Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
At $149,373,987, the New York Mets had the National League's highest payroll in 2009. Their fourth place finish in the NL East, 23 games back in the standings, might suggest that the cash Omar Minaya dished out wasn't money well spent. A closer look reveals a team harassed all season by injuries and a group of hitters that could never find a long-term answer to produce runs.
In the outfield, Carlos Beltran had a potential All-Star season broken up, playing in only 81 games due to a knee injury. In fact, only Jeff Francoeur amassed more than 500 at-bats among Mets outfielders, and he was a mid-season import from the Atlanta Braves.
The infield wasn't spared either as mainstays Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes had their seasons cut extremely short due to injuries. Even staff ace Johan Santana ended his season early with elbow issues.
The good news is that most of these players are expected to be healthy and ready to go for spring training.
The 2009 season was lost long ago for Oliver Perez. Now it's officially over.
The Mets left-hander was diagnosed with patella tendon tendinosis in his right knee by the team doctor David Altchek, a condition that will require surgery and force him to miss the rest of the season.
NEW YORK -- Just when you think you've seen everything there is to see in baseball, a second baseman shuffles his body just a tiny bit to his right and bedlam breaks out. It was only a few inches, mind you, almost an unconscious move choreographed by Eric Bruntlett as he tried to shake the cobwebs from his head.
He'd already made an error in the bottom of the ninth, clumsily booting the ball and allowing the hapless Mets to hang in. Bruntlett was also on the end of what was generously called an infield single, and now the Mets had two runners on base, the winning run at the plate, and Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge was flirting with another meltdown.
A few inches. That's the gap between incredulous rub-your-eyes wonder and here-we-go-again exasperation. A few seconds. That's the time it took to once again seal the disparities between baseball's defending champions and this season's cursed losers.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
The most remarkable thing about this season as we hit the not-halfway halfway point of the All-Star break isn't Albert Pujols' RBI total. Or Zack Greinke's ERA. Or the PED suspension of one of the game's biggest stars.
It's the standings. And they not only reflect the season so far, they give us a clue as to the weeks head leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline.
The Phillies and Dodgers are the only first-place team with a lead of more than 2 1/2 games. And 21 of the 30 teams are within 7 1/2 games of a playoff spot: nine of 14 in the AL and 12 of 16 in the NL.
Yet after missing two months with tendinitis in his right knee, Perez was in midseason form.
That is, missing the strike zone with regularity.
Somehow, though, the Mets beat the Dodgers 5-4 and snapped a four-game losing streak to get to 40-42, which in the tepid NL East is good for 4 1/2 games out of first place.
NEW YORK - Mets right-hander John Maine, who was supposed to continue a minor-league rehabilitation assignment Saturday, instead will not pick up a ball for a week because of recurring discomfort in his shoulder.
Maine (5-4 with a 4.52 ERA) called his injury "a little bit of a pinched nerve" and conceded he will be out at least through the All-Star break.
Without Maine, the Mets can continue to use Fernando Nieve in the rotation. Nieve, claimed from the Astros on waivers in March, is 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA since being called up.
Oliver Perez, out since early May, is scheuled to pitch Sunday for Class A Brooklyn on his rehab assignment.
Maine, who went on the disabled list June 12, said he was fine throwing a bullpen session Wednesday but had his shoulder act up Thursday while playing catch.
"I had to say something," he said. "I thought I could get through it and I just couldn't.
"I threw about 10 [times] and it hurt, so I just stopped."
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
Well, that took freaking forever ... but the Blue Jays finally started to stink the joint up. I swear to you, you can't stay long atop the MLB Power Rankings -- our failure by osmosis jinxing ability is just too strong, son. At any rate, it was a weird week for ranking baseball: the Cubs continued to skid, the Padres went on a tear and Toronto fell off the face of the planet. So, yeah, spiciness ensued, and you may take the jump to see how badly your team fared. Unless you're a Rangers or a Braves fan, in which case they couldn't have done that poorly.
Because Ibañez worries only about the perception of him by his family and peers, he has had no trouble fitting in with the Phillies. And while he says he will never try to justify his new three-year, $31.5 million deal – perhaps the most criticized signing of the offseason – he has thus far done just that.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
He's only 21 years old. He's only 21 years old. Whenever you get frustrated that your future fantasy stud is struggling, it's important to take a breather and repeat those words. When I was 21, I think I spent my Wednesday nights playing Counter-Strike and eating bad pizza. Justin Upton, on the other hand, has to deal with expectations that he's the next Willie Mays. Whatever happened to the 27-year-old "breakout" rule? Suddenly it's six years younger?
After a few days of speculation, the Mets have finally made a decision on Oliver Perez. Omar Minaya announced to the press last night that Perez would go on the 15-day DL with "patella tendinitis," which I'm fairly sure is just code for, "We have no idea what's wrong with this dude, but he can make some rehab starts if we do this." In his place, Jonathan Niese has been called up from Triple-A Buffalo and will start on Friday.
I'm not entirely certain the Mets have any idea what to do with Perez. They had talked about sending him to the bullpen for some extra work, but it's not a stretch to think that they probably didn't want a guy that's averaging a walk an inning this year working out of the bullpen in any situation. Thus, we have the surprising DL visit, the safe haven for struggling pitchers for as long as the disabled list has existed, I suspect.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The 2009 season was lost long ago for 
NEW YORK -- Just when you think you've seen everything there is to see in 
NEW YORK – The Mets needed a win in the worst way.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
After a few days of speculation, the Mets have finally made a decision on 
