Miilwaukee Looper

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Mets fans have had a love-hate relationship with their team's relief pitchers for nearly as long as I can recall. I remember back when I first started paying attention to such things, Jerry DiPoto and Doug Henry would frequently get booed while trotting in from the bullpen, long before they had done anything at all for good or for ill. What was that about? Check the numbers, Met fans; they weren't that bad.

It's easy to remember the past couple of seasons, when Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis routinely received the same treatment. These men would come out from Shea's bullpen to do battle for our side against a common enemy, and instead of being cheered on and encouraged to do well, they were heaped with scorn and abuse before they threw their first pitch. It almost made me ashamed to be a Mets fan. When did our expectations get so twisted that we would only be pleased with perfection? To be a Met fan has historically meant a willingness to cheer for the underdog, an ability to love those who lose, those who fail. When did we morph into those ugliest of sports patrons … Yankee fans?

It hasn't only been our marginal bullpen contributors who have received this scorn. John Franco, the all-time franchise leader in saves, got booed by his hometown fans. Armando Benitez, the most dominant closer in team history, was booed with something like religious zeal. Even Billy Wagner heard the rumblings of discontent more than once the past couple of years--Billy, whose worst ERA with the Mets was 2.63.

All this is to say that Braden Looper seems to be on the verge of signing a contract with the Brewers. I can hear the boos starting already, the mocking, the catcalls. Check the numbers, Met fans. He wasn't that bad.

In other ex-Mets bullpen news, 2006 stalwart Chad Bradford, now with Tampa Bay, has had surgery on his right elbow and is expected to miss the first half of the season. See the picture below in case you wonder why his elbow needed surgery.