Rice to undergo surgery, out for season

Scott Rice will soon undergo surgery for hernia that he has been dealing with for the last three weeks, according to Marc Craig of Newsday. Rice will miss the remainder of the season.

In his first season in the big leagues, Rice posted a respectable 3.71 ERA in a league leading 73 games. Before the 2013 season, he had spent 14 years in the minor leagues after being drafted in the first round (44th overall) by the Orioles in 1999. He made the Mets squad out of spring training this year, and was healthy the entire season up until this point.

When the Mets originally signed Scott Rice, I even labeled the move as "a joke," and I was wrong. Rice started off extremely hot, posted a 3.01 ERA in his first 31 appearances. However, since that point, he had a 4.38 ERA in his final 42 appearances.

Terry Collins clearly put a heavy workload on Rice. Since the Mets did not have left handed relief depth for most of the season, Rice was really their only option. Once Pedro Feliciano, Robert Carson, and Tim Byrdak were brought up, that took some stress off of Rice.

Overall, Rice should be brought back on another minor league deal next year. He did a good enough job to earn himself another contract, and hopefully it is the Mets who bring him back. Having him succeed in New York was a nice story, and hopefully, if brought back in 2014, he could continue to get better.