Cutnpaste: - Francisco Rodriguez, Blake Forsythe, John Olerud, Cam Maron, Timo Perez

 Francisco Rodriguez, Milwaukee Brewers -- After watching Jason Isringhausen show his age and Bobby Parnell show his unpreparedness for prime time, it's perfectly OK to admit that you miss K-Rod a little -- and not just because the Mets are paying $5.9 million for the privilege of seeing their former closer pitch for another team. Yes, Minaya overpaid him and yes that 2012 vesting option hung over Metsopotamia like a guillotine's blade. Let none of that blind you to the fact that he was one of the more effective Mets relievers in recent years. Maybe not $17.5 million good, but good enough. Then again, Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez was one of the linchpins that brought Johan Santana to Flushing. So it's a toss up, but there's no losers here. - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/9/30/2459916/a-mets-fans-guide-to-recognizing-your-saints-in-the-2011-mlb-playoffs

10-3-11: - http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/season-review-the-full-season-catchers  -  Coming into the year, Baseball America ranked Blake Forsythe as the 29th best prospect in the Mets system, the only catcher to make their Mets top 30. Forsythe earned the ranking because he flashed some power, and a strong throwing arm. Then he hit just .220/.295/.353 in 50 games in the first half of the SAL season. He was much better in the second half (and turned 22), both at the plate and in the field. At the plate, he drew nearly twice as many walks in the second half (36) as he did in the first half (20) while doubling his homer output from three to six while hitting .249/.368/.431. That’s the good news. The bad news? He still struck out 68 times in 55 games. For the year, he fanned in 28% of his at-bats. Behind the plate, Forsythe, to my eyes, became a better receiver, and more adept at blocking balls, especially those to his right. He threw out just 29% of opposing runners (20-for-68) this year, suggesting a need to improve his footwork and release.

John Olerud (1999): This one hurts. Ole revitalized his career in New York after then-GM Joe McIlvaine stole him from Toronto for Robert Person. Ole hit .354 for the Mets in 1998 and was the first baseman for “the greatest infield ever” in 1999. He departed after that season for his hometown of Seattle where his offensive revitalization continued. He also logged time with Boston and the Yankees before retiring with a .398 career OBP. To replace him, the Mets signed Todd Ziele, who did an acceptable job at first for a few years before departing via trade to Milwaukee after the 2002 season. The Mets could have used Olerud’s bat in the Subway Series and in their failed defense of the NL title in 2001. - http://www.metstoday.com/7084/11-12-offseason/adios-jose-five-free-agents-who-left-the-mets

10-5-11: - www.newsday.com  - When Cam Maron got his call-up to Citi Field last month, it wasn't to be a fill-in behind the plate for Josh Thole. That day may come eventually, but for now, Maron was happy to settle for the next best thing: the honor of receiving a Sterling Award as the Mets' top player at the Rookie League affiliate in Kingsport, Tenn. Maron, a Hicksville High graduate and Newsday first-team All-Long Island catcher, was among 10 organizational MVPs honored on Sept. 14, a group that also included 2010 first-round pick Matt Harvey. But only Maron is a truly homegrown prospect, one that spent his childhood going to games at Shea Stadium and idolizing Mike Piazza, so that took the experience to another level.  "There were a lot of emotions running at a function like that, an awards ceremony of that magnitude," Maron said by phone from Fort Myers, Fla., where he is playing in the instructional league. "I think growing up watching the Mets really kind of added more to it. "I didn't come to Citi Field as a kid obviously -- it was to Shea. But coming to Queens and being in that area again, it was kind of like, now I'm there. I'm starting to get there. I'm not that fan anymore, that kid. It was just an honor to be named in that class, among those guys."

Detroit Tigers farmhand Timo Perez, who helped the Mets reach the World Series back in 2000, was among four minor league players who were suspended by the commissioner's office Tuesday for violating the league's drug policies. Perez got a 50-game suspension for testing positive for Ritalinic Acid and Methylphenidate. Both drugs are used to treat attention deficit disorder. Perez has more than 600 big league games under his belt but has been in the minors since 2007; the 36-year-old hit .304/.344/.410 at Triple-A Toledo this season. - http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2011/10/timo-perez-among-four-minor-leaguers-suspended

Cutnpaste: Josh Satin, Aderlin Rodriguez, Francisco Rodriguez, Mike Cameron, Stefan Welsh

9-15-11: - http://centralny.ynn.com/content/sports/557217/satin-named-mets-top-minor-leaguer   - Life just keeps getting better for Joshua Satin, who picked up his first major league hit in his first at-bat with the Mets Labor Day weekend and who has also picked up a pretty major minor-league honor. Satin has been named the New York Mets minor-leaguer of the year after hitting .323 with 12 homers and 76 RBI's while splitting time with Binghamton and AAA Buffalo this season. Satin was named an Eastern League all-star this summer, the third straight year he has earned a minor league all-star honor. The 26-year-old in his fourth season with the organization became the first B-Met ever to hit for the cycle and strung together a 15-game hit streak with the Bisons

9-15-11: - http://scoutingthesally.com/new-york-mets-third-base-prospect-aderlin-rodriguez-ranking-2011  - The scouting report for (Aderlin) Rodriguez after his 2011 season remains similar from a power standpoint. He’s still young, has plenty of power potential, but the holes in his offensive game were really exposed in full season baseball. His future at 3B is also now even more in doubt than at this time last year even though he appears to be in better physical shape. I am not a big fan of players comps, but at this point in his career, it is hard not to compare him to former San Francisco Giants prospect Angel Villalona, although he was admittedly younger as a player in the “Sally”. They share similar body types, similar prospect profiles and even similar statistics in the Sally League. Rodriguez has the potential to be the best power bat in the Mets system, but 2011 has made it more difficult to visualize.

9-15-11: - http://www.metstoday.com/7026/uncategorized/k-rod-shows-true-colors  - On Tuesday, reliever Francisco Rodriguez told a national baseball columnist that he wasn’t happy with the lack of save opportunities he’s had since the Milwaukee Brewers traded for him in July. When asked about his comments a day later, Rodriguez didn’t back off. “I wasn’t lying,” he said before the Brewers’ 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. “There’s been plenty of save opportunities, and I’ve pitched once in the ninth inning and it wasn’t a save. “I’m not happy. That’s the bottom line for me. They told me one thing; they haven’t done it. And I stand by what I said. “I’m not lying. I’m not creating something out of nowhere. I’m just saying the facts, and that’s pretty much it.”

9-15-11: - The Marlins cut outfielder Mike Cameron late Monday night for conduct detrimental to the team. Two sources on Wednesday gave the reason: Cameron got into a verbal altercation with a flight attendant on the team's charter flight from Pittsburgh to Atlanta on Sunday. The altercation did not turn physical, but the charter company filed a complaint. The Marlins' front office believed it could not keep Cameron after the incident. He wasn't in the team's longterm plans, anyway, and his release gives the Marlins a chance to give Bryan Peterson (.280) more at-bats over the final two weeks of the season. Cameron was hitting .238. - Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2011/09/umncaa-investigation-update-plus-dolphins-heat-marlins.html#ixzz1Y3A33jtK  

9-15-11: - http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/majors/international-affairs/2011/2612324.html   - Australia's roster includes fewer affiliated minor leaguers. The group includes ex-big leaguers Justin Huber and Chris Oxspring; first baseman Stefan Welch (Mets), coming off a .271/.361/.438 season with 16 home runs in the high Class A Florida State League; World Baseball Classic veteran James Beresford (Twins) at shortstop; outfielder Tim Kennelly (Phillies) and his brother Matt (Braves), a catcher; and righthander Hayden Beard (Padres).

Cutnpaste: Francisco Rodriguez, Reese Havens, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Mets DL Payroll, Dale Thayer

Francisco Rodriguez - $17.5 million option vests with 55 games finished. - Ron Roenicke said that he was going to give K-Rod some closing opportunities when the deal with the Mets went down. He has finished one game since the trade. I guess Doug Melvin and Brewers ownership let him know how things were going to go. There was no way in God’s green Earth that the Brewers were going to take a chance like that and pay a “closer” $17.5 million when they have Prince Fielder on the way out the door this winter. Rodriguez has finished 35 games this season and won’t come much closer to that vesting option. - http://thebaseballhaven.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/2012-mlb-vesting-options  

9-3-11: - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/833229-new-york-mets-ranking-their-current-best-prospect-at-every-position/page/7#/articles/833229-new-york-mets-ranking-their-current-best-prospect-at-every-position/page/2  - In 2008, the Mets had two first-round picks. The first went to current Mets star Ike Davis. The other went to Mets top prospect Reese Havens. The Mets have been very thin at second base for as long as this decade can show, and their long-term solution is absolutely found in Reese Havens. The South Carolina stud would have ideally been called up to the show by now, but injuries have created setbacks for him as many have praised his well-rounded approach at the plate.

Add caption

9-3-11: - http://metsmerizedonline.com/2011/09/prospect-pulse-buffalo-2012-help-on-the-way.html  - Kirk Nieuwenhuis - Captain Kirk returns from labrum surgery on his left shoulder, hopefully doesn’t miss a beat, and picks up right where he left off before his injury last May. The hope is that since the injury was to his non-throwing shoulder that his return will be sooner rather than later. At the time he went down he was the best player on the Buffalo squad, hitting .298, with a .908 OPS. His task at the time was to cut down on his strikeouts, and as soon as he makes progress in that regard he will be ready for prime time.

From the start of the 2009 season through the end of August this year, the Mets paid a staggering $107.2 million to players on the disabled list—based on Wall Street Journal analysis of the time they missed and their daily pay rate. Not only is that the highest figure in all of baseball over that span, it is nearly $47 million more than the next closest team, and more than double what 24 other teams paid their injured players. - wsj.  

With Jason Isringhausen dealing with a herniated disc in his lower back, the Mets will add Dale Thayer to the roster. Thayer made four appearances with the Mets in late May/early June, allowing two runs on five hits in four innings. He was 4-3 with a 2.66 ERA and 21 saves in 54 relief appearances for Triple-A Buffalo - http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/34230/thayer-joining-mets