Mets keeping close eye on Wylie
03/09/2006
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The uniform number on his back has two digits -- five and nine. No. 59, Mitch Wylie. A pretty distinctive name, a pretty mundane number. These days, the Mets find the five the more conspicuous part of Wylie's ID -- five as in Rule 5.
Wylie is on New York's 40-man roster, and -- if the Mets are to retain him -- he must be on the 25-man roster when the regular season begins, when it ends and every day in between. Such is the obligation for a club participating in the Rule 5 Draft, staged each year at the Winter Meetings. Draft him, pay $50,000 for him -- to the Giants, in Wylie's case -- keep him on the big-league roster or offer him back to his previous employer at half price.
Which course of action the Mets will choose remains an unknown for now. Nine spots in what will be either an 11- or 12-man staff are virtually decided -- Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Steve Trachsel, Aaron Heilman, Victor Zambrano, Billy Wagner, Duaner Sanchez, Jorge Julio and Chad Bradford.
Beyond that, you can throw a blanket over a dozen or so and wonder. Some left-handed -- Royce Ring, Pedro Feliciano, Matt Perisho, Mike Venafro and Juan Perez. Some right-handed -- Jeremi Gonzalez, Yusaku Iriki, Alay Soler, Steve Schmoll, Henry Owens, John Maine and, if he's healthy, Juan Padilla. And Wylie.
Gonzalez, Iriki and one left-hander -- no one knows which one yet -- appear to have the best chances, unless a vacancy in the rotation develops, in which case Brian Bannister would likely move up from Triple-A Norfolk. Otherwise, it's a dozen for one spot, and only one of them has Rule 5 as part of his ID.
"I guess that works in my favor," Wylie says. "It doesn't force them to do anything, but it kind of guarantees that I get a long look.
"The rest is up to me."
Indeed, general manager Omar Minaya says that Wylie is almost assured to be in camp so long as the Mets are in Florida. Most Rule 5 selections are handled that way, provided they demonstrate some degree of value. Even if the Mets decide that Wylie is unlikely to begin the season in the big leagues, the longer they retain him, the more likely it is that the Giants will have diminished interest in him and the less likely it is that they would pay the Mets $25,000 to bring him back.
Wylie is, after all, 28 years old and probably closer to the end of his career than the beginning. But he has something that appeals to the Mets, and when the Giants' last-minute decision was not to protect him, the Mets put their money where the "might-be" was.
Wylie had produced a 3-5 record, a 4.50 ERA and two saves in 22 appearances with San Francisco's Triple-A Fresno affiliate after the Giants found him pitching effectively for Sioux City in the independent Northern League and his native Iowa.
Wylie had seemingly been on track for a big-league career with the White Sox. He had a 15-4 record with Chicago's Birmingham affiliate in his first exposure to Double-A in 2001. But his shoulder betrayed him the following year.
Not until last spring, when Wylie was still with the White Sox, did he regain some of his lost promise when his arm regained its strength. Nonetheless, Wylie was released.
"What I remember," he said, "is sitting in my rental car wondering, 'Do I retire now? What am I supposed to do?' " He called his father, but "I couldn't get myself to say the word 'retire' to him," Wylie said. "So I went back home and figured I'd sit by the phone."
When the phone did ring, the caller wasn't one that Wylie had hoped to hear.
"I always told myself I wouldn't play in an independent league," Wylie said. "But the phone wasn't ringing off the hook. They wanted a No. 1 starter, and I really wasn't interested. Then he said Sioux City."
When Wylie arrived at the Sioux City Spring Training complex, he realized that the stadium was the same one he had played in as a freshman at St. Ambrose University. The field had been re-sodded, so the workouts were at a different field, the same one he had played on in the 1995 NAIA World Series.
"In 10 years, I had gone full cycle," he said.
The Giants saw Wylie pitch in Sioux City's first game, and they eventually signed him. But they left him unprotected shortly after re-signing him for 2006.
Now, Wylie is with the Mets and trying not to handicap his chances of reaching the big leagues. The older he gets, the harder it is to ignore the calendar. The No. 5 assures Wylie of a chance and nothing more.
"It's up to me now," he says.
Source: http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The uniform number on his back has two digits -- five and nine. No. 59, Mitch Wylie. A pretty distinctive name, a pretty mundane number. These days, the Mets find the five the more conspicuous part of Wylie's ID -- five as in Rule 5.
Wylie is on New York's 40-man roster, and -- if the Mets are to retain him -- he must be on the 25-man roster when the regular season begins, when it ends and every day in between. Such is the obligation for a club participating in the Rule 5 Draft, staged each year at the Winter Meetings. Draft him, pay $50,000 for him -- to the Giants, in Wylie's case -- keep him on the big-league roster or offer him back to his previous employer at half price.
Which course of action the Mets will choose remains an unknown for now. Nine spots in what will be either an 11- or 12-man staff are virtually decided -- Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Steve Trachsel, Aaron Heilman, Victor Zambrano, Billy Wagner, Duaner Sanchez, Jorge Julio and Chad Bradford.
Beyond that, you can throw a blanket over a dozen or so and wonder. Some left-handed -- Royce Ring, Pedro Feliciano, Matt Perisho, Mike Venafro and Juan Perez. Some right-handed -- Jeremi Gonzalez, Yusaku Iriki, Alay Soler, Steve Schmoll, Henry Owens, John Maine and, if he's healthy, Juan Padilla. And Wylie.
Gonzalez, Iriki and one left-hander -- no one knows which one yet -- appear to have the best chances, unless a vacancy in the rotation develops, in which case Brian Bannister would likely move up from Triple-A Norfolk. Otherwise, it's a dozen for one spot, and only one of them has Rule 5 as part of his ID.
"I guess that works in my favor," Wylie says. "It doesn't force them to do anything, but it kind of guarantees that I get a long look.
"The rest is up to me."
Indeed, general manager Omar Minaya says that Wylie is almost assured to be in camp so long as the Mets are in Florida. Most Rule 5 selections are handled that way, provided they demonstrate some degree of value. Even if the Mets decide that Wylie is unlikely to begin the season in the big leagues, the longer they retain him, the more likely it is that the Giants will have diminished interest in him and the less likely it is that they would pay the Mets $25,000 to bring him back.
Wylie is, after all, 28 years old and probably closer to the end of his career than the beginning. But he has something that appeals to the Mets, and when the Giants' last-minute decision was not to protect him, the Mets put their money where the "might-be" was.
Wylie had produced a 3-5 record, a 4.50 ERA and two saves in 22 appearances with San Francisco's Triple-A Fresno affiliate after the Giants found him pitching effectively for Sioux City in the independent Northern League and his native Iowa.
Wylie had seemingly been on track for a big-league career with the White Sox. He had a 15-4 record with Chicago's Birmingham affiliate in his first exposure to Double-A in 2001. But his shoulder betrayed him the following year.
Not until last spring, when Wylie was still with the White Sox, did he regain some of his lost promise when his arm regained its strength. Nonetheless, Wylie was released.
"What I remember," he said, "is sitting in my rental car wondering, 'Do I retire now? What am I supposed to do?' " He called his father, but "I couldn't get myself to say the word 'retire' to him," Wylie said. "So I went back home and figured I'd sit by the phone."
When the phone did ring, the caller wasn't one that Wylie had hoped to hear.
"I always told myself I wouldn't play in an independent league," Wylie said. "But the phone wasn't ringing off the hook. They wanted a No. 1 starter, and I really wasn't interested. Then he said Sioux City."
When Wylie arrived at the Sioux City Spring Training complex, he realized that the stadium was the same one he had played in as a freshman at St. Ambrose University. The field had been re-sodded, so the workouts were at a different field, the same one he had played on in the 1995 NAIA World Series.
"In 10 years, I had gone full cycle," he said.
The Giants saw Wylie pitch in Sioux City's first game, and they eventually signed him. But they left him unprotected shortly after re-signing him for 2006.
Now, Wylie is with the Mets and trying not to handicap his chances of reaching the big leagues. The older he gets, the harder it is to ignore the calendar. The No. 5 assures Wylie of a chance and nothing more.
"It's up to me now," he says.
Source: http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/
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