Murphy, Reyes To Begin On DL

Let the jokes begin about every Mets fan and their moms, too. Two projected Opening Day starters, shortstop Jose Reyes and first baseman Daniel Murphy, are going to start the twenty-ten season on a place much too familiar too the Mets last year, the disabled list.

Murphy has a sprained MCL as David Lennon tweeted earlier today. He is expected to miss 2-6 weeks.

Reyes, who had returned to baseball activities a week or two ago, had played in some minor league games this week. His thyroid levels had "returned to normal levels", and he was set to possibly play in Opening Day, even after initially being ruled out for 2-8 weeks.

Santos, Martinez sent to AAA

Catcher Omir Santos and the Mets' top prospect, outfielder Fernando Martinez, have been sent to AAA Buffalo, as expected.

Stop reading this post.

Waivers: Misch, Acosta

Adam Rubin of the Dail...er...ESPNewYork reported in a magically disappearing Tweet (TheRopolitans.com) that the Mets have claimed reliever Manny Acosta off waivers from the Braves. The Braves assigned Acosta to minor league camp, and the Mets are expected to do the same. He will have a spot on the 40-man roster and will start the year in Buffalo with Omir Santos and Fernando Martinez.

In related news, reliever Pat Misch has been set on waivers by the Mets. If no one claims Misch, he will be outrighted to Buffalo, with our pals Martinez, Santos, and Acosta.

Questionable move?

Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog.com that the Mets would like to move Jon Niese into the three spot in the rotation, with Oliver Perez and John Maine to follow.

Jon Niese was my pick, along with many other fans and bloggers, to be the Mets number five starter this season. But then spring training started. And with camp came Oliver Perez's struggles: an ERA of over 8. And with Oliver Perez's struggles, came Jon Niese's better struggles, if that's in any way possible, and now the Mets want to push, no love-shove, Niese into Perez's 3-spot. But, with that said, the rest of the rotation has also been less than stellar this spring, which is why this move surprises me. Pelfrey, Niese, Perez, Santana, and Maine all have ERA's over 5. Santana should not count because, well, he is Johan Santana. But, by moving Perez down and Niese up, what does it accomplish?

Reyes to return to PSL, thyroid conditions back to normal.

Sparkplug Jose Reyes has been cleared to return to Mets' camp in Port St. Lucie. He had returned to New York for tests on his thyroid, and the verdict was that Reyes would miss the first 2-8 weeks of the season. Now we can only hang onto the hope that springs eternal that Jose will be available for Opening Day in Miami.

(And yes...that is a Casey At the Bat reference. Cheers to fifth grade teacher Bob Bartels for making my class memorizing it. Baseball in school? YES!)

Pelfrey gets rocked in loss to Nationals

Mike Pelfrey's spring struggles have continued. Pelfrey gave up two home runs to Nationals Josh Willingham and Ryan Zimmerman, boosting his spring training ERA to 7.36. Henry Blanco, Angel Pagan and ironically, Mike Pelfrey, drove in runs for the Metropolitans. Chris Carter raked 3 hits. Jenrry Mejia pitched 1 1/3 innings and walked one.