MetsMerized – The Mets have banished K-Rod to the restricted list. He will never don a Mets uniform ever again… or until Saturday. Whichever comes first.

Mets Gazette – Frank Gray chronicles the Mets seemingly perpetual slide into circus-y irrelevance. Are we there yet?

MetsBlog – Matt Cerrone thinks the Mets can only become relevant again if there is some accountability.

MetsToday – Speaking of accountability, Jeff Wilpon has lied about playing pro ball for 27 years in order to appear qualified for the job he is currently failing at. Amazin!

Daily Stache – There was one big winner when K-Rod was arrested – a Pennsylvania cab driver netted $300.

And here are Johan Santana’s comments on K-Rod and yesterday’s shutout, via ESPN New York:

Some comments from various people “close to the situation” in regard to the K-Rod incident of the other night, courtesy of ESPN …

The 28-year-old closer went into the family lounge, hauled Pena into an adjoining tunnel and “repeatedly hit him in the face and hit his head against a wall” before taking off, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

New York Assistant District Attorney Kristen A. Kane:

“There seems to be a history of violence,” Kane said. “[The complainants are] very concerned. They are very fearful of the defendant returning to the home.”

Jerry Manuel:

“For me, to get to that level at anything is not something that you encourage.”

I should hope not!

Carlos Beltran:

It’s disappointing, man. You don’t want to see no one go through that. But it is what it is. Now he has to deal with that situation. Us, as players, as teammates, even though we don’t agree with what he did, we have to support him. He’s part of the ballclub. He’s going to come here and do his thing.”

“No one should act like that. It doesn’t matter if the team did whatever it did. No one should act like that. I think that’s something as players, that’s why every step you take forward you have to know what you’re doing. To me, I do [think] he feels sorry. He feels sorry about what happened. But it’s too late.”

Agreed. Nice to see Carlos step up and provide his comment. Billy Wagner would be proud. Please continue to step up and take over a leadership role, Carlos!

Johan Santana:

“We support him 100 percent. I’m just hoping to get him back as soon as possible. He means a lot to this ballclub.”

Yeah, me too. Baseball is much more important than uncontrollable rage occuring in a home where two young children reside. Kids need to be tougher these days anyway. Forget about them and get K-Rod back in the bullpen!

Jeff Francoeur:

“Maybe it’s a distraction we need. Not to say it’s a good thing. But maybe at the end of the day we can turn it into a positive. I know for him, it’s between him and his family.”

Oh Jeff … I try so hard to defend you, to like you … sometimes, maybe it’s best to just keep quiet.

Francisco Rodriguez’s attorney Christopher Booth:

“Mr. Rodriguez is obviously distressed. He’s 28 years old and never had anything like this happen to him before. It’s quite a shock for a young man to be put into handcuffs and taken away and charged.”

“Mr. Rodriguez and I have complete confidence in our criminal justice system. This is the first step in what is going to be a long process. Mr. Rodriguez, like everyone else, has family issues and family concerns on top of the pressures that athletes like him face every day. He is confident, and I am confident, that there will be a fast and just resolution in this case.”

“… happen to him before” ?????????? What the heck does that mean? This is the first time he got CAUGHT beating someone up? It’s not like some external force took over his body and made him punch an old man. I won’t even address the “pressures that athletes like him face every day”. That’s just asinine.

One final quote, from Jeff Wilpon:

Ownership and the organization are very disappointed in Francisco’s inappropriate behavior and we take this matter very seriously.

Wow … them’s some harsh words! I felt a chill just reading them! He seems almost as angry as last October when the Mets’ disappointing season made him say all kinds of crazy things.

Pat Misch was removed from his start for AAA Buffalo Tuesday night after throwing just five innings and 55 pitches, indicating that he will start in place of Hisanori Takahashi on Saturday.

Misch will be promoted despite the fact the Bisons boast a far more intriguing and better option in Dillon Gee.

Gee has a 4.74 era., but his FIP is much better (3.94). Misch has undoubtedly pitched good as well, posting a 3.34 era. and 3.53 FIP on the year. For one, though, with the Mets all but mathematically eliminated and looking with an eye toward the future, Gee is just 24 years-old, while Misch turns 29 in a week. Big difference. While both have done an excellent job limiting base on balls (Gee has a 5.4% walk rate, Misch 4%), Gee has a much, much better strikeout rate (23.2%), than Misch (15.9%). Misch’s ERA and FIP is better, because he has allowed less home runs per nine innings (0.65) than Gee (1.07). Misch, however, has a history of giving up home runs- he has a 1.3 career HR/9 rate in 156 big league innings,  and 0.9 in 783.2 minor league innings- while Gee’s career HR/9 rate in the minors entering this season was just 0.4.

Did I mention the Mets are out of contention, and that Gee is a developing 24-year old pitcher, and Misch a late 20s AAA lifer?

These are the types of double-facepalm worthy decisions that irk me to no end about this organization. It’s such an unvarnished call for the Mets to make. Yeah, maybe there is not a tremendous disaprity between Misch and Gee, but what difference does exist is so clear, simple, and painfully obvious. Because the Mets insist on relying on an anarchic business model, absolutely failing to grasp simple concepts such as the importance of peripherals vs. the pitfalls of ERA. They are incapable of managing this team at the margins, which has been Omar Minaya’s downfall throughout his entire tenure as general manager.

Equipped with little to no knowledge of sabermetrics, Omar cannot tell you that Mike Jacobs or Daniel Murphy is any better or worse than your average first baseman, or that Jeff Francoeur is not a major league caliber player, or that Angel Pagan is infinitely better than Gary Matthews Jr. Thus, notions and labels such as “veteran presence”, “clean-up hitter”, “heart and soul”, “pieces of the puzzle”, which are, at best, small considerations, become primary tools of distinction.

Sure, the decision in itself is not this team’s undoing, but in a sense it is. This kind of decision captures everything that is wrong with this organization.