Rating The Relievers

By Shari Forst
Posted Saturday, July 28, 2007

The last few weeks I have rated the everyday players and the starters and have enjoyed all of your commentary. Whether you agree or disagree our Mets are still sitting atop the NL East (although just barely this season). So, without further ado, I give you the 2007 Relief Core:

Scott Schoeneweis (or as I like to call him-Schonene-WASTE) (5.21 ERA, 0-2) Grade: D
He has been an utter and complete disaster, and leaves me longing even more for Chad Bradford, Heath Bell, Darren Oliver and Royce Ring. When he comes into a game I simply cringe. What else can I say? He is nothing short of vomitacious and I wouldn't trust him to throw little league batting practice.
I have heard that he is pitching with a leg injury, and as I have said before no Met fan seems to appreciate a martyr. Go on the DL and get yourself healthy. Staying on the field injured and pitching badly doesn't help the team.

Guillermo Mota (5.97 ERA, 0-0) Grade: D
I guess when he was pitching on steroids he pitched fine, after coming back from a 50 game suspension he has stunk on ice. This season so far he makes Jorge Julio look like a blessing. Definitely not worth the 50-game wait.

Aaron Heilman (3.78 ERA, 6-3) Grade: C
I am sure many of you think I am being kind to Heilman, but in the scheme of things he hasn't been as awful as Mota and Schoene-WASTE. This season he has been up and down, pitching brilliantly one night, and getting shelled the next. I don't know why his season has been so helter skelter but some say he never recovered from giving up that home run in the NLCS last season. I hope he gets his act together for the second half and stays consistent and solid.

Joe Smith (2.82 ERA, 2-1) Grade: C+
If you look at his stats alone one would think he is terrific. But after being a pleasant surprise out of the pen the first half of the season, his progress has stalled and he seems to be falling into the rookie trap of having the hitters catch on to his stuff, and not being able to adjust quite yet.

Aaron Sele (3.04, 3-0) Grade: C
Granted he hasn't seen much action this season, and again if you look at his stats you would think he wasn't awful, but he definitely isn't good. His best outing came against the Dodgers this past week when Glavine was knocked out of the game by the fourth inning. All in all, nothing great, nothing awful, just another mediocre middle reliever.

Pedro Feliciano (2.11 ERA, 2-1) Grade: A
Feliciano is one of the reasons the Mets are hanging on to first place. He has been almost flawless in his appearances, and can be counted on to get out of a tight jam. He was good last year, but this year he is even better, in my opinion. He can get lefties and righties out (hey what a concept; a guy who can pitch to all hitters!)

Billy Wagner (1.45 ERA, 1-0, 22 Saves) Grade: A+
Most of you know I was not a fan of his signing originally, and I thought last season he was not what most people expected. I would watch him come into a game and have to go to my watching a horror movie pose--watching him pitch with my fingers over my eyes. He made me very nervous last year and I never had faith that he could nail it down in the ninth inning. That is a different story this year. Wagner has been spectacular, and believe it or not I have no complaints about him this year at all. He can certainly be counted on in the ninth to put the game away. I don't know whats different this year as opposed to last year, but I couldn't be happier with his performance. He is pitching the way a closer is expected to pitch.