Fill In At Closer, Fill Out Your Pink Slip

A hug before leaving.  (Getty Images Photo)

After having an excellent season with the Mets in 2013, LaTroy Hawkins will be pitching elsewhere in 2014.  Hawkins, who finished the year as the Mets' closer after Bobby Parnell was sidelined with a season-ending injury, signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Colorado Rockies on Monday.

Never mind that Sandy Alderson said he wouldn't pay a 41-year-old reliever that kind of money, even though Hawkins gave the Mets his best statistical season since 2004, posting a 2.93 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 13 saves at the age of 40.  But if Hawkins was aware of recent Mets history, he should've known that he was about to become a goner.

In 2011, Francisco Rodriguez was dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers during the All-Star Break.  After the trade, Jason Isringhausen became the Mets' closer, saving seven games - including his 300th career save.  The following season, he traded apples for oranges, leaving the Big Apple for Orange County.  Isringhausen pitched in 50 games for the Los Angeles Angels in 2012, but did not pitch in the majors in 2013.

One year before Isringhausen finished the year for K-Rod, another pitcher was forced into closer duties for the Mets when Francisco Rodriguez couldn't finish the year with the team.  After injuring himself when he became Frankie Knuckles in front of his son's grandfather, Hisanori Takahashi filled in as the team's closer, notching three wins and eight saves over the season's final two months.  The 35-year-old Takahashi was not re-signed by the Mets following his versatile "rookie" season in 2010.  Instead, he chose to sign with the Angels, spending a year and a half in Los Angeles, followed by short tenures in Pittsburgh and Chicago.

Billy Wagner began the final season at Shea Stadium as the Mets' closer.  But a season-ending injury forced Omar Minaya to acquire Luis Ayala in August 2008.  Ayala saved nine games as Wagner's temporary replacement.  And by temporary, I mean his two blown saves, two losses and 14.40 ERA over the season's final two weeks guaranteed he wouldn't be a Met in 2009.  Since then, Ayala has bounced around more than his pitches did in the left and right field corners of Shea Stadium in his six weeks with the team.  The right-hander has collected paychecks from the Twins, Marlins, Yankees, Orioles and Braves since he allowed the final run to cross the plate at Shea Stadium on a back-breaking blast by Dan Uggla on September 28, 2008.

When Braden Looper was in the final days of the two-year contract he signed with the Mets prior to the 2004 season, he required season-ending surgery to repair a blown AC joint in his right shoulder.  In stepped Roberto Hernandez, who picked up two wins and three saves over the final two weeks of the 2005 campaign.  But the Mets allowed Hernandez to leave as a free agent, and the 40-year-old reliever inked a one-year deal to pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006.  Hernandez was traded back to the Mets (along with Oliver Perez) when Duaner Sanchez had a case of the munchies and got into the wrong taxi cab in Miami, but Hernandez did not record another save as a Met.

Roberto Hernandez should've pitched in this game instead of Braden Looper.

LaTroy Hawkins had a wonderful season for the Mets in 2013.  After becoming the team's closer on August 6, Hawkins pitched in 23 games and was 13-for-14 in save attempts.  Hawkins had pinpoint control as the team's closer, striking out 18 batters and walking only one in 22⅓ innings.  Opposing hitters had a .229 on-base percentage and a miniscule .272 slugging percentage against Hawkins, collecting just two extra-base hits in 81 at-bats.

Usually, those numbers are what you'd expect from a young, stud closer.  Someone like Craig Kimbrel.  In fact, going back to August 6 - the day Hawkins became the Mets' fill-in closer for the injured Bobby Parnell, Kimbrel went 16-for-17 in save opportunities with 31 strikeouts and five walks in 23⅔ innings, allowing a .211 on-base percentage and .224 slugging percentage (three extra-base hits in 85 at-bats).  Those numbers weren't that much better than what Hawkins did as the Mets' closer.  But because Hawkins is going to be 41 next month, he's not worth $2.5 million for one year, according to Sandy Alderson.

Perhaps Alderson should have given Hawkins another chance to be one of the team's top relievers in 2014, just like he was in 2013.  But Alderson must know about the team's recent history.  He surely has to know how relievers who fill in as temporary closers for the Mets never stick around with the team.  And who is Sandy Alderson to mess with tradition, right?  

Goodbye and thanks for playing, LaTroy Hawkins.  You should have been given another chance next year.  Instead, you're just in the same class as Roberto Hernandez, Luis Ayala, Hisanori Takahashi and Jason Isringhausen.  That's some consolation prize.

Broken News: And Then There Were None (The Hall of Fame Edition)

Welcome to the latest edition of Broken News, where someone else breaks a news story, then we break it some more.  In today's special edition, we're going to look at the Hall of Fame vote, which surprisingly enough yielded no new Hall of Famers.

Seven ex-Mets were on the Hall of Fame ballot.  Roberto Hernandez (no votes), Mike Stanton (no votes), Jeff Conine (no votes), Aaron Sele (one vote - not a typo), Shawn Green (two votes) and Omar Minaya's bosom buddy, Julio Franco (six votes) did not generate enough support to remain on the ballot in 2014.  The seventh former Met who received votes should have received a lot more support than he did, as Mike Piazza was named on 329 ballots (57.8% of the 569 ballots cast), which was 98 votes short of the 427 needed for election into the Hall of Fame.  Clearly, those 240 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) who chose not to scribble Piazza's name on their ballot either:

a) remembered Piazza's back acne story and proceeded to have wicked flashbacks to when they were pimply kids who were beat up regularly by the jocks in high school.

2) were afraid his Hall of Fame plaque would have him wearing a Marlins cap and wanted to spare the baseball-loving world of that potential atrocity, or

iii) saw the following picture of Piazza & Pals and naturally assumed that steroids can be passed from person to person through the air like the flu.

Oh, Mike.  Why did you allow yourself to be photographed with Jose Canseco and Jason Giambi?

Whatever their reason was to not include Piazza on their ballots, he has officially (and more than likely undeservedly) been lumped into the group of players that include Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro.

Bonds and Clemens faced criminal charges because of their alleged links to steroid use.  McGwire didn't want to hop into his andro-fueled DeLorean to revisit the past.  Sammy Sosa left his English For Dummies book at home next to his cork collection.  And Rafael Palmeiro was caught with his finger in the steroid jar ... period.

Now Piazza, who is widely considered to be the best-hitting catcher of all-time, has been kept out of the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Another former Mets catcher, Gary Carter, received 42.3% of the Hall of Fame votes in his first year of eligibility, dropped to 33.8% in his second year (being on the ballot with first-timers Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount will tend to get you overlooked), then climbed steadily year after year before he was finally inducted in his sixth year of eligibility in 2003.

Carter was an 11-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and five-time Silver Slugger recipient.  He also hit only .262 over his 19-year career, failed to score 100 runs in any of those seasons and never hit more than 32 home runs or drove in more than 106 runs.  Piazza, meanwhile, was a 12-time All-Star and 10-time Silver Slugger recipient (no Gold Gloves - nobody's perfect).  Piazza hit .308 over his 16-year career, crossed the plate 100+ runs twice and reached or surpassed Carter's career-high in homers nine times while steamrolling past the Kid's career-high RBI total five times (and had another season in which he drove in 105 runs).

Gary Carter's numbers might have been dwarfed by Piazza, but Carter did have Piazza beat in one shiny category.

Suffice it to say, as good as Carter was, he would've been Piazza's backup had they been teammates.  But that wasn't good enough for Piazza to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.  And it may not be good enough for him to go in next year as well.

Whatever reason the writers had for keeping the best-hitting catcher of all-time out of Cooperstown this year won't be acceptable to me.  Mike Piazza deserved to enter the hallowed Hall that is reserved for the all-time greats of the sport in his first year of eligibility.

The BBWAA might have been afraid a few blemishes on Piazza's back.  But in my opinion, keeping him out of the Hall of Fame in 2013 was a far greater blemish.     

Impeach El Perez-idente! (The New Studious Metsimus Facebook Fan Page)

"Four years and seven walks ago, our general manager brought forth, upon this fanbase, a screwed pitcher. We were deceived at Citi, and stated our position that all pitchers weren't created equal."

--New York Mettysburg Address (July 30, 2010)


It was indeed four years (but more than seven walks) ago tomorrow that Oliver Perez was traded to the Mets along with Roberto Hernandez for rightfielder and fan-favorite Xavier Nady.

The deal was necessitated because reliever Duaner Sanchez got a case of the midnight munchies in Miami and was involved in an accident as a passenger in a taxicab. The fender bender led to a shoulder injury to Sanchez and left a gaping hole in the bullpen, one that was filled by Roberto Hernandez, but also gave us El Perez-idente himself, Oliver Perez.

Let's hop into the DeLorean, adjust the flux capacitor and travel to the winter following the 2008 season (but don't let the same guy from Duaner's taxicab drive it). The Mets were in need of a starting pitcher, coveted Derek Lowe, but let him sign with Atlanta for four years and $60 million. The only other option was their little free agent that couldn't, Oliver Perez.

At three years and $36 million, the Mets felt they had scored a coup, keeping the 26-year-old Perez, who had just compiled a 25-17 record over the past two seasons. Of course, the Mets seemed to ignore the fact that Ollie had walked a league-leading 105 batters in 2008 despite the 10-7 record.

What has that $36 million contract gotten the Mets? A 3-8 record, 6.56 ERA and 94 walks in only 107 innings.

What has that same contract gotten Oliver Perez? How about the wrath of hundreds of thousands of Mets fans, the butt of more jokes than his pitch count over five innings and a Facebook fan page brought about by the creators of Studious Metsimus and My Summer Family called "Impeach El-Perez-idente!" You can check out the page and become a fan by clicking here.

Four years ago today, Duaner Sanchez's need for Dominican food during sleepy time put him in a position to be in the car accident that forever changed his career. Mets fans choose to remember that day for another reason. It was the day that caused Oliver Perez to become a Met.

Unfortunately, there has been no one-term limit for El Perez-idente in New York. He is now entering his fifth year as a Met and is still under contract for another.

The Mets might not be able to get rid of Ollie for Roy Oswalt's jock strap (Houston wanted equal value for the pitcher's "equipment"), but Mets fans can get rid of their anger by joining us in saying "Impeach El Perez-idente!"