End Of The Scho

The deal was a pretty minor one and came about with about as little fanfare as could be expected. But then again, after I spent just about all of two seasons skewering this guy repeatedly, usually after he spent just about all of two seasons skewering games for the Mets, something has to be said about the merciful departure of Scott Schoeneweis.

It's not so much that Schoeneweis was repeatedly terrible, even though he certainly did have some bright moments in his two seasons with the Mets (mostly in the first half of '08), but that his failures seemed to happen at the worst possible moments, and more often than not, it would end with the Mets losing. This appeared to happen with such regularity that by June of 2007, I proclaimed to walk out of Shea Stadium whenever he came into a game I was attending (This never actually came to pass, though I did more than once walk out to the ramps during the innings he pitched).

Whether the perpetual dread surrounding a Schoeneweis outing was magnified by the continued negative crowd reaction to his sight is true or not seems pretty academic to me. There are plenty of players who seem to thrive on the negative attention thrust upon them (see Jones, Larry). Schoeneweis has been, at least for me, the poster boy of the Bullpen malaise that has befallen the Mets over the last two seasons (others might say Heilman. Neither is a wrong answer). The departure of Heilman and Schoeneweis is purging the club of a pair of pitchers responsible for giving up a pair of rather infamous Home Runs at a pair of particularly bad moments. Sure, Schoeneweis had some bright moments. But we're always going to remember him for the last pitch he threw as a Met. Getting rid of these guys is more than simply giving these players fresh starts elsewhere. It's also getting them away from the Mets, and away from the snowballing ill will that they continue to entice.

I have no idea who Connor Robertson is and I don't particularly care. He may never see the light of day with the Mets, but as Omar inferred last week and I echo, there are certain Addition by Subtraction deals that are necessary for the club to move forward from their recent failures. This is one such necessary move. I won't say I had a massive "Good Riddance Schoeneweis" celebration or whatever. But if nothing else, I won't have to spend any more exasparated postgame nights writing about how he screwed it up again for the Mets.