Top setup man Duaner Sanchez, who was having a career year, was involved in an automobile accident in Florida as a passenger in a taxi cab. He injured his right shoulder, which required season-ending surgery. Mets GM Omar Minaya had to quickly turn his attention to the bullpen with the deadline approaching approximately in 12 hours.
He was able to obtain the team's best setup man from last season, the ageless Roberto Hernandez (and struggling starter Oliver Perez), from the Pittsburgh Pirates for rightfielder Xavier Nady. In fairness to Minaya, the other GM's involved in the possible deals for a starter were the ones to have cold feet.
A mentioned three-way trade between the Mets, Houston Astros, and Baltimore Orioles had Lastings Milledge going to the O's, shortstop Miguel Tejada landing in Houston, and Roy Oswalt joining the Mets' rotation. The word was that either the 'Stros or Orioles pulled out, killing the entire deal.
The Mets were also trying to obtain Jason Schmidt from San Francisco without having to give up Milledge or Aaron Heilman, who were both mentioned in the Barry Zito from Oakland A's possible deal.
Regardless, the Mets are going to ride it out with what they have. Will their bullpen hold up, especially when you have to consider the shaky starting rotation? Pedro Martinez has been himself when healthy. Tom Glavine is 40 and has had moments when he has shown his age. Who is the number three if the playoffs started today? Orlando Hernandez has pitched better of late and October is when "El Duque" has shined. Steve Traschel does not breed confidence, and John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, and the rehabbing Brian Bannister are all rookies.
A key component to the Mets' run is going to be Heilman. If he can be as effective as last season, the pen may be in good shape. Righthander Chad Bradford and lefthander Pedro Feliciano have looked good all year and with Hernandez and Heilman, the loss of Sanchez may not be a season killer after all.
The game of baseball has become so specialized over the years that middle relief has become almost as important as having a strong rotation and closer. The Yankee teams of the late-1970s had Ron Davis setting up Rich "Goose" Gossage. And Tony LaRussa became the first manager to slow games to a crawl in the late innings with frequent pitching changes. Lefty-lefty and righty-righty matchups became normal, with games today lasting three hours.
Setup men have become part of the fabric of a team. There is even the unofficial "hold" stat for comparisons. If a middle reliever comes in with a lead and hands it over to the closer, he has "held" the game for a possible win.
Will the Mets have enough in the bullpen to get the ball to Billy Wagner? It may be debatable, but with the large lead they have in the division, they have the luxury of finding out during the time when other clubs are fighting for a playoff berth.
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