Look who's Feliciano's partner in PR....

Howard Megdal of the NY Observer has a great article today on Pedro Feliciano and what he's attempting to accomplish in winter ball. Feliciano is a 32 y/o left handed reliever who is in his sixth year of major league ball.

Feliciano came up through the Dodgers system but in 2001 he was a 24 y/o who repeatedly failed at AAA and the Dodgers let him go. The Reds signed him during the off-season but immediately traded him to the Mets in the Shawn Estes deal. Between 2002-2004 he made 50 relief appearances with an ERA of 5.40 and a record of 1-0. After those three unsuccessful years Pedro played in Japan for two seasons and then returned to the Mets in 2006.

His best season came in 2006 when he was teamed with Chad Bradford as an early inning relief combo. He went 7-2 with a 2.09 ERA in 64 appearances and only 60 innings. The next year Bradford was gone and Feliciano started crossing over, he went 2-2 with an ERA of 3.09 in 78 appearances, 64 innings, with 2 saves in 4 opportunities. Last season Feliciano was relied upon heavily and after a very good first half, he struggled mightily. Overall, he had a record of 3-4 with an ERA of 4.05 in 86 appearances but only 53 innings and again two saves in four opportunities. It was a tale of two seasons; in the first half Pedro went 2-2 with a 2.86 ERA in 48 appearances ( 34 innings) but then in the second half he went 1-2 with a 6.27 ERA in 38 appearances ( 18 innings).

As the Observer article indicates Pedro thinks he's discovered what was wrong and is working towards correcting it. I just wonder if he was over used and over exposed to right handed hitters and is best suited as a platoon partner like in '06'.

What I found interesting about Mr. Megdal's article is that Pedro's pitching coach in Puerto Rico is Ricky Bones who is also a Mets pitching instructor and Pedro is being used as a late inning lefty/righty combo. Pedro is the left handed side of a very successful tandem, with the right side being none other then Fernando Cabrera.

Metsblog reported that the Mets were scouting Cabrera early this off-season. The 28 y/o free agent right hander has a lifetime record of 8–7 in 125 appearances with an ERA of 5.02 while striking out 185 batters in 168 innings, between the Orioles and Indians. Both are pitching very well this winter, could it be a preview of next years 6th-7th inning duo....

Feliciano: 0-0 / 2.70 ERA / 5 appearances ( 3.1innings) 2 SO- 1 BB.

Cabrera: 1-0 / 0.44 ERA /17 appearances ( 20 innings) / 19 SO- 6 BB.

But at the same time, Leones was closing in on a Puerto Rico winter league title, and Perez twice had occasion to use Feliciano in tandem with the right-hander Fernando Cabrera in order to win ballgames late. source Observer