I May Be Wrong, But… Jon Niese, Trading Mike, Strasburg vs. Harvey, Injuries

• Dave Lennon tweeted on Sunday morning that pitcher Jon Niese was adjusting his release points in a bullpen session and was throwing some “drop-down Laredo” sliders. Lennon also commented that he found it strange that Niese was screwing with his mechanics at this point of the pre-season. Reporters tend to only criticize things that go wrong, but there is a proper warning here that even doing something that first looks right could have its problems down the road. Good call, Dave. 

 • There are reports out of camp that the Mets are attempting to trade Mike Pelfrey. This currently translates into “does anyone want the starter who currently has the worst ERA in baseball part of your rotation?” I don’t think he has any options left. Who could possibly want to do this and what would they offer in return? I’m not joking here. Why do teams that have a chance to dump someone and save money, instead think trading is the only way out? No one is going to blame Sandy and Company if Pelfrey gets picked up and does well for someone else. The only thing that matters is he sucks here and now You don’t hear Mets fans or press pissing about the release of Freddy Garcia do you?  

• The pitching duel of Stephen Strasburg vs. Matt Harvey had some anticipating the possibility of Harvey still making the 25-man. Sure, there’s a long shot there, but the main reason rookies pitch in ST games and regular rotation guys (Dickey, Gee) pitch in minor league games is so you don’t keep throwing your pitchers up against the same teams you’re going to play against all season long. You don’t have this problem in the Cactus League. 

• Something is going to start happening next week that happens every time this year. Lots of injured ballplayers miraculously heal. Some will be Mets. One plays third. You’ll see.