We Hardly Knew Yee

After another Mets win and Beltran's first long ball in a Met uniform, things should be all rosy, right? Wrong. In case you did not read yet, Tyler Yates may never pitch again. If he does, he will probably not be effective.

The hard-throwing relief pitcher reported to camp yesterday to begin the long process of rehabilitating his right shoulder. What was initially diagnosed as tendonitis proved to be a 70 percent tear in his labrum that required extensive repair.

"There's no chance I'm pitching this season. I can't even throw a ball until August," said Yates, who could barely raise his arm above his waist. "It's frustrating because the doctors didn't know what it was until the surgery."

Very few pitchers return to the same level of effectiveness after labrum surgery. Yates is further hampered by having undergone Tommy John elbow surgery in 2002.

This is the same surgery Pedro rehabbed himself to avoid since there are no cases in which pitchers come back from labrum surgery and be effective. Rob Nen underwent labrum surgery in 2002 after it was discovered he needed it when he went in to get some flotsam and jetsam cleaned up in his shoulder. Once a premier closer, he is now still trying to fight his way back to simply pitch. There were 36 major-league pitchers that were diagnosed with labrum tears in the last five year. Only Rocky Biddle has returned to pitch in the majors at his previous level. Basically, there is a 3% chance of a successful return from this surgery.

Very bad news for Tyler Yates.

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In the spirit of good planning:

The Mets don't believe Cuban defector Alay Soler will clear up his visa issues any time soon and are investigating whether he can be placed on a suspended list and removed from the 40-man roster. Soler is working out at the team's academy in the Dominican Republic.

His agent is at the center of this. In an effort to extract more money from him, he dangled his visa and other papers in front of him to get a larger % cut than the MLPA allows.

Beltran's homer went an estimated 425 feet and landed on the grassy knoll, where Roger McDowell was rumored to be the second spitter.

After Luis Garcia took one deep yesterday, one has to wonder if he has any shot at making the reserve first baseman job a little interesting? Smart money is not really, I think they are pretty set on Andres Galaraga.

There has been much hand-wringing among Mets fans for trading top prospect Scott Kazmir (No. 7 on the BA Top 100) last July 31 for Victor Zambrano. Could it be the Mets also soon will regret dealing Justin Huber in the package for Kris Benson? Huber was redirected to the Royals, whose GM, Allard Baird, likens him to Paul Konerko. Baird said Huber has an "impact" bat, envisioning a high on-base-percentage hitter with 25-homer power in the lineup no later than next year.

Joel Sherman has a nice piece on Pedro Martinez.
Peterson says Martinez defies his reputation and is a hard worker, and the ace righty bristles at the notion he does not do what is necessary to keep his motor humming.

"You can't pitch every five days at 5-11, 170 pounds, throwing 97-98 mph with 2,270 innings [actually 2,296] and be lazy or a prima donna," Martinez says. "Only a stupid person would think you could survive without working. I wish it was that easy."

Bob Klapisch has a good article on the Mets newfound diversity.

How much exactly will Cameron like right field this upcoming season? Well, do really don't know, but Maybe Milton Bradley can shed some light on the topic.

"The ball goes in the lights. It doesn't do that really in center," said Bradley, who's back in center now with Finley gone. "The ball slices to you differently off the bat. Running in the corner and picking up doubles, and that [stinks]. It's just different. No fun for me, really."

Asked how long it took until he felt comfortable, Bradley quickly said, "Never. . . . Because when you're a center fielder, and especially when you're a good center fielder like Mike, then it [stinks]. I mean, you move over. So you've got to deal with that."

I know it's just spring, but I'm sure a lot of eyes will be on Victor's 1st start of the spring.

Eric Brynes rumors are heating up again and there are still rumblings about the Cards being interested in Joe McEwing.

The Pirates join the Orioles as a team interested in Maels Rodriguez.