The good news? This site will be free of bad jokes referencing bad Danny Glover movies for the rest of the year.  The bad news, its because Angel Pagan has opted for the season ending surgery on his shoulder. Pagan will return next season.

Pagan was hitting .275 while with the team, but hasn’t played since May 12th.

Sad news indeed, as we here at the Foot had a full dozen Angels in the Outfield references all lined up for his return. With Alou, Nixon, and Pagan all on the Do Not Open Till Spring Training list, its probably safe to assume Omar will continue his outfielder shopping, even with it starting to look like Church will return in August.

SNY just announced that outfielder Moises Alou left this evenings AA B Mets game with what appears to be a hamstring injury. Alou had been quoted this week as saying he’d be ready as early as Friday to be activated from the DL.

Now, I’m not a doctor, but perhaps there is some sort of way that a team of medical experts could combine the usable parts of Moises Alou, El Duque, Matt Wise, Trot Nixon and Luis Castillo and create one healthy Met. I assume it would be some sort of cross between Frankenstein’s monster and Voltran, but with the ability to play baseball.

Regardless, I’m guessing that when you get hurt in AA ball rehabbing, it means we won’t be seeing you any time soon. At this point, we have to be realistically saying August as a earliest return window. In a more realistic scenario, it just seems unlikely we’ll see any of these guys back. Just 60 day Wise, Pagan, Duq and Alou, maybe we can find someone useful to fill those spots in the 40 man for when the next player gets hurt.

Rumors of Orlando ‘El Duque’ Hernandez’s death have been greatly exaggerated, as news surfaces today he participated in what some might kind of call baseball activities. According to Adam Rubin , Duq tossed four innings in a rookie level game in the Gulf Coast league, allowing four hits and one earned run.

Figure maybe another Gulf Coast appearance, a brief stop with the Cyclones, a few games with Binghamton, another injury, a month in a boot, back to the Gulf Coast, skip a few starts with arthritis, a few weeks with the Zephyrs, experiment with a delivery requiring little to no leg movement, and by this time in 2010 he’ll be ready to start one or two games for the Mets.

Proving his true Met roots, Trot Nixon has been placed on the 15 Day DL with a strained groin. Ryan Church , theoretically unconcusssed, has been activated and will play today.

Nixon will be a strong addition to our disabled list, often considered by experts to be the best DL in the league. Already this season its included future star and current minor leaguer Fernando Martinez, and soon to be Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez. Some even say they have a good shot at the DL World Series this year.

In related news, Orlando Hernandez was injured by a swarm of Brazilian killer bees, most likely setting his return date back two weeks, from eventually to even later.

Moises Alou and Marlon Anderson have both been activated from the DL, Ramon Casanova has been sent back down to clear room, and so that people finally stop asking Omar why he has three catchers on his roster.

While Alou, when healthy, does bring both an excellent veteran presence as well as a good bat to the Mets, I think over the struggles of the last week the fans and media are putting a little too much faith in Alou’s abilities as a cure for what ails the Mets. Sure, maybe he can kick some butts behind closed doors to knock some of these players back into shape, but lets face it, his stay and him as a solution are both temporarily. Chances are a month and a half from now he’ll slide wrong and go right back out. At least we can enjoy some Alou while we can.

For those who haven’t heard the news, Jose Valentin , The Stache, has been moved to AAA. Valentin, who said he would retire rather than waste a half season rehabbing, has spent the season to date rehabbing in St Lucie. One would assume if he was moved up, it’d be at the expense of Nunez .

Its a tough call here. I like the Stache. Who doesn’t. He’s one of those tough guy old school players. He seems like he’ll play through most anything, hustle, and enjoys a good laugh. He’s a guy that could probably bring in some of the mentality the Mets need, the get out there, bust your ass, kick butt, take no prisoners type of deal. No offense to the Carloses, well, no offense to Beltran, but they just don’t bring it. Beltran too will generally quietly play through sprains, pulls, pain, etc, but he doesn’t bring the ability to push other, younger players. Plus, there’s the Stache. Its pretty sweet.

On the other hand, lets face it, he won’t be contributing much offense. Sure, he’ll have no problem sacrificing himself to get men over. But I wouldn’t expect much more than a low to mid 200 average. If he could muster up some hits while starting the one or two times a week Castillo needs to rest his knees it would be worth the consideration. But for a team thats showing signs of struggling in part due to an aging hurting roster, is bringing back an aged hurting utility man worth it for the leadership he’ll bring?

Overall, a Stache return could be good in the short run. If his words and example can help motivate what often seems like an aimless offense, then I’d say sure, let Stache join the club. But temporarily. That roster spot needs for the long term go to a younger, less likely to break in two player.

Top OF Prospect Fernando Martinez will be sidelined for 3 weeks with a strained right hamstring. Martinez initially said he thought he would only miss a few days.

Good news, don’t want to rush back the Teenage Hitting Machine.

Hat tip to Mets Blog for the info.

In his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin tells us something that will be music to our ears here at the Foot. Nelson Figueroa has cleared waivers and is expected to report to AAA New Orleans. This opens the possibility of Figgy returning to Shea should the need and/or opportunity present itself.

I’m quite happy about this, as you should be. I understand we needed Claudio Vargas, since the double header had forced us to burn two pitchers in one day, but Figgy was booted out unjustly

Did he melt down? Sure. Should Dukes’ childish antics have rattled him so? No way. Did I really want to listen to Figgy cry about said Dukes taunting? Nope. But any one else in the rotation would have been given another shot.

It feels like Ollie has a meltdown game in at least a quarter of his starts, and its not like all three of the other starts are gems. Maine’s had his incredible off days. Mike Pelfrey is still hit or miss, though the ratio is improving.

Figgy had one extremely bad game, and was immediately shipped to waivers. Hopefully he does well in AAA and gets another shot to toss a few games, or a home in the bullpen. He seems like he works his ass off, gives it his all, and if this team is going to turn itself around it needs guys like that.

Brian Schneider will likely return tomorrow, according to the Daily News . He spent just shy of a week in the hospital with an infected thumb, and has yet to return to duty, though he caught a bullpen session. In the article, Rubin also points out the Ramon Castro and Matt Wise also participated in rehab games. Wise threw two innings, taking down all six batters. Castro caught seven innings. Both played with St Lucie.

A name missing from this list of those actively participating in rehab games: Orlando Hernendez. The most likely options are that he has since lost his injured foot entirely (being replaced with a foot size and shaped bunion) or that he is being fitted with an Iron Man style boot.

I’d assume with Wise, there is no rush, since unless someone gets hurt there is not a lot of options as far as returning him to the Bullpen. They could option Joe Smith, but he’s doing respectable so far so why send him down. Especially considering he suffered from fatigue problems last year, might as well use him while he’s good, and then if he falters, you have Wise healthy and ready to switch into that spot. Plus, it’d make Hot Foot’s Rob pretty sad to see Smith go.