Cutnpaste: Francisco Rodriguez, Reese Havens, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Mets DL Payroll, Dale Thayer

Francisco Rodriguez - $17.5 million option vests with 55 games finished. - Ron Roenicke said that he was going to give K-Rod some closing opportunities when the deal with the Mets went down. He has finished one game since the trade. I guess Doug Melvin and Brewers ownership let him know how things were going to go. There was no way in God’s green Earth that the Brewers were going to take a chance like that and pay a “closer” $17.5 million when they have Prince Fielder on the way out the door this winter. Rodriguez has finished 35 games this season and won’t come much closer to that vesting option. - http://thebaseballhaven.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/2012-mlb-vesting-options  

9-3-11: - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/833229-new-york-mets-ranking-their-current-best-prospect-at-every-position/page/7#/articles/833229-new-york-mets-ranking-their-current-best-prospect-at-every-position/page/2  - In 2008, the Mets had two first-round picks. The first went to current Mets star Ike Davis. The other went to Mets top prospect Reese Havens. The Mets have been very thin at second base for as long as this decade can show, and their long-term solution is absolutely found in Reese Havens. The South Carolina stud would have ideally been called up to the show by now, but injuries have created setbacks for him as many have praised his well-rounded approach at the plate.

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9-3-11: - http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/09/prospect-pulse-buffalo-2012-help-on-the-way.html  - Kirk Nieuwenhuis - Captain Kirk returns from labrum surgery on his left shoulder, hopefully doesn’t miss a beat, and picks up right where he left off before his injury last May. The hope is that since the injury was to his non-throwing shoulder that his return will be sooner rather than later. At the time he went down he was the best player on the Buffalo squad, hitting .298, with a .908 OPS. His task at the time was to cut down on his strikeouts, and as soon as he makes progress in that regard he will be ready for prime time.

From the start of the 2009 season through the end of August this year, the Mets paid a staggering $107.2 million to players on the disabled list—based on Wall Street Journal analysis of the time they missed and their daily pay rate. Not only is that the highest figure in all of baseball over that span, it is nearly $47 million more than the next closest team, and more than double what 24 other teams paid their injured players. - wsj.  

With Jason Isringhausen dealing with a herniated disc in his lower back, the Mets will add Dale Thayer to the roster. Thayer made four appearances with the Mets in late May/early June, allowing two runs on five hits in four innings. He was 4-3 with a 2.66 ERA and 21 saves in 54 relief appearances for Triple-A Buffalo - http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/34230/thayer-joining-mets