case, the Mets will have very little left to choose from. The healthy pitchers are either awful (Josh Fogg, Rodrigo Lopez), old (David Wells), or both (Steve Trachsel) — though there are a few perpetual enigmas (Brett Tomko, Kyle Lohse) mixed in as well. So the choice is either to sign a terrible starter to a short-term deal, sign a fairly terrible starter to a long-term deal, or take a chance on one of the myriad comebackers (that’s not really a word, I made it up).

The idea with the injured – but – recuperating arms is that they’ll cost relatively little, likely won’t require more than a one-year deal, and if the guy pans out, you may have someone in the middle or near the top of your rotation. Low risk, high reward. Still left in this pool are former big-time winners Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, Matt Clement, Kris Benson, Jason Jennings, Eric Milton, and Jon Lieber. All big, well-known names, and all coming off fractured seasons and major injuries. Everyone in this group knows how to pitch, and has won in the past — but which of them is most likely to contribute to a championship season in 2008? Let’s break them down.

Freddy Garcia is the one name that continues to be “buzzing” around Mets circles — the rumors are going back to November, and reportedly Omar Minaya is hot for him. Once a major workhorse and semi-ace with the Mariners and White Sox, the innings appear to have worn him down. He suffered a shoulder injury early in the 2007 that he kept hidden before finally going under the knife at the end of August. His torn labrum could be the end of his career — it’s the type of injury that few come back from successfully. In a best-case scenario, he’ll be available to pitch in June or July, but that really means August or September of 2008 (think: Pedro in ’07). If he is signed, he can’t be expected to help the team until the final stretch run — so if they do take the chance on him, it would behoove the Mets to sign at least one other arm to handle the first 4-5 months of the season.

Another Minaya favorite is Bartolo Colon, who suffered a partial tear of his rotator cuff, but has not had surgery. He’s also had some elbow issues, compounding his health concerns. It doesn’t help that Colon has been a power pitcher — a guy who relied on velocity to get big outs. Unless he can pull a very quick Pedro-like transformation into a junkballer, his career is likely over. Let’s see, what else is going against him … he’ll be 35, he’s always had a weight problem, and his most recent successful season came after training with steroid monger Nao Presinal. Sounds like the pitching version of Mo Vaughn waiting to happen.

Former Rockie and Astro Jason Jennings had elbow issues, shoulder issues, and most recently a torn flexor tendon in his forearm — the same injury that shelved Juan Padilla for all of 2007. No one’s sure if he’ll come back 100%, and some question whether he can be effective if his velocity drops substantially. Even his bat is suspect lately — he hit only .077 last year and .129 in 2006.

At one point, Matt Clement may been among the top five in all of MLB when it came to nastiness of stuff. However, he has been struggling mightily to return from major surgeries on both his rotator cuff and labrum (there’s that injury again) — unfortunately, not everyone comes back as quickly and easily as Pedro Martinez, no matter how hard they try. And Clement definitely is the type of pitcher who needed his velocity to succeed — but chances are, he’ll be lucky to break 90 MPH when he returns to the mound. If he can get back up to that 95+ form, he has a chance to dominate again — but that is a very big “if”.

For obvious reasons, Kris Benson will not return to Flushing. However, it’s just as well — he’s also returning from recent rotator cuff surgery, and reports from his latest workout were not great.

In contrast to everyone else in this group, Jon Lieber is not recovering from arm woes — he pitched in only 12 games last year due to a foot injury. Yes, he’ll be 38 years old, but he has a fairly young arm considering that he had Tommy John surgery in 2002. In addition, he’s not the type of pitcher who will lose significant effectiveness as his MPH drops — he’s been successful in the past by relying on sharp control and the ability to mix and match a tough slider, good changeup, and sinking fastball. Out of all the low-risk, high-reward starters, Lieber has the best chance to fulfill the right side of the equation — the high-reward side. No, he won’t be an ace, and likely won’t be much better than a #4 or #5 starter. But then, what do the Mets need more desperately — a possible ace who may not be able to pitch at full strength until August, or a back-end starter who likely will be healthy enough to give the team 160-200 solid innings? Lieber could be that guy, and I’m starting to think he makes more sense than anyone else.

Your thoughts?

Early in the offseason, Mets GM Omar Minaya promised to land an impact starting pitcher — this was his proclamation as of November 28th.

However, by December 3rd — less than a week later — Minaya backtracked on that statement, saying,

“We don’t feel like we have to do a deal for a pitcher. That being said, we are going to try to improve ourselves.”

He added,

“How have we addressed pitching? I think our defense makes our pitching better.”

So, in this winter of discontent for Mets fans, what is it that we’re supposed to believe? That the Mets are going to acquire an ace in the next month? That they won’t need to, because the defense now includes Ryan Church and Brian Schneider? But then what is all the buzz about Johan Santana and Joe Blanton?

If the Mets are still after an ace, someone needs to let them know that several have already been dealt — and most decks only have four as it is.

According to Baltimore GM Andy MacPhail, Oriole lefty Eric Bedard is off the trading block. Of course, that is only because MacPhail was unable to land a package of prospects more befitting of Johan Santana than of the fragile Bedard. Chances are, Bedard is indeed still very much on the block, and MacPhail made this “news” public as a form of posturing. Because remarkably, just a few days after that article was published, a new rumor began circulating that the Seattle Mariners have upped their offer to Baltimore to include both Adam Jones and Jeff Clement, as well as second baseman Yung Chi Chen. That deal doesn’t make enough sense for the O’s, who don’t need Clement with Matt Wieters less than a year away. If Seattle replaces Clement with pitching prospect Brandon Morrow, however, MacPhail would be a fool to reject the deal. The way the Mariners have been promising to get an ace (sounds familiar, eh?), and watching their actions so far this winter, I wouldn’t be surprised if they got the deal done within the next week.

What does this mean for the Mets? First, if the M’s are already prepared to give up Clement, Jones, and Chen, then the Mets are out of the running — they can’t match that positional talent package. In comparison, the Mets would have to offer both Carlos Gomez AND Fernando Martinez AND another high-level positional prospect — which they don’t have. And since they likely won’t part with both outfield prospects, the deal is all but dead. In other words, scratch off Bedard as a target — it ain’t happening.

Meantime, the Mets lost another “ace” target when Mark Prior signed with San Diego. Sure, he’s damaged goods, and may only pitch two or three months, but he’s an ace if healthy. Before Prior left the market, the Mets missed out on Danny Haren, Dontrelle Willis, Curt Schilling, Andrew Miller, and Matt Garza — all ace material. They’ve also missed out on middle-of-the-rotation guys such as Carlos Silva and Jon Garland. Back of the rotation starters such as Jair Jurrjens, Hiroki Kuroda, Chad Durbin, Tyler Clippard, and Randy Wolf eluded the Mets’ grasp as well. And then there’s Tom Glavine, who didn’t only walk away but went to fortify the Mets’ main competition in the NL East, the Atlanta Braves. Other than the fantasy of acquiring Johan Santana, who else is left for the Mets to get?

The Blanton and Bedard rumors can persist, but let’s hope the Mets don’t waste a Santana package on either of them. There hasn’t been much buzz at all on any other legitimate starters, so it’s hard to say who else is out there. Kind of strange the Mets weren’t able to wrestle away either John Patterson or Jason Bergmann in the Lastings Milledge deal, but it’s too late to talk about that now. That leaves the free-agent market — becoming thinner by the day — and the usual suspects: Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, Jason Jennings, Kyle Lohse, Jon Lieber. I refuse to include David Wells, by the way, and there’s no chance Kris Benson will re-join the team as long as Anna is part of the package. Yes, there are others, but none are an upgrade over Mike Pelfrey or Phil Humber; they include Josh Fogg, Josh Towers, Byun-Hyun Kim, Tony Armas Jr., Rodrigo Lopez, Odalis Perez, Brett Tomko, Russ Ortiz, and several other names that make my stomach turn.

Pitchers and catchers report to spring training on February 14, 2008 — that’s what does it say to the right? 50 days or less? So there’s about a month and a half to come up with an arm or two to plug into the rotation, and there isn’t much to choose from at this point. If the Mets do not sign Livan Hernandez, Colon, Lieber, or Jennings (hopefully they pass on Lohse), then they absolutely MUST sign one or more of the top relief arms still available — i.e., Octavio Dotel, Shawn Chacon, Jorge Julio, Jeremy Affeldt (and you thought the starters looked bad) AND do a switcheroo with either Pelfrey or Humber and Aaron Heilman. At the same time, they must pray to the baseball gods that Duaner Sanchez comes back 100% and/or Matt Wise reverts to his 2005 form. Sanchez or Wise at his best can fill the Heilman role, and someone among Wise, Sanchez, Humber, Pelfrey, and the free agents can ably fill the Chad Bradford role that Guillmero Mota disgraced. Everyone left over can complete the rest of the bullpen, along with Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith, The Show, and the various other holdovers. Heilman can fight it out for the fifth rotation spot with Pelfrey, Humber, or Kevin Mulvey, and if Heilman loses, he goes back to the ‘pen. If he wins, the other two hurlers go to AAA. Nice neat plan, no?

Before anyone suggests that Heilman is too valuable to take out of the bullpen, may I remind you that Heilman has been mentioned in every trade rumor from Johan Santana to Danny Haren to Eric Bedard to Joe Blanton. So there must be some kind of backup plan already in place in the event of Heilman’s exit. Super — then it’s time to move to that plan and push Heilman to the rotation to be the fifth starter the Mets desperately need.

It’s either that, or we may be looking at another last-second signing of Jose Lima the day before camp opens.