Pedro Feliciano remains with Mets, accepts minor league assignment

Per the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Pedro Feliciano will accept an assignment to Triple-A Las Vegas and remain with the New York Mets organization. Feliciano had been informed earlier this week that he would not make the major league roster, and under the terms of the new CBA he had the right to declare free agency rather than head to the minors. Feliciano had been effective in eight appearances this spring, but has yet to regain his fastball velocity since his 2011 shoulder surgery. He was sitting at 82-84 mph this spring, which is consistent with the radar gun readings he posted while rehabbing in the New York Penn League last summer. In his last full season in the majors, 2010, Feliciano averaged 87 mph with his fastball.

After leading the National League in appearances every year from 2008-2010, Feliciano signed a two-year deal with the New York Yankees worth about eight million dollars. He would never throw a pitch for the Bombers due to his shoulder woes and came back to the Mets this year on a minor league deal with a spring training invite. The Mets received a supplemental pick for losing Feliciano to the Yankees, which they used to select Amazin' Avenue's #4 Mets prospect, Michael Fulmer. So even if Feliciano never throws another pitch for the Mets, they've already gotten quite a bit of value from him. However, it's likely that Feliciano will see time with the 2013 Mets, as the pitchers ahead of him on the LOOGY depth chart right now, Scott Rice and Robert Carson, are far from sure things at the major league level.