28-year old closer Francisco Rodriguez will miss the rest of the season as he needs surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb. Rodriguez hurt his thumb while punching his girlfriend’s father after a Mets’ game. K-Rod pitched in 53 games (0 starts) for the Mets this year and he was 4-2 with 25 saves, a 2.20 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He whiffed 67 batters and only allowed 45 hits in 57 1/3 innings this year. The Mets will likely go with a trio of pitchers to replace K-Rod as the closer depending on matchups. 35-year old lefty Hisanori Takahashi got his first major league save last night. He has pitched in 35 games (12 starts) for the Mets this year and he is 7-6 with 1 save, a 4.16 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. He is the one guy of this trio who can get out batters from both sides of the plate. 33-year old lefty Pedro Feliciano is pretty tough on lefties. He has pitched in 65 games (0 starts) this year for the Mets and he is 3-6 with a 3.05 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP. The lone righty of the bunch is 25-year old Bobby Parnell. Parnell has pitched in 25 games (0 starts) for the Mets this year and he is 0-1 with a 3.68 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. The Mets will definitely miss K-Rod the rest of the year.

The Mets should just release 28-year old lefty pitcher Oliver Perez and eat the rest of the money owed to him. Perez has pitched in 14 games (7 starts) for the Mets this year and he is 0-4 with a 6.70 ERA and a 2.02 WHIP. He has given up 50 hits (8 homers) and he has walked 37 batters in only 43 innings this season. Perez is refusing any attempt by the Mets to send him to the minors. He has now pitched in 98 games (91 starts) in his five years with the Mets and he is 29-28 with a 4.69 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. The Mets should bit the bullet and cut Perez as he is taking up a roster spot.

The Mets have released 34-year old lefty swinging infielder Alex Cora. Cora played in 62 games for the Mets this year and he was 35 of 169 (.207 avg, .543 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 20 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Mets have recalled 20-year old righty swinging infielder Ruben Tejada to replace Cora on the roster. Tejada played in 35 games earlier this year for the Mets and he was 22 of 104 (.212 avg, .547 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 5 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Mets won’t miss Cora too much as there is no reason to think that Tejada can’t play just as well or better.

27-year old starting 3B David Wright had a power outage in 2009. He played in 144 games in 2009 for the Mets and he was 164 of 535 (.307 avg, .837 OPS) with 88 runs scored, 10 homers, 72 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. This season though, Wright has his power stroke back. Wright has played in 106 games for the Mets this year and he is 118 of 399 (.296 avg, .873 OPS) with 57 runs scored, 17 homers, 77 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Wright getting his power back is one of the main reasons the Mets have played better than most experts thought they would.

The Mets have released 37-year old righty starting pitcher Ramon Ortiz. Ortiz started 8 games in AAA-ball this year for the Mets and he was 2-3 with a 3.94 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. The Mets obviously didn’t think Ortiz would help them at any point this season so it was a smart mover to let him go so he can seek employment elsewhere.