The Mets have signed right-hander Jason Isringhausen to a minor league contract that includes an invite to their Major League Spring Training camp, reports Newsday's David Lennon. (Twitter link)
Isringhausen, 38, last pitched in the majors in 2009 with the Rays before undergoing Tommy John surgery. He signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati last summer and threw just 5 2/3 innings for the Reds' Triple-A affiliate. Isringhausen threw a bullpen session for the Reds last month and another for the Mets today, so obviously the Mets brass liked what they saw from the 14-year veteran.
Isringhausen was originally drafted by the Mets in the 44th round of the 1991 draft, and he pitched for the club from 1995-99 before being traded to Oakland in July 1999. It was after leaving the Mets that "Izzy" blossomed into a top closer, accumulating 272 saves and a 2.81 ERA between 2000 and 2008 with the A's and Cardinals.
Very excited my fans!
METfan201 What do you mean YOUR fans?
Im very excited
yes, we signed izzy. world series here we come! but in all seriousness i like this signing. smart move.
minor league deal… nbd
Great signing! The 2004 Mets have finally found a closer! Seriously though, hopefully he’ll be able to handle some middle relief in case someone is struggling or injured…he’s better than Igarashi.
also many pitchers come back from tommy john surgery and improve. so maybe he’s a diamond in the rough for the mets in the bullpen
Are you implying that Braden Looper isn’t working out for them?
no, he should work out great, but with looper setting up and izzy closing, plus Kaz Matsui at short and Jose Reyes at second with Mike Cameron in centerfield, and with Glavine, Leiter, Trachsel, Jae Seo and tyler yates in the rotation, and ty wigginton at third we could go to the world series. Plus we got three can’t miss prospects in Scott Kazmir, Justin Huber, and Lastings Milledge. Also, there’s some third baseman named David something in the minors who could be a decent player.
Lets Go Mets ’04
when are people going to realize that saying ‘world series here we come’ for a minor league signing just isn’t funny?
If they wanted to make Perez feel better about himself it might have been cheaper to get him so prozac.
I’ll never forget when Harry Carey pronounced his name as Jason Ice-ring-hoss-an. Classic!
Mets just absolutely stocking up on former Rays and Devil Rays
Maybe they get Damon next year :p
Umm…perhaps nbd = no big deal?
I was referring to the since-removed post above mine…he had a slightly different translation…and that’s Mr. Holmes to you – lol.