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Just found another great Mets site. Mets360.com has some great analysis, farm team information, history, videos and podcasts. Check it out.
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Just found another great Mets site. Mets360.com has some great analysis, farm team information, history, videos and podcasts. Check it out.
Port St Lucie, Florida--The FBI paid a visit to Port St Lucie this past week and it was not to escape the wintry weather--it was to question Jose Reyes about his involvement with Dr. Tony Galea whom the Mets shortstop used for a unique blood spinning treatment when he suffered from a torn hamstring tendon last year.
Galea, who is under investigation for drug violations, has treated numerous athletes including ex-Met Carlos Delgado and the embattled Tiger Woods.
"The FBI is talking to every player who went to that doctor and they told me everything with me was fine. I was cleared. They asked me if I was ever injected with HGH and I said no" said Reyes.
Still, this is a story that might have some legs especially when you consider that Tiger Woods could be involved in the investigation as well. "Now that I talked to them I am free," continued Reyes,"they just took my blood out and did the PRT treatment (platelet rich therapy) and I guess it did not work because I had to get the surgery."
The Mets confirmed that they were aware of the FBI inquiries.
Port St. Lucie, Florida-- When Omar Minaya signed Kelvim Escobar to a one year $1.25 million contract in the off-season, the Met general manager envisioned that he would be the perfect set-up man for Francisco Rodriquez. According to Jerry Manuel, shoulder issues will likely force Escobar to the sidelines far too long for him to be counted on so the team must look at other options for that important 8th inning role.
It is interesting to note here that the Mets signed Escobar to his deal after just a 2 inning stint in winter ball and he has complained about shoulder issues from the day he arrived here in Port St. Lucie. "If he had been healthy we felt it would be a tremendous fit for us because we would have had that covered, but now with the injury we have to have someone else step in and handle that role," said Manuel during his daily briefing with the media.
Escobar, though disappointed, remains confident he can help the team. "Hopefully, my shoulder responds in 3 to 4 weeks as everyone is hoping so I can help this team get to the World Series --that's our goal," said the injury riddled Met righthander.
So, where does Jerry Manuel go from here? Clearly, Ryota Igarashi would seem to be the odds on favorite showing a real explosive fastball coupled with an improving splitter in his early bullpen sessions. But do not count out Fernando Nieve who might get a look if he ends up being the loser to Jonathan Niese in the 5th starter sweepstakes.
The problem here for the Mets is this 8th inning spot will help shape other roles in the pen as Jerry Manuel was counting on the combination of Pedro Feliciano and Sean Green to carve out the 7th inning but without a bona fide 8th inning candidate, their roles will be up in the air until he decides on K-Rod's set-up partner. Bobby Parnell could be a dark horse candidate as well who certainly has the stuff but showed last year he needs to fine tune his command before he is given greater responsibility from Manuel.
It is very early in spring training but this 8th inning issue has quickly become the biggest early season challenge for Jerry Manuel--bigger than his lineup tweaks, bigger than his CF battle, bigger than his starting rotation because in the long run, a bullpen is a powerful force in the success of any baseball team--a good one covers up weaknesses but a bad one makes every little blemish look like an eyesore.
What would a day in Port St Lucie be without Mets Manager Jerry Manuel talking about tweaks to his proposed Opening Day Lineup? Hell bent on batting Jose Reyes third, it is now a question of whether David Wright or Jason Bay get the cleanup spot?
I must say this about Jerry Manuel's daily press conference--the sessions are never dull. In his mind, he is already penciling in Jose Reyes as the third hitter in the order which many people, including myself, have questioned ad nauseam. But very much intertwined in the equation is how the rest of the lineup will be constructed with Manuel pontificating that is will look something like this:
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
Steve Mitchell/US Presswire
Steve Mitchell/US Presswire
I have been around this team since 1984 and never quite ever understood the grief the Wilpons gets for their payroll levels. $120-130 Million dollars is more than enough to put a winning product on a baseball field and the Wilpons have always been committed to that level of economic responsibility. If you want to be critical of HOW they spent that $, that is a reasonable criticism but their level of restraint in a down free agent market that they showed this year, will benefit them in the long run. That benefit could show up as early as this year's trading deadline. And lets not forget they did rope in one of the top 3 free agents even in that down market.
Still, many people "in the know" contend the Mets are out of money as evidenced by the lack of off-season activity with the exception of Jason Bay. And I will say what I have been saying for the past 12 months. The Madoff scandal had little or no impact on the financial infrastructure of the New York Mets.
What I think happened this off-season is in a down market the Mets looked at their roster and said to themselves: We have one of the sport's best starting pitchers, the league's best closer, the league's best center fielder, and a left side of the infield that many organizations would like to possess so why not roll the dice on health because the 2010 off-season free agent crop will be fertile with some of those players actually being available at this year's trading deadline. It is not a strategy I expect everyone to agree with but at the least everyone should understand it.
And for those Met fans who yearn for new ownership, be very careful what you wish for. More importantly, ask yourselves if the fans in Florida and Atlanta, for instance, might want a man owning their team who consistently commits over $120 Million to his payroll every single year?