Mike's Mets

I DVRed yesterday's game against the Orioles and watched it last night. Of particular interest was Duaner Sanchez' inning that has received a lot of favorable play in the news today. While Duaner did indeed hit 90 on the radar gun, Kevin Burkhardt correctly pointed out that the couple of times he hit 90 he was clearly overthrowing and missed badly. The fastballs he was throwing for strikes were 87-88. Having said that, I thought he looked pretty decent, but I still have a concern over whether his arm strength is where it needs to be at this point.

In Monday's post I linked to Ed Coleman's opinion that Sanchez is rushing things a little and that the Mets should slow him down. I tend to agree. The Mets have a lot of options for the bullpen, and giving Duaner another 2 weeks to a month shouldn't be that big of a hardship.

In looking at the bullpen right now, the following guys (barring a trade or injury) seem a lock for jobs coming out of camp:

Billy Wagner
Duh. By the way, I like the fact that has changing things up a little this spring. It will be interesting to see if any of these new pitches or pitching out of the windup are still around when the games start to count.

Aaron Heilman
Everybody's favorite trade chip is still wearing orange and blue. If Duaner doesn't start the season with the club, he's the eighth inning guy. If Sanchez is around on opening day we'll likely see the sort of split we saw with Sanchez and Heilman in 2006.

Pedro Feliciano
I think he's earned the respect after two terrific seasons to assume he's the top lefty setup guy. Should be used more for whole innings against righties, too -- a fact clearly borne out by the numbers.

Scott Schoeneweis
Nobody's going to take that salary. We can hope for the Schoeneweis we saw the last month of the season, and then perhaps we might find someone desperate enough for relief help in-season. It's not that I don't think he's better than he showed most of last year, but he really doesn't seem to me a New York type guy. Oh, and if you think the Mets would eat the last two years of his contract and cut him, then you probably also believe Geraldine Ferraro that her comments were not racist. He's the second lefty out of the bullpen barring a miracle trade.

Matt Wise
I've been impressed with this guy in camp. He has a good attitude and a great changeup and knows how to pitch. I think he'll be in a rotation with Feliciano and Schoeneweis for the sixth and seventh innings.

Jorge Sosa
Also mentioned in trade rumors, and probably more attractive to some teams then Schoeneweis given his versatility and contract. The Mets have so little starting pitching depth, though, that I think Sosa wins the long relief job and provides rotation insurance.

That covers six of the available seven spots in the bullpen. There is no shortage of candidates for the spot, which would seem to me why going slow with Sanchez would seem so sensible. You have rule 5 pickup Steven Register, who would have to go back from whence he came if he doesn't stay on the 25-man roster all season. Nelson Figueroa has looked good in camp, as has Brian Stokes. Ricardo Rincon has been a revelation, although it seems doubtful that the Mets would keep another lefty if Schoeneweis isn't dealt. Several other candidates, including last year's spring sensation Joe Smith, are also around. I find it hard to believe one of them wouldn't suit for the short-term.

I'm not down on Sanchez -- quite the opposite. I agree with the majority opinion that a healthy Sanchez is a huge addition to this bullpen. He went a year-and-a-half without pitching, though, and got a little bit of a late start in camp. As stated previously, it's more important to me that Duaner pitches in September and October than in April.

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