Izzy

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

So is Isringhausen getting a real shot to make the team, or do you guys think this is kind of a close the circle, go out as a Met curtain call, like the one HoJo got in the 90s?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Real shot. The Mets need armz (armz that get outz) and things are too serious to be playing a strange PR game.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I like his chances. The fact that he walked in off the street and could presumably be the Mets closer (I mean, he could fake it at any rate) really says all you need to know about how retarded the whole K-Rod fisaco is.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think his audition is real. More David Cone 2003* than Howard Johnson 1997.

*But hopefully a better ending.

[metirish]

Does he drive a Lamborghini?, it's a good indicator for how hard he can throw.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Just as along as he's not using the Lambo as a taxi.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

OK Trivia Time:

Rank these three according to all-time saves.

Izzy, Frankie, Armando.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

312

[Guest The Second Spitter]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: 312

Nah.

[Guest Edgy DC]

132

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Edgy DC wrote: 132

Aye, you got it.

(1) 293, (3) 289, (2) 268.

[metirish]

Benitez 1
Izzy 2
K-Rod 3

[Guest Edgy DC]

Hey, man, I got it. I'm already driving the orange-and-blue Range Rover Second Spitter gives to the winners of his trivia contests.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Your prize is a copy of The Miracle Has Landed -- I can get the author of the Don Clendenon article to personally autograph it for you, if you like.

[TransMonk]

I'm rooting for him. He always kinda sucked as a Met after being so highly touted.

He went on to have a pretty nice career, but I'd like to see him give some positive contribution to the blue and orange.

[Ceetar]

There are very few set spots in the bullpen and it's a very fluid thing anyway. I think he's got a shot, especially if he's willing to pitch in Buffalo in April and consider a callup if someone else sucks/gets hurt/punches an asshole.

[Guest Edgy DC]

TransMonk wrote: I'm rooting for him. He always kinda sucked as a Met after being so highly touted. He went on to have a pretty nice career, but I'd like to see him give some positive contribution to the blue and orange.

He had half a rookie-of-the-year season in 1995, for what that's worth.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Does he drive a Lamborghini?, it's a good indicator for how hard he can throw.

Just spit out part of my sandwich. Thanks.

(Speaking of which... Do I have a fixed rookie-year image of him in my head, or does it look like Izzy maybe should have done the same re: sandwiches a few times over the last couple of years?)

[G-Fafif]

Izzy wears that been around the block look in 2011 that Duke Snider carried in 1963. Which is perfectly reasonable but a bit jarring considering it's always 1995 in my mind when Izzy appears.

[Willets Point]

Edgy DC wrote: TransMonk wrote: I'm rooting for him. He always kinda sucked as a Met after being so highly touted. He went on to have a pretty nice career, but I'd like to see him give some positive contribution to the blue and orange. He had half a rookie-of-the-year season in 1995, for what that's worth.

20-4 record for Binghamton, Norfolk, and New York that season (9-2 with the Mets).

[MFS62]

I heard Izzy interviewed last week on WFAN. He said he was throwing some pitches in the "low 90s".
In his first game appearence, he was clocked in the high 80s by the stadium radar gun.
That reminded me of an interview with Tom Seaver late in his career. The reporter asked him if he still threw hard. Tom said, "I'm throwing as hard as ever, but the ball takes longer to get there".

Later

[TransMonk]

Izzy says it's the big-league club or retirement. He's not playing minor-league ball.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_89d299c2-45c0-11e0-9603-0017a4a78c22.html

[Benjamin Grimm]

Or maybe... the disabled list?

Tweet from Andy McCullough, Newark Star Ledger wrote: Jason Isringhausen took medication to reduce inflammation in his right elbow. Shut down for the day. Tweaks his chances for making club.

[Guest Edgy DC]

It'd be interesting to see if he's interested in such an assignment.

It'd clear room for Beato.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He said he felt a "pop" in elbow the other day but ascribed it to scar tissue breaking up.

They always do.

[Frayed Knot]

Iz Izzy even on the 40-man yet? - I'm assuming no.

If no - and assuming this injury is more than day-to-day but something short of real long-term - he'd have to be added to the roster before he could start the year DL'd. Does the team have the flexibility to do that for an injured pitcher?
Either that or he could agree to be put on the minor league DL with the idea that it comes with some kind of guaranteed call-up or cut date that let's him stick to his 'Queens or Bust' mantra.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Not on roster. He's eligible get a minor league DL assignment, assuming the Mets and he want to go forward at that point. His salary isn't guaranteed until opening day. Those assignments are for a minimum of seven days, so there's flexiiblity there.

Two slots just opened up on the Mets roster, as two guys I never heard of got released. Another will open up when the season starts and Johan is added to the 60-day DL. One will close five days into the season when Ronny Paulino is no longer ineligible.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Izzy plays catch

Jason Isringhausen played catch with pitching coach Dan Warthen at the Mets' complex on Tuesday morning after being shut down with elbow inflammation for three days. He plans to throw a bullpen session Wednesday. Isringhausen went, "Ow," after the first throw for effect, knowing he was being observed. After that toss, Warthen moved the pair from a field to foul territory alongside the first-base line. "This is why I make the big bucks," Warthen quipped. Francisco Rodriguez was in a nearby parking lot, revving an engine. "At $3.80 a gallon I wouldn't be doing that," Warthen said. To which Izzy replied that the closer could afford it. By the end of Izzy's activity, he was throwing curveballs on flat ground. "I think I'll survive," Isringhausen said.

[nymr83]

G-Fafif wrote: Izzy wears that been around the block look in 2011 that Duke Snider carried in 1963. Which is perfectly reasonable but a bit jarring considering it's always 1995 in my mind when Izzy appears.

Most of the time I manage to forget the promise he once held for the Mets and remember him as the Cardinals' closer. But then I think of Pulsipher or Wilson and it all comes back to me.