When it rains, it pours. That’s definitely the case for the 2009 Mets. I joked with a friend who’s a big Mets fan recently that all they needed was Johan and Frankie to go down to complete the injury circle. Now all I have to say is there’s still about five weeks left for K-Rod to get hurt. With Johan Santana likely out the rest of the season because of his elbow problems, the Mets will have their five best players (four of whom might be top 25 players in MLB) on the disabled list at the same time. Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado have been out nearly the entire year, Carlos Beltran has missed a bunch, and now it’s David Wright and Johan who have been snake bitten. I guess the good news for Mets fans is their season ended so long ago that the prospect of shutting these guys down the rest of the way isn’t so bad.
What’s impressive about Johan is that he was pitching with major discomfort ever since the All-Star break, yet he still posted a 3.22 ERA over seven starts. Between Johan’s $20 million, Beltran’s 18.5, Delgado’s 16, Wright’s 7.5, and Reyes’ 5.75, the Mets have nearly $68 million in payroll sitting on the shelf. Sure there’s a lot to feel bad about here, and it’s tough to win with all your best players on the DL, but the Mets were flawed entering the season anyhow. They certainly have a handful of stud players on their roster, but the supporting group is not very good. Additionally, their starting pitching outside of Johan has been consistently weak. Wilpon’s being a nice guy and conscious of circumstance when he says he’ll bring back both Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya next year, but I’d give both their walking papers. Omar spends well with his good players but doesn’t fill the rest of the roster very well. At least he has his Prada shoes to go home to at the end of the day.
