Tim Tebow Could Fill The Holiest of Holies In The Mets' Bullpen

With the uncertainty surrounding the lefty specialist role in the bullpen, the Mets have been considering a number of options.  Tim Byrdak was originally supposed to fill that position for the team.  Oops.  The Hulkamaniac needed surgery to repair a torn meniscus and was lost for the season opener faster than Randy Savage could snap into a Slim Jim.  Garrett Olson was then supposed to be the favorite to replace Thunder Lips.  Instead, he became a human baseball magnet, attracting line drives whenever he stepped onto a mound.  He has since been reassigned to the minors.  Robert Carson?  He was injured as well, plus no one really knew who he was when he wasn’t wearing his “Hi, my name is Robert Carson” nametag.

Remember Daniel Herrera?  He pitched well in his late-season tryout last year after the Mets acquired him for Francisco “Frankie Knuckles” Rodriguez.  But alas, the lilliputian lefty will only be considered for the specialist role as a last resort.

On Monday, Joe Beimel was released by the Texas Rangers.  The soon-to-be 35-year-old had been on the Mets’ radar for many years now, but he did not pitch well for the Pirates last year, finishing the year with a 5.33 ERA.  So who’s left to consider as the first lefty to come out of the bullpen when the situation presents itself?  No divine intervention needed here.  The answer to the Mets’ prayers might be across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

He wore blue and orange in Denver.  Might he do the same as the lefty specialist in Flushing?

Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets to be their backup quarterback.  Why should this news be of interest to the Mets?  Because...

• 1) He won’t be doing anything in April, as the Jets are in the middle of their offseason.
• b) He’s a quarterback, meaning he’s experienced using his arm.
• iii) He’s a lefty.

Considering that the Mets are in dire need of a lefty specialist in the bullpen while Byrdak recovers from his injury, why wouldn’t they consider the left-handed Tebow?  After all, he’s going to need to keep his arm in shape so it can be ready for clipboard-holding duties once Jets training camp opens.

As a quarterback, Tebow has been much maligned.  He throws too many incomplete passes.  He tends not to be able to throw passes of more than 30 yards.  He spends too much time running with the ball.  He drinks too much milk on the sidelines.  Yada yada yada.  But as a left-handed reliever?  Now that’s where his future might be.

As a pitcher, Tebow wouldn’t have to hit a moving receiver standing 30 yards away.  All he’d have to do is hit a stationary target (the catcher’s mitt) from a distance of 60 feet, 6 inches.  That’s only 20 yards.

Also, anyone who’s seen Tebow throw a pass knows that his balls tend to move quite a bit once his hand releases them.  (You do know I’m talking about footballs here.  Don’t blaspheme Tebow.)  Although the wobbliness of his balls would tend to be disadvantageous in football, as it’s harder for a receiver to catch a ball that’s not thrown in a perfect spiral, Tebow could work that to his advantage as a relief pitcher.  Pitches with movement would probably cause more swings and misses and could also induce the pitcher’s best friend, the double play grounder.

On the football field, a quarterback could get seriously hurt if he runs around too much.  The next time Tebow cuts left on the gridiron, he might experience a close encounter of the 300-pound lineman kind.  On the pitcher’s mound, however, being mobile can be beneficial.  Johan Santana has always possessed cat-like quickness on the mound.  So did former Met and public school enthusiast Mike Hampton.  To be able to move around quickly on and around the mound is tantamount to having a fifth infielder.  Ground balls up the middle aren’t always destined to go into center field.  A mobile pitcher is also the perfect foil for a batter who has a tendency to drop down bunts.  At the very least, a fast-moving pitcher can also get out of the way of line drives easier than one who doesn’t possess keen reflexes.

At Shea Stadium, fans would always get pumped whenever Billy Wagner came into the game to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” from 2006 to 2008.  Some fans even paused on the Shake Shack line when J.J. Putz entered a game to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” in 2009.  Hard rock songs and relief pitchers go together like Bobby Bonilla and earplugs.  So it would seem like a match made in heaven if Tim Tebow would charge in from the bullpen to Stryper’s “To Hell With The Devil”.  Would the Shea Bridge be able to handle all the fans Tebowing in unison as he made his way to the mound?

"Hey, Tim Tebow's coming in from the bullpen!  Cue Stryper.  No, I'm not kidding.  Honestly."

The Mets improved their bullpen during the offseason, adding Jon Rauch, Ramon Ramirez and Frank Francisco.  But all three pitchers are right-handers.  The only southpaw in the bullpen mix was Tim Byrdak.  Now he more than likely won’t be ready for Opening Day and the Mets are left scrambling for his replacement.

Garrett Olson is back in the minors.  Robert Carson forgot his ID and is not being allowed into the ballpark.  Joe Beimel has cooties.  Daniel Herrera might become Tim Byrdak's replacement by default, but the best option for the interim lefty specialist job might be the guy who knows a thing or two about option plays.

Tim Tebow, left-handed reliever?  Hey, it could be worse.  At least the Mets aren’t thinking of signing Sidd Finch … yet.

I Tawt I Taw A Tim Byrdak

For many years, Sylvester the Cat has been foiled by Tweety Bird.  Similarly, for many months, Mets fans with Twitter accounts were foiled by Tim Byrdak not having his own account.  But fear not, Mets fans.  Your fav'rit Hulkamaniac is no longer sans Twitter account.  You heard me right.

Sylvester never caught Tweety Bird.  But we have now caught Byrdak tweeting.

I tawt I taw T.B.!  But is it Tweety Bird, Terry Bollea or Tim Byrdak?

At Studious Metsimus, we want all of our readers to get the full Mets experience, so we encourage all of you to follow Tim Byrdak on Twitter, which you can do by clicking here.

Here is our first tweet to the Mets' lefty specialist, who is currently "specializing" in torn meniscus surgery rehabilitation.

@Givemethelefty Welcome aboard, Tim! I'm writing a post for my #Mets blog on you joining Twitter. You should have 4½ new followers soon!
— Ed Leyro (@Studi_Metsimus) March 17, 2012

Here's hoping that Tim Byrdak recovers from his surgery soon to become an important part of the Mets bullpen.  The sooner he comes back, the sooner we can relax knowing that the Mets will not try to make a trade for Oliver Perez to fill in for him as the team's lefty specialist.


To follow other past, present and future Mets on Twitter, please click on the following links:

R.A. Dickey: @RADickey43
Justin Turner: @redturn2
Johan Santana: @johansantana
Zack Wheeler: @wheelerpro45
Sandy Alderson: @MetsGM
Dwight Gooden: @DocGooden16
Chris Schwinden: @CSchwinny

There's An Oblique Outlook In Mets Camp

I woke up this morning, realized it was an hour later than it was at this time yesterday, remembered that I had not disrupted the space-time continuum overnight, then went about my usual Sunday morning routine.  Today's routine involved looking forward to Johan Santana's second spring training start and checking out Twitter and the rest of the Mets blogosphere to see if anything interesting happened overnight while I was dreaming about DeLoreans and manure.  (I really hate the latter part of my dreams sometimes.)

There was one tweet in particular on the Mets' official Twitter account that caught my eye.  Perhaps it'll catch yours too:

Injury Updates: Tim Byrdak has a sore left left knee and Kirk Nieuwenhuis has an injury to his right oblique.
— New York Mets (@Mets) March 11, 2012

Tim Byrdak's injury is understandable.  After all, he's been channeling the ghost of Hulk Hogan despite the fact that Hogan is still very much alive.  That in itself could give him a sore left knee.  It could also be the fact that he's 38 and knees tends to get sore at that age.

But Byrdak's injury wasn't the part that caught my eye in the Mets' tweet.  It was the part featuring the Sultan of Spell Check himself, Kirk Nieuwenhuis.  The Mets' young centerfielder is no stranger to injuries, so that's not what got my attention.  It was where he got injured.  Kirk Nieuwenhuis has an injury to his right oblique.

Watch that bat, Kirk!  You might injure your oblique!  Crap.  Too late.  Never mind.

If you've been following the Mets during spring training, you'd notice that obliques and the Mets have not been getting along.  First, Scott Hairston went down to an oblique injury, an injury from which he's not progressing.  At the same time, David Wright also suffered an injury to his oblique muscle, although some reports are disguising the word "oblique" with "rib cage", which is similar to disguising an ejected manager with a fake mustache and dark sunglasses.

Now Kirk Nieuwenhuis has injured his oblique, thereby preventing him from committing more Nieuwen-heists in center field for the time being.  Are oblique injuries like the flu in Mets camp?  Can they be passed around from person to person?  Or was Digital Domain Park built on top of an old Indian burial ground?  It might be neither, as I found this interesting tweet from San Francisco Giants' beat reporter Andrew Baggerly, which he originally posted almost one year ago to the day:

Andres Torres (sore oblique) isn't starting because Bochy doesn't want him swinging from right side yet. He's hitting off a tee.
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) March 6, 2011

Andres Torres missed time last year in spring training with a sore oblique.  This is the same Andres Torres that is penciled to be the Mets' Opening Day centerfielder.  Do you see what I'm getting at here?

Methinks Andres Torres must have something to do with the oblique injuries that are running rampant at Digital Domain Park.  Either that or I'm going with the Indian burial ground excuse.  Or perhaps Fred Wilpon was right and "we're snakebit, baby".  Regardless of what the reasons are for the Mets' slew of injuries before the first week of the Grapefruit League schedule is over, there seems to be a pattern forming here.

The Mets' outlook for the 2012 season wasn't very bright to begin with.  They were not expected to compete with the Phillies, Marlins, et al. for the National League East crown.  But what started out as a bleak outlook on the season has somehow turned into an oblique outlook, especially for a number of everyday players.  The Mets might indeed be snakebitten, and that snake appears to be spraying venom into the obliques of the roster.