Nationals 9 Mets 7

If nothing else, it was an exciting ballgame — from inning one through ten.

In case you don’t know already, Dillon Gee will be the starting pitcher today, Opening Day, for the New York Mets.

Gee will be the 23rd Opening Day starter in Mets history. Did he deserve the Opening Day nod?

The New York Mets have made their final cuts before Opening Day. Jenrry Mejia makes the roster — and the rotation — while Daisuke Matsuzaka does not.

I wonder if Ruben Tejada did a little dance when news of Wilmer Flores’ demotion to AAA was announced. I’ll bet Omar Quintanilla was happy as well. Barring a trade (yeah right), Tejada and Q will be respectively, the Mets’ opening day shortstop and understudy. Also demoted with Flores was Kirk Nieuwenhuis, meaning both Ike Davis and Lucas Duda are coming north as well. Not announced, but somewhat likely is that Juan Lagares, probably the best position player the Mets system has produced since David Wright, will rot away on the bench while Chris Young, the Mets Seven Million Dollar Mistake, patrols Centerfield.

After a winter of essentially discussing the re-arranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic, the Mets are trotting out a 25-man roster containing 21 players who received significant playing time during last year’s 74 win season. The Tejada saga is particularly galling. After openly criticizing him to agents and in the press, they then make it public that they had him shipped off to a Michigan fat camp in the dead of winter. He came to Spring Training a mental wreck and until recently, he had more errors than hits. Apparently, no one in the inner circle thought this through, since the alternatives are a 31-year old minor leaguer or a veteran journeyman with a negative WAR for his career. It seems unfair to subject Tejada to what is coming. My sense is that he was never much more than a utility player that the league has adjusted to. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him booed out of New York and playing in an independent league in a few years. Meanwhile Flores, who the Mets signed as a 16-year old shortstop phenom, was labeled by scouts as lacking the range to be successful at that position. So he started an odyssey around the infield that lasted a few years. Now, he is sent down to Las Vegas for a crash course at, wait for it… shortstop. Mind boggling.

At the risk of sounding proletarian, I am not comfortable rooting for players to fail. As the father of a Little Leaguer who aspires to being more, I have witnessed the hard work, sacrifice and struggle that it takes to be a successful baseball player. What is easier to root against are the “suits,” those behind the scenes (and sometimes not behind the scenes) types who control the direction of the team. And when one of those suits is a blue-eyed child of fortune, it becomes even easier.

I would have guessed that the level of anxiety among the Mets’ brain trust would have risen to somewhere in the vicinity of panic by now. The offense, bullpen and bench look terrible. The sole young gun in the rotation has been shaky and the top lefty has had two injury scares. All of this is on GM Sandy Alderson and the Wilpons. Every player on the roster is one of their guys. All of the excuses are gone: there are no more Omar Minaya-era contracts to moan about and no new injuries that have derailed their best laid plans. Instead, Alderson makes a crazy comment about winning 90 games.

As one of this board’s resident iconoclasts, I do tend to be cynical about the Mets, so my expectation is that by Memorial Day, the wheels will already have come off the wagon. What I find more discouraging is when their GM makes a ridiculous statement about 90 wins this year (was he including Spring Training and “B” Squad games in that total?) and it barely makes a ripple. Either the fanbase is as delusional as Alderson and the Wilpons or maybe to paraphrase Alderson’s infamous quip from last year: “What fanbase?”

Last place seems much more probable than a 90-win season. A bad start (also likely) could raise the national ridicule of the Mets to early 1990’s levels. That might be the best thing about the 2014 season. As fans, we lack the power to impact the results on the field, so I think the empty seats and the scorn of the hyenas in the press corps will be the best measure of revenge we can get. Alderson and the Wilpons deserve every bit of it.

The Mets have until noon today (Tuesday) to either inform Daisuke Matsuzaka that he’s made the 25-man roster, or pay him $100,000 to go to the minors.

Based on his spring performance, one would think Dice-K will make the club. But if so, what will the Mets do with Jenrry Mejia?

Yesterday on the SNY broadcast of the spring training split-squad game between the Mets and Nationals, Ron Darling gave his take on Tommy John surgery, suggesting that “everyone is different” in regard to recovery, and while all pitchers get the same prescription for rehab, that doesn’t mean they’ll all heal exactly the same, because everyone’s “makeup” is different.

No offense to Darling, but at least two things must be considered. First, while every pitcher gets the same rehabilitation prescription after undergoing Tommy John surgery, not all pitchers follow the program (this is often the fault of the teams). Second, while everyone’s DNA is different, so are their pitching deliveries — and some are more dangerous than others. A human being can’t change his DNA, but he CAN change his mechanics. Unfortunately, very few — if any — pitchers make the necessary corrections to their mechanics to avoid harming themselves again.

And therein lies the problem: pitchers — and the teams they pitch for — rarely consider what CAUSED the elbow injury in the first place. It’s chalked up to “bad luck” or some other random, mystical force. Can you imagine what this world would be like today if we took that approach to everything that went wrong in life? Oh wait — we DID do that, about a thousand years ago. We blamed bad weather, famine, plagues, floods, and just about every other negative happening on one god or another. Then, at some point in human history, we discovered — and developed — something called SCIENCE. It’s an amazing thing, this “science” concept — it’s able to explain things, such as why lightning strikes, or why it snows, or why pitchers destroy their elbows.

Here’s the best part — unlike the weather, which is uncontrollable (but explainable), thanks to science, pitchers don’t have to destroy their elbows. Scientists know exactly why pitchers hurt their elbows, and why Tommy John surgery isn’t necessarily the answer for a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). Sure, you can take an aspirin or Advil for your headache, but wouldn’t it be even better to prevent the headache in the first place? In most cases, it CAN be done. Similarly, pitchers don’t have to tear their UCL — and those who’ve torn it once, don’t have to tear it again.

But don’t take it from me — I’m just a hack blogging from my parents’ basement. Listen below to qualitative scientist and sport kinesiologist Angel Borrelli explain why pitchers injure their elbows, and how it can be prevented. Oh, and there’s a full follow-up on Jonathon Niese‘s shoulder and elbow injury — and you are NOT going to like what you hear.

Have a comment? A question for the next episode of The Fix? Post in the comments.

From “DanB” in the comments section:

Hey Joe, I am (surprise!) tired of talking about why our shortstop position sucks. What about a good ole’ baseball post about Collins’ idea (actually LaRussa’s) of pitchers batting 8th? At first I didn’t like it because it gives the pitcher 18 more ABs per year. But then I realize a pitcher only gets two to three ABs anyway before they get pinch-hit for. It would be the pinch hitters getting 18 more ABs per year. I actually like the idea of the pinch hitters getting more ABs rather then the typical eighth place hitter, especially since it will be in the late innings. And this is before we debate whether it would give DW more RBI opportunities. Anyone?

Thoughts?

The good news, which you likely already heard: the MRI of Jonathon Niese‘s elbow came back clean — there was no sign of damage.

The bad news: that doesn’t necessarily mean that Niese will be OK, able to start Opening Day, and give the Mets 200+ innings in 2014.