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9/26/11

Cutnpaste: - Straw on Jose, Mets Moneyball, Izzy with Bobby, Mike Pelfrey, Taylor Buchholz


Ultimately, Strawberry chose to depart the Mets, heading across the country to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1991. It's a career move he wishes he could have back and one he hopes Reyes can learn from with his impending free agency. "It looks good on the other side, but it's not always as good as the place that you're used to," Strawberry said about leaving the Mets in free agency. "When you're young you don't realize that, and for me, I was young and didn't realize what New York meant to me. "Tell Jose I said New York is a great place. A great place no matter what, it's a great place to play. No matter what you have to go through, how difficult it gets, this is the place that you want to play." - http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/7012415/darryl-strawberry-jose-reyes-stay-new-york-mets

Signing pitchers with bum arms wasn't a concept published in the "Moneyball," but it seemed to be a "market inefficiency" identified by the new Mets front office. Sometimes a team will take a chance on one or maybe two pitchers whose health is a major question mark, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. The Mets, however, signed six of these guys: Chris Young, Chris Capuano, Boof Bonser, Taylor Buchholz, Taylor Tankersley and Jason Isringhausen. The logic was that all of these pitchers were undervalued because of their injury histories and their recent appearances on surgeon’s tables. How did it turn out? The good news: Capuano wound up giving the Mets 30 starts and Jason Isringhausen came out of the bullpen 53 times. Young was spectacular through his first four starts, then reinjured his shoulder and was done for the year. Buchholz lasted until June, when shoulder fatigue and other issues ended his season. Bonser and Tankersley never made it out of spring training. - http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/16614/mets-brand-moneyball-not-so-successful

According to reports, Jason Isringhausen is working with Bobby Parnell on a knuckle-curve. Parnell threw a combined 2 scoreless innings in the double-header sweep of the Phillies yesterday. Pitch F/x data, however, hasn’t picked it up so I am not sure he is actually using it in the game. Parnell hasn’t given up an earned run since September 6th, and hasn’t given up any runs since blowing a save to the Cubs on September 10th. If he can master some sort of secondary pitch, then you might be on to something here. Parnell also has to learn to relax on the mound. He appears much calmer the last few times out. It seems once Terry Collins said “you’re the closer,” his level of anxiety on the mound increased. - http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=40249

Few would understand as well as Pelfrey (7-12, 4.58 ERA), who has spent nearly half his life trying to develop a secondary pitch to complement a fastball that made him both a major-leaguer and a millionaire. In five major-league seasons, he has attempted to utilize a curveball, a changeup, a slider and a splitter. None have proved useful. In the process, through a mechanical quirk, he believes he has downgraded the quality of his sinker, the pitch that carried him to the big leagues in the first place. - http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2011/09/mets_mike_pelfrey_still_search.html

Paulino ($1.35M 2011 salary), Pagan ($3.5M), Pelfrey ($3.925M), Acosta (~$415K),  and Buchholz ($600K) are eligible for arbitration. I expect the Mets to retain  Paulino, Pagan, Pelfrey, and Acosta. Pagan and Pelfrey have become lightning  rods for the ire of a vocal portion of the Mets’ fanbase this season, but my bet  is that both survive the winter. Buchholz, on the other hand, has spent the bulk  of the season dealing with physical and psychological issues. If the Mets  believe he’s worked through them, I could see them bringing him back. However,  I’d expect it to be on a minor league incentive-laden contract, rather than an  arbitration offer. Buchholz is the only Met I believe will be non-tendered this  December. - http://mets360.com/?p=8036&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mets360%2Ffeed+%28Mets360+Feed%29

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