Update: June 5
Now Jose Reyes has a tear in his hamstring. He apparently suffered the tear in the extended spring training game … maybe they rushed him back too quickly? From Mets.com:
“Mets shortstop Jose Reyes has a small tear in his right hamstring, will rest for two days and then resume treatment, according to a statement released by the New York Mets.”
The Mets are now in real trouble… as if they weren’t already.
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According to Bart Hubbach, in a post to his blog for the New York Post, J.J. Putz is headed to New York and is facing possible elbow surgery. Hubbach writes, “J.J. Putz is headed back to New York on Friday and is facing possible elbow surgery in the wake of yet another dreadful outing by the former All-Star closer here today.”
Just 2 days ago I wrote this post about J.J. Putz and his ongoing arm problems. Well, I hate to say I told you so…
1) Never believe what the team says, when they claim there is nothing wrong with a struggling player.
2) When a player shows all the signs that his bad performance is a result of an injury, it probably is.
It just seems that no matter what the Mets do, they can’t keep a complete team on the field. The played hard for a while shorthanded, but they simply will not be able to withstand all the injuries. With the Phillies leading the division, and the Braves picking up All-Star outfielder Nate McLouth, the Mets may find themselves in real trouble here. It will be very difficult for them to keep up.
I’d simply like to chalk all of this up to very bad luck with the Mets, but I can’t help but question the medical and training staff in this organization. This is a repeating storyline with this team and it seems to only be getting worse.
Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog provided this link to Beyond the Boxscore, which documents and illustrates how no other team in the National League during the past 7 seasons has had more players spend more time on the DL than the Mets. This is a must read as it provides intense research on the subject, chock full of charts and graphs.
We have to figure out a way to make this stop. The only thing I can think of is to take all the black Mets jerseys, light them on fire and bury the remains in the ground. Wish I had a better solution.
2 CommentsIt’s time to stop Putz’n around here.
The big story last night was J.J. Putz throwing batting practice to the Pirates. The AAA team from Pittsburgh should not beat the Mets late in a game, let alone putting up a 5 spot against the Mets much improved bullpen in the 8th inning of a game that the Mets led the whole way. Only, they did. J.J. Putz couldn’t get anyone out and gave the game to a team that barely knows how to win.
There was this guy named Aaron Heilman, who was the pitcher that almost every Mets fan loved to hate, and who was boo’d out of town. Mr. Heilman was traded for J.J. Putz … who has seemed to fill Heilman’s void just fine. Heilman blew games in the 8th inning for the Mets and we traded him for a guy who’s starting to blow games in the 8th inning. The only difference between them, right now, is we got a guy with a last name that serves as a punchline for the papers.
So what’s wrong with Putz? That’s the big question.
I think the answer to that question is simple; J.J. Putz is hurt. It’s the only logical explanation. This is a guy that throws 96 when healthy, yet he’s barely cracking 92 on the radar guns. If there is one thing that has been consistent with Putz, it’s been his loss of velocity. This is a guy that has a history of elbow problems, which has been well documented in Seattle. The Mariners converted him from a starter to a reliever, and changed his mechanics in 2006, because of injury concerns. In 2007, Putz had all sorts of problems with his elbow, ranging from “stiffness” to “flexor strain”, and had a couple of MRI’s. This continued throughout 2008 with the Mariners, when he suffered “triceps tendon inflammation and an irritated ulnar nerve.” This landed him on the DL around the all star break.
So what happens when a pitcher gets traded to a new team? Does his elbow miraculously heal when he switches uniforms? Apparently not. This was printed in the Daily News in May:
“Putz had an MRI on Wednesday that revealed inflammation in the back of the elbow, which has caused a bone spur, Mets GM Omar Minaya said.
“He’s had this spur before, and guys sometimes play with it,” Minaya said.”
Hmm … interesting … so we traded a guy with a broken head for a guy with a broken elbow. Why didn’t anyone tell us?! But seriously, am I the only one that saw the infamous “adrenaline” quote as a smokescreen?
Anyhow, it’s clear that something is very wrong. The heat isn’t there, the location is off, and he’s not even throwing off speed pitches. Yesterday, before the game, Dan Warthen was changing Putz’s mechanics. Whenever pitching coaches start dicking around with a pitcher’s delivery, it’s usually to help that pitcher deal with pain, from some kind of injury they are dealing with.
It didn’t help either. Putz now has whiplash to go along with whatever else is bothering him, from all the balls hit back at his head. The team doesn’t feel much better, with a big fat ‘L’ stamped across their foreheads. It’s time to stop Putz’n around. If he’s hurt, either DL him or at the least, stop putting him in the 8th inning. Do what’s right for the team, right now.
Bobby Parnell … 8th inning. J.J. Putz … get well soon.
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