Feliciano To Be Mets' Setup Man ... Is This Good?

Well, this is interesting news.

After reading earlier this week that Pedro Feliciano wanted to be our eighth-inning guy, I was intrigued. He does have a very good track record with us - albeit primarily as a left-handed specialist. It was weird to, for the first time, consider him as more than that... but upon reflection, it might be a great idea.

“I don’t want to be the lefty specialist,” Feliciano said, according to MLB.com. “I want to be the eighth-inning guy, and I want to prove to the organization that I can pitch to righties like I pitch to lefties… I just want to leave Spring Training as the setup man.” (Source: Metsblog)

That was Friday, so I spent the weekend with this idea in the back of my mind. Fast-forward to today, and I see the following headline from the always great David Waldstein at the New York Times: "Mets Considering Feliciano For Setup Role." I thought to myself, I knew that already. That article was published at 7:31pm.

Spring Training Parking Lot Pecking Order

The Mets are so ridiculous. According to the Star-Ledger, the following Mets were given assigned spots in the player's parking lot:

Johan Santana, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Jeff Francoeur, Jason Bay, Mike Pelfrey, Kelvim Escobar, Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez, Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez, Alex Cora and Henry Blanco

This is silly. Take a look at the pitchers:

Santana, Pelfrey, Escobar, K-Rod, and Ollie. Oliver Perez and Pelfrey get spots - but John Maine does not?

Feliciano Avoids Arbitration

Via Metsblog:

According to Ken Davidoff of Newsday, the Mets and LHP Pedro Feliciano also avoided arbitration and agreed on a one-year, $2.9 million deal.

Quick reaction... what?! I love me some Pedro Feliciano - perhaps irrationally so - but that is a ton of money for a left-handed specialist.

Fangraphs has Feliciano's value at $2.9 million or more in three of the last four years, but he was also worth NEGATIVE dollars in 2008. And with relievers, it's really a crap shoot. It's too much, but it alone won't break the budget, I guess.