2014 IPP: Jon Niese

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah. Outlook Not Good.

[Zvon]

I think one by one the Mets are becoming head cases.

Tejada: Ew, a ground ball, I gotta catch it, I gotta catch it, I gotta catch it, UHMPH!: E-6

Ike: I know what I'll do. I'll walk out there in a boot !

Niese: My arm hurts, my arm hurts!

[Edgy MD]

I'm pretty sure neither Ike nor Niese are experiencing psychosomatic injuries.

[ashie62]

Cleared to throw..no structural damage...cortisone shot given...

Cortisone shots? ughhh

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/10622278/jonathon-niese-new-york-mets-cleared-throw

[Centerfield]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: My sigh of relief is a small one. Niese's shoulder was cleared just two weeks ago. I feel like this good news today means that he'll be okay until his next MRI in early April.

Sounds like an Onion article. "Niese Cleared to Throw Until Next MRI" or "Niese Expected to Make his Next MRI".

[batmagadanleadoff]

Here's the Baseball Prospectus entry from its 2014 annual, released just before last season began:

After signing a four year, $24.2 million extension before the season, Niese started opening day and on some nights looked like a bargain frontline starter. Although his ERA doesn't initially stand up to scrutiny - the strikeouts went down, the walks went up and Niese missed eight weeks with a shoulder strain - it's encouraging that he was much better after returning from the DL. His velocity ticked up a tad, which made his changeup that much more effective against right-handers: Batters put the change in play over 20 percent of the time before the injury, and just 7 percent after. So the next time someone tells you the Mets can't properly rehab an injury, you can point to Niese - and probably no one else. But still!

[Edgy MD]

Sheesh. These comments are wacky.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Sheesh. These comments are wacky.

You should read the team comment section (in addition to the players comments section, from which I've been posting). In the Mets team comment, Howard Megdal is (as they say in the legal profession) cited with approval. Could you've thunk that?

excerpt:

It wasn't so long ago that the Mets had a tendency to spend lots of money, sometimes unwisely (see, for example, $153,550,596 in 2009 per Cot's Baseball Contracts - second only to the Yankees' payroll - in exchange for 70 wins). This could be frustrating. But for the past few offseasons, they've had virtually no money at all to spend. That's frustrating in its own way. But this offseason? Going into the winter [of 2013-14], it was hard to know for sure how much money the Mets actually had to spend, because these days, it's not entirely up to them. It depends in part on JPMorgan Chase, to whom they have a loan of around $250 million coming due this Summer [2014]. And that's just the most immediate debt. Overall, as the reporting of Howard Megdal at Capital New York has made clear, the Wilpons, through their various holdings, owe more than a billion dollars. More than $600 million of that, borrowed against television network SNY, comes due in 2015, which means the team and its fans will very possibly have to go through all of this again next offseason. Can the Mets refinance? Can they come up with the money? How much will their creditors allow them to give to capable and pricey players, in the interests of the team's long-term health, before their debt is paid? That last question had been partially answered this Winter, and the answer appears to be: Some, but not enough.

[Ceetar]

oh yes, that's certainly...clear.

[ashie62]

This is tiring for sure.