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According to today’s New York Post, citing the player’s agent, “The Mets will be bringing back Jose Valentin,” who will not be doing ‘baseball activities’ until mid-March.
Last week, MetsBlog.com linked to a story in El Nuevo Dia, which quoted Valentin as saying he is close to re-signing.
Just as Valentin told El Nuevo Dia, the Mets will give him a minor-league deal with an invitation to major-league spring training, and if he makes the team he will earn $1 million, reports the Post.
Valentin had season-ending ACL surgery on his knee in late September, which he initially hurt in April.
He told the Puerto Rico newspaper that he still not 100 percent, and may need to begin the year at Triple-A.
The Mets declined Valentin’s $4.3 million option for 2008 during early November.
The ‘Stache lives! Some people may whine about him being old/having too many 2b etc, but at the end of the day, its a no risk signing.
Yeah, this is one of those NO RISK, NO REWARD signings.
another year of the ’stache!!!
thats the ONLY reason to get excited for this…his numbers as a backup/pinch hitter are ATROCIOUS
Don’t worry, he’s only signed to a minor league deal so when Castillo’s knees fall off, they can bring Valentin up and continue to bury Gotay on the bench.
I will gladly burry Gotay on the bench if it keeps Reyes off the bench.
Huh? Why would Reyes go to the bench?
Because he would be injured due to Gotay’s incredibly horrible ability to turn a double play.
haha, oh sorry, I missed your sarcasm.
Seriously. Does this mean they are looking to add Gotay to any potential package or does it show a lack of faith in him? His D was shaky, but the kid showed he had a solid bat.
could be either, or both.
I would not be surprised if Gotay goes in a trade somewhere. Seems like they signed way too many guys for his role.
If it means that say Guerra or Martinez stays, I can live with that. Or if he can help bring back another mid rotation starter (Blanton, Snell, or equivalent) then OK by me.
And I even like the guy, and thought they should have just given him the job outright last year!
Just please, make him hit lefty full time.
Oh I’m with you totally. Better to get some value for him then for him to get only a few at bats per week. Yeah, he does have a good bat from the left side … sometimes i wonder why some guys switch hit.
His numbers tailed off as the season went on. He hit .299 in limited duty and can only hit from one side of the plate as well as having no real use as a fielder. Now if he could learn to field a little better as well as learn the OF we could have use for him.
Not a bad signing at all. I can see Valentin as future manager potential. If he has a good club house presence and realizes that he can’t go then he may go ahead and start on that career.
i know people love talking about clubhouse presence and whether it matters or not but i do believe especially with the young latin players (reyes, gotay, OP, even beltran) a guy like valentin is good to have around. i dont think id have a problem with him being a bench coach or some kind of assistant on the mets in the near future.
total waste of money, time and resources. A joke.
Way to go Omar, we are set for 2008.
Hey, will he be a coach in the Mets foreign division because this guy single handedly lost the NLCS for us with a pathetic showing at the plate.
Loser move
Oh come on. He did have a key killer AB, but he had plenty of help being innefectual at the plate during that whole series. Including DW.
its kind of ridiculous to blame an entire 7 game series on one at bat.
i will never forget that at bat as long as i live….i just knew he was going to strike out pathetically and he sure did…i just heard isiah on the Fan and god help me….i thought i was listening to our wonderful leader willie…
sounds low risk.
I don’t have a good feel for what resources they have in the minors to call up to cover an infield position (due to injury), so probably not a bad idea to have him in reserve.
Pretty soon I will have to pick my favorite minor leaguer to rescue. So far, the early favorite is:
Free Lucas Duda! (I get the name right at least?)
You have to like deals like this actually. It is what being a large market team is all about. You stash (stache), guys in the minors who would otherwise be ML back ups and you pay them ML money to do it even while in the minors. This is low risk and likely low reward but I would rather have a healthy decent proven guy like Valentin around to protect against Castillo injury even if Gotay gets the time on the infield if an when Castillo gets hurt.
No brainer…nice move OMAR
I agree r.e post on stache’s pinch hitting abilities. He was not successful in this role at all. Plus, don’t we really need somebody to spell Reyes and Wright so they don’t have to play all 162 games? We have 3 guys who are back up 2bman now! (Stache, Gotay, Marlon A)
I don’t know if that truly represents his abilities. He was coming off an injury and layoff, so he was likely trying to get his timing, etc. back. Not easy to do with sporadic PH ABs.
Once he became a starter, he got the work he needed and started to hit.
Same logic IMO with making Heilmann a starter again. Just because he was a tad erratic at it in 2003 doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be successful at it today.
Sometimes it seems like a lot of Met fans give young players about the same amount of time as an American Idol audition to prove themselves, or it is “Next!”
I think the team definitely missed his leadership in the clubhouse during last season’s unfortunate ending. The guys respect Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez and he, unlike some other veterans on the team, is willing to be both an on field AND vocal leader.
Sometimes players need to call out other players. In the clubhouse only, of course.
Wright was too young, Reyes was too busy wallowing (sadly), Alou hadn’t been a Met long enough, Beltran barely speaks, and Delgado apparently is only a vocal leader in hindsight.
This will help.
Lets just hope The Jet’s knees hold up enough for him to actually be in the clubhouse this season.
lol great reference…benny the jet
It’s a classic. Love that movie.
I fear for his mustache in AAA. The substandard accommodations and grooming facilities associated with minor league ball will clearly be insufficient to maintain its impeccable nature.
maybe Keith and Clyde can hook him up with some Just for Men
He accepts a minor league deal and IF he makes the ML roster will only get paid $1mil in comparison to the 4.3 mil the mets declined. he obviously WANTS to be apart of this organization, and it seems like he will occupy any roll or do whatever it takes to be apart of it. how is this a BAD thing? plus, $1mil? seriously, whose complaining about that?
great point, it’s 1 million dollars IF he makes it. Remember that he can play 1B, 2B, 3B, OF. If Gotay could do that then he might not be needed but as of right now Gotay can not. Who would you rather have come up if needed due to an injury, Fernando Tatis?
With all the allegations of his using MEDs, this is a bit of a risky signing.
What are you talking about?
I think he probably means “moustache-enhancing drugs”
got it, thanks :-)
Mustache Enhancing Drugs.
Moustache enhancing drugs?
As much as I enjoyed Stache, this is not right. OK, there’s no guaranteed money, unless he makes the team, but then he is up to 1mil. We are already committed to Castillo who is the personification of the walking wounded. Stache while he was a really good player with a ton of heart, is old and pretty worn out. I would have thought that 600,000 tops guaranteed. OK, the Mets can afford whatever, but this leaves the risk that he makes the roster and then him and Castillo both break down. Frankly, giving Marcus Giles a minor league invite (I think it was the Rockies that did that) makes a whole lot more sense.
Maybe I’m being optimistic, but I have more faith in Castillo’s soundness than most posters. Yes, he’s missed bits of the last 3 seasons, but aside from the SBs, his offensive numbers haven’t really been affected. And he’s still good for 20 steals a year, so obviously he’s not entirely hobbled.
He’s a smart, sure-handed 2Bman who may have lost a step, but positions himself well and shows good instincts.
Is he in rapid decline? He’s only 32, and playing on a soft, knee-friendly field after a year and a half on hard turf. I think he can continue to hit his .300 / .370obp over 140-150 games for the next few years.
This is a good move. Very low risk, and a potentially high payoff. No one expects him to have a year like he did in 2006, but he can still swing the bat, and his defense has become better than solid. Dismiss his clubhouse presence if you like, but someone obviously thinks he can make a difference.
Also, I think Willie showed us last year that for whatever reason, he doesn’t exactly trust Ruben Gotay all the time. For that reason and others, Gotay is by no means guaranteed a spot on the bench. If he struggles mightily in Spring Training and Valentin is healthy and ready to go, you have to go with Valentin. I like Gotay quite a bit, but he needs to have a good Spring on order to secure his spot on the team.
Not a bad move. People forget probably because of the last 2 years, but he can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd, maybe Short (Although his range would likely be abysmal) and the Corner Outfield.
People also forget how shitty our depth is in several key positions. Our backup at Shortstop in case of an injury is Anderson Hernandez, Third Base? Fernando Tatis? First Base? Brett Harper? I’d much rather have Jose Valentin be in AAA ready just in case then to give one of these schmucks a chance.
This makes sense if they use this opportunity to send Gotay to Triple A to learn how to play the OF, 3B, SS, and 1B. He would be a great super-utility guy, athletic enough to play anywhere, and his offense is excellent off the bench.
If Valentin can’t make the team, they should make him a coach and/or mentor for Reyes. Their chemistry was excellent and Reyes needs an older player to keep him focused and positive when he hits a bad stretch. Maybe Castillo can do that, too, but we know Valentin did it well.
It is just a minor league deal. Hey, it worked out in 2006 (at least for most of the year..) bringing him in that way.