…in regards to the pitchers Sherman mentioned, Garland was always destined for the west coast, unless of course a team like the Mets blew him away with an offer, but i think people would’ve been equally as critical if they had done that with Garland or Davis, because neither are talents any team should overpay for because neither talents can transform a franchise…the Mets were in on Pineiro but ultimately, the Mets wouldn’t increase their offer, and for a guy who i believe will not succeed outside of St. Louis, i’m not going to jump on Omar Minaya for that either…

Baron was using Joel Sherman’s column for talking points. He makes the good points that Mets are not the same destination it once was. The club was going to have to overwhelm most free agents to be in the picture. The talent in this market – save Jason Bay and John Lackey – did not warrant that. The Mets would have upped their offer to get Bay. Lackey’s health should have been a question of concern that kept them out of a bidding war with the Red Sox.

But Baron makes another point that I have been making in that Jason Marquis was the best fit that never seemed to be considered. Unlike other players, the New York native made it known he wanted to play for the Mets. If Marquis has a good season for the suddenly improved Washington Nationals, the non-signing will prove to be another hammer of media segues.

Still, the relative one-year bargains that Doug Davis, Jon Garland, and Bengie Molina are non only indicative of the market the Mets likely predicted but were also just that -bargains. Its easy to feel that the Mets could have “over paid” or easily made a offer worthy of accepting.

You can be assured that the team that ultimately the Mets are compared to in the Yankees would have paid the price to get a player they either wanted or needed. Yet the Mets did not make any of those determinations, and it reveals they better be thinking in other ways as I commented on a few days ago.

What ever the plans, the Mets are committed to it now. They have to bank now on the return to form of Oliver Perez and John Maine. Mike Pelfrey will have to improve. The Omir Santos – Henry Blanco catching tandem has to suddenly compare favoritably to the Nationals acquisition of hall of famer Ivan Rodriguez as Dan Warthen was public in his condemnation of last year’s catching. The bashing of Luis Castillo by his own club needs to have not been accurate.

It’s alot to hope.

At any rate, my surprise begins with the news that the Mets never made any inquiries about Putz health prior to the trade and that the club trivialized his injury. Significant assets were committed to get Putz and now he is gone without anything resembling compensation.

A Mets statement somewhat contradicts Putz:

We were aware that [Putz] had a bone spur before the trade,” the statement said.

“He had the same condition in 2008 and was able to pitch with it. J.J. underwent an exam during spring training and an additional exam and MRI before he was cleared to play in last year’s WBC [World Baseball Classic]. Unfortunately, the spur did flare up again in May and he missed the rest of the season.”

Putz seems to be overatating his problems with the Mets as the Mets did an MRI on Putz before they let him go the the WBC. Putz said nothoing of this is his interview. To say the Mets mishandled or mistreated him is false. They took a chance on Putz elbow would be a non factor and probably relied on much of what they Mariners were telling them.

Pitchers frequently pitch with spurs or chips present within the elbow’s hinge joint. Unless problems begin – meaning pain – they are allowed to pitch. But when a pitcher begins hurting, it’s shut down time. As in Putz case and from the timeline that Janish provided, it appears that the bone spur that Putz developed is something we see quite frequently. To make a comparison, the development is similar to that of heal spurs after years of plantar fasciitis on the bottom of a foot. We often inject painful heal spurs with some success.

Unlike a shoulder where a bursa sack can be injected, the elbow does not provide such an effective target for costisone. Putz received and injection last year in May last year likely intended to decrease the spur.

The easiest path has been to jump in another public Mets beat down and I would have if the medical staff hadn’t done an MRI prior to Putz going off to the WBC. A larger issue that provides much more interesting dynamics comes up when one notes the large number of Mets whom participated in the WBC suffered season ending injuries last season. The list include Putz, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Johan Santana, and Oliver Perez. All of these injuries can be categorized as being of the over use variety.

The Mets don’t seemed to have publically advanced this theory as it could cause them considerable political problems within the industry. Having said this, it will intersting to see how the Mets handle the issue in the run up to the next one in 2013.

He probably has a split contract and will begin the season in Buffalo. The Mets likely see him as a staff saver, an emergency innings eater that can start or relieve. The tendency is to scoff at signings like these, but everyone needs pitchers like Dickey. He’ll pitch pitch for both New York and Buffalo this year.

UPDATE: Here’s Pinto’s take on Elmer Dessens.

We are now seeing one of the hidden problems that last seasons crushing amount of injuries resulted in. They had no chips to commit to trades.

Billy Beane thought that Ben Sheets was worth the gamble. Omar Minaya needs for Beane to be wrong.

The explanation coming from the Mets last night, via a club source, is that they are focused on offense first, as they continue negotiations with Molina and outfielder Jason Bay. As such they aren’t ready to negotiate with pitchers until they know how much it costs to add bats.

Really? You mean you don’t have salary already slotted for a starter and you cannot go after more need than once? How do you explain all your efforts to improve catching. All of those available now are going to go for about the same thing. A relaible veteran player who wants to play for the Mets should not have been dismissed so easily. If there was diagreement on Marquis, it must have been from somebody high up like Omar Minaya or Jeff Wilpon.

So the quote the John Harper got sounds like a cop out to deflect criticism. The Mets hypersensitivity toward what’s written about them in the newspaper far too often results in clearly disingenuous spin. The Mets just needed to be big boys and say that they had no interest in Marquis. Because if they were, letting him sign with the Nationals was a screw up.

Good. Some much needed depth and power can be had from the group that includes Jonny Gomes, Jack Cust, Ryan Garko and Garrett Atkins. Amongst pitchers, Hubbach reports that relievers Clay Condrey, Mike MacDougal and Matt Capps could interest the Mets.

I’d look for the Cubs to go after of of these to compete for the closer role. They need someone to close games badly. Getting one of the other two would benefit the Mets’ bullpen.

I’d take any of the others whom can play first and the outfield.

Overall it will be much easier for Minaya to bring in two from this group than it will be to get one of the big three – Holliday, Bay or Lackey. Some reports have the Mariners have entered the bidding and Bay has been quoted as saying he would love to play near his Canadian home.

At the very least, the thought that the Mets were going to take advantage of the heft that was removed from their payrol last year. The Wilpons have told the basball people to they can improve the club via free agency.

But to really put themselves back into the conversation – which in New York is crucial – they will have to sign one of the big three. Getting a couple of non-tendered won’t get it done for a critical media and a wounded fan base.

The Mets’ historical identity of being built around strong starting pitching has always appeared to be absolute. Last year’s failure of any starter to assume the role of a #2 behind one of the game’s best necessitated the club’s turn it’s attention to acquiring one. Met fans have a comfort level when their clubs are built around it’s stating pitching.

Metsblog offers a choice to fans to select between John Lackey, Matt Holliday and Jason Bay. Lackey leads all with 44%.

The Mets are an organization with a relatively short history in that there are fans alive who were there at the beginning. The first taste of glory came with a team built on strong starting pitching in Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack. No one will never forget the Dwight Gooden led staffs of the late 1980′s. It was the Mets dependency on starters which prompted Joe McIlvaine to give up Rick Aguillera along with four other players to get Frank Viola during 1990. Reacquisitions of Seaver, along with such pitchers as Brett Saberhagen, Al Leiter, Mike Hampton, Tom Glavine and Johan Santana support this hypothesis.

Even after a season such as 2009 that witnessed such offensive impotence, Met fans still put a premium on starting pitching.

I voted for Holliday in the poll, as I see the Mets need for a right-handed bat to be the greatest. They must compete with the Phillies whom have very good lefthanded pitching in Cliff Lee, Cole Hammels, J.A. Happ and Jamie Moyers. Righthanded hitters like Holliday and Jason Bay may not be available again.

Maybe I’m being allowed to buy into the weakness of catching last year and am optimistic of a positive return of some of the starters – except for Oliver Perez that is. And don’t get me wrong, if it’s any of these three, I’ll be pleased that the Wilpons are trying to win.

Matt Cain never meant to hit David Wright, but was forced to deal with the fact that he did. His body language conveyed as much, but the code had to be addressed and Johan Santana answered even though he knew that it wasn’t warranted. A “Just in case” thinking prevailed and Pablo Sandoval’s skip out of the way thankfully ended it all.

I’d imagine that Santana knew that Matt Cain didn’t intend to hit David Wright, but its been a long and painful month. The losses and all that crap back in NY with the Cradinals and Albert Pujols still lingers.

Damned code.

I heard that sound three times in my career from a dugout as an athletic trainer in professional ball when a pitched ball hit the helmets of three good men. One was an accident, while the other two were, well, likley to be something else. I’ve had major league pitchers tell me they intended to hit a batter because a hitter had done something. I’ll not share their names and don’t enjoy knowing what they are.

An idescribable beauty of baseball exists that players and fans share. It bonds them as there’s not a player alive that cannot share some unforgetable moment with a dad or mom.

My mom placed two ticket stubs over a large photo from a game my late father and I went to in 1974 and had it framed. She gave it to me at Christmas. It was the game that Hank Aaron hit his 715th homerun. Dad checked me out of school and we went up to Atlanta for the series hoping to see Aaron’s homerun. We saw it and I’ll never forget the smile on my Dad’s face when he realized what we just shared. My son has the framed photo displayed in his room.

A raw human experience always exists in any sport that forces reality on us all. David Wright will be ok, but that word, “perspctive” comes to mind.

Lets hope Jonathan Niese pitches well enough to stay in the rotation and that the remarkable Ken Takahashi continues to make his strong contribution to the bullpen, as it will be good to have another lefty in the pen.

The line-up and depth are beginning to be a strength as players whom come off the bench are seen as regulars by the other club. Usually two of the quartet of Daniel Murphy, Fernando Tatis, Gary Sheffield and Ryan begin the game on the bench. As they are considered to be 3 thru 6 hitters in an everyday lineup and not just pinch hitters opposing managers have less favorable matchups against their bullpen.

I look forward to more games like today’s where the club uses needs to use two pitchers, instead of its customary 3 or 4 out of the pen on games they win.

Brian Stokes has only allowed one unearned run in 11 outings this season. Along with Takahashi, the duo allows the struggling Sean Green and, when he returns, Oliver Perez to get it together.

I told Backman about it later and he laughed loudly. In fact several players did. It meant mission accomplished. Backman got under the other team’s skin. How many current Mets spark this sort of response.

Matt Cerrone’s reporting on Minaya’s commnets was excellent in that he noted how Minaya made his initial pointed comment that clearly was intended to point to this club’s particular passion and intensity. Another more appropriate word would be moxie, a term that measures one’s ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.

Minaya’s use of the word, “edge” is more subtle and more ill defined. But to use my word, moxie, on the surface only a few current Mets clearly appear to have it: Johan Santana, Francisco Rodriguez and David Wright. When Jose Reyes is playing with his devil may care attitude and the other team hates him, he has it. But these times are not seen often enough. Essentially only one of these is an everyday player.

Yes, here is where that other ill defined term, chemistry comes in. It’s not just liking and getting along and/or respecting each other. Whatever the particular personalities, a sense of shared purpose needs to exist. Resolve to acheive you goals.

And yes, you are what you appear to be – to opponents, to fans and yourselves.

With the current batch of players, all of these issues and subsequent questions are out there. The 2006 team that reached Game 7 of the NLCS had two players with which played with the aura of these intangible qualities in Cliff Floyd and Paul LoDuca. Pedro Martinez was also still around.

Omar Minaya did indeed walk back from his thoughts not because he believed he was wrong, but beacuse he knew he was right and there isn’t a whole lot he can do about it.

Chemistry can develop though as a team begins to find its way. But this team’s starting rotation will have to do more. The model for victory in last’s night’s game – needing three relievers to win – cannot sustain itself over a season. The line-up cannot continue to watch leads they’ve gotten during the early innings fade while they are playing defense during the middle of the game. There will be way too much psychological drama and the bullpen’s most talented pitchers will be spent by the time August gets here.

Daniel Murphy’s first inning two-run homer held up last night. Its these sorts of things that can help build something. Murphy is batting 3rd alot and its a traditionally an important spot in the batting order for the Mets. See Keith Hernandez and John Olerud. He’s done nothing but hit since he’s arrived. Maybe it will be that his emergence as a young star the Mets will have a badly new source of positive energy.