The importance of middle relievers in baseball has increased in recent years, as the trend of starting pitchers failing to go deep into ballgames continues. The Hardball Times provides a graph of the decline in the number of innings pitched by starters over the past hundred years.

With this increased importance, comes a price. In the New York Times, Murray Chase points out that relievers had an average salary of $1,433,992 in 2006 up from $1,316,384 in 2005.

The Mets currently have Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and Mike Pelfrey tentatively penciled into their rotation for 2008, with a fifth pitcher likely to come from free agency or via trade this winter. The uncertainty of the Mets rotation makes the need a quality bullpen even greater. The inconsistency of the Mets rotation last season caused the Mets starters to fail to get deep into ballgames, and put a great degree of pressure on an overworked Mets bullpen.

The Mets enter 2008 with a bullpen consisting of Billy Wagner, Scott Schoeneweis, Duaner Sanchez, Jorge Sosa, Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith, Juan Padilla and possibly Orlando Hernandez.

The Mets will likely use Aaron Heilman as a trading chip to acquire a front line starter.

As we scan the free agent landscape this off season, there are quite a few quality arms available to upgrade with. Two big name closers are on the market, Francisco Cordero and Eric Gange, but will want to close so would be of no use to the Mets.

Ron Mahay, Jeremy Affledt, David Riske, LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Linebrink, Octavio Dotel, and Byung-Hyun Kim are some of the other arms who might be worth a look as middle relievers. Chad Cordero is a longshot, as the Nationals have asked for Carlos Gomez in return and Cordero is also likely to perfer a closing role.

Mahay was 3-0 last year, with a 2.55 ERA and 1.33 WHIP over 67 innings for the Braves. He is considered the best of the middle relievers on the market and has attracted the Yankees interest.

David Riske was 1-4 with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP over 69.7 innings for the Royals. Riske hasn’t had an ERA over 4 since 2002.

Matthew Cerrone on Mets Blog relays information from Mike Pagliarulo who advises the Yankees, who Mark Feinsand of the Daily News said has interest, to steer clear of Linebrink, whose stats indicate a ‘structural decline.’

Octavio Dotel was traded to the Braves from Kansas City at the trade deadline and compiled a 4.11 ERA with a 1.33 WHIP. He spent time on the disabled list with a shoulder strain in August.

The Orioles could look to move Chad Bradford, who is signed to a three year, $10.5 million contract. He compiled a 3.34 ERA with a 1.43 WHIP.

Zoe over at Pick Me Up reports that Joe Smith was at the cover shoot for Sports Illustrated, was posing in said picture, and…ended up cropped out of the final cover.

Man this rookie hazing is getting out of control.  Between this and having to polish Mr Mets head after every game Joe Smith's feelings are going to get hurt. I just hope SI knows that they've got an angry Zoe on their case now.

In todays Daily News, Rubin reports that reliever Joe Smith is fitting in well in the clubhouse and enjoying the life of a Met.  Rubin cites Smith's willingness to learn from the veterens around him, as well as his enthuisasm and drive as what's helping him fit in both on and off the field.  According to fellow reliever Aaron Sele:

Smith has continued to impress, especially considering his age and lack of experience.  And the fact that it seems he seems to have seamlessly fit in with the rest of the guys in the bullpen is just as important as how well he's done out on the mound.  Especially after the rumors of problems with Lastings when he came up as the rookie phenom last year. The Mets have always been a bit of an eclectic bunch, and for Smith to get bumped up to the roster and adjust so easily to the guys around him, and playing in the NY spotlight, makes you hope to see him as a Met for years to come.  Now if he can just figure out all the NYC parking laws, he'd be set.

Tom Gatto at the Sporting News names his top five players who are poised to be unexpected successes this year, including at #2 Mets' own Joe Smith.

In the internet age, with more Mets blogs alone then one can count, we tend to know who all our prospects are.  That being said, entering spring training I'm sure no one expected Joe Smith to be ready and make the opening day roster. So if he does live up to the hype this quick, it will definitely be a bit of an unexpected surprise. Not that any of us will complain.

John Delcos reports that the mets made some decisions today, announcing that Sele and Smith will both be on the 25-man roster and in the bullpen once the season starts. Ben Johnson and Anderson Hernendez were both sent down to New Orleans, as was Jorge Sosa.

Nothing terrible earth shattering in this announcement.  It seems like it was pretty much said Sunday that Sele and Smith were making the roster, or at the very least it was strongly implied.  While he seems to have shown some improvement, Anderson Hernendez still didn't seem to be at a high enough level that anyone expected to see him make it either, especially with both Valentine and Easley around to cover 2nd base. Johnson was a probable but unlikely roster addition, depending on how many pitchers the team decides to take.  With him officially optioned down, that would be a stronger indication of Lastings making the roster.  Aside from that though, the only thing now is who our final bullpen member is.  As mentioned the other day, do we go Adkins and if he stinks release him and then try Park? Or do we go Park and write off Adkins as a loss? I know Burgos had a strong finish, but I still think he needs more time, and assume Willie, Omar and Co see him as the 3rd option of those three as well.

Marty Noble over at mets.com is reporting that Smith and Sele will both be joining Chan Ho Park in the bullpen on the 25 man roster. The rest of the bullpen would then consist of Wagner, Heilman, The Show, and Feliciano.

While the article claims that nothing is set in stone, the fact that its appearing on the official team page as news, one would assume that barring any major problems or injuries (or a Sele or Park temper tantrum) thats the bullpen. This at least answers some questions, though still no word on if they plan on going with four starters for the first stretch, and if they do if they'll carry an extra arm in the bullpen (perhaps Sosa) or an extra bat on the bench.  Speaking of which, while its generally assumed Newhan is getting that last bench spot, still no official word there either.

Regardless, it seems that much like of the readers and posters here, the Mets brass believes Burgos needs more time in AAA.

David Lennon in Newsday relays this funny note from Mets camp…

Maine's T-Shirts seem to be popular in Mets camp, reveals Kevin Kernan in The New York Post

Joe Smith, the team's third-round pick this year, moved from Class A Brooklyn to Double-A Binghamton.

Smith has a 0.45 ERA in 20 innings pitched, with 9 saves, just 10 hits, and only 1 earned run, with 28 strikeouts pitching for the Cyclones.