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According to Jayson Stark at ESPN.com, MLB may look to fine or reprimand the Mets, who yesterday did not exactly comply with the league’s request that each team bring four regulars to an away game.
In his report, Stark writes:
“Just the day before, MLB’s executive vice president for baseball operations, Jimmie Lee Solomon, sent a memo to all 30 teams reminding them they need to bring a “representative team” to all spring road games. And the definition of “representative” was a “minimum” of four players who were regulars the previous year or had a “reasonable chance” of being regulars this season.”
In yesterday’s game in Lakeland against the Tigers, only Ryan Church will likely crack the team’s opening day roster, while Marlon Anderson, Ramon Castro, Ruben Gotay and Mike Pelfrey do not necessarily qualify as ‘regulars.’
Gotay was the regular 2B when Valentin went down, Castro had more ABs than most backup catchers last year and will most likely platoon with Schneider this year, Pelfrey pitched half a year and Church will be a regular this year. I don’t get what the big deal was?
Someone please explain why Castro is not our every day catcher. I know he gets hurt alot, but he should be the starter and Scheinder the backup. Given Castro propensity to get injured Scheinder would stil start about 80 games.
The last defensive position player we had was Doug M., he sucked so bad with his bat that we ran out the next year and got Delgado.
Because Schnieder is better defensively and bats lefthanded. His offensive numbers should improve since he wont be facing many lefthanded pitchers in a semi-platoon with Castro. Also Castro only got injured once so where is this idea of his “propensity to get injured” come from? I see no problems coming from the catcher’s spot this year.
oh well, do the crime, pay the fine.
I’m not convinced they ‘did the crime’.
Pedro Feliciano – ‘Regular’ fixture in our bullpen last year.
Jorge Sosa – ‘Regular’ piece of our pitching staff last year.
Ryan Church – ‘Regular’ player, will start in RF
Ramon Castro – Backup C
Ruben Gotay – Backup INF
Marlon Anderson – Backup Util
Mike Pelfrey – Pitched 70 innings last season in the MLB.
The First 3 you could easily argue are regulars, and I’m sure they could spin that one of the other 4 qualifies.
Jose Reyes (SS)
Fernando Martinez (CF)
David Wright (3B)
Carlos Delgado (1B)
Moises Alou (LF)
Ryan Church (RF)
Ruben Gotay (2B)
Brian Schneider (C)
Marlon Anderson (DH)
todays starting line up against the cards. no fines today!
Hmm interesting of Willie to bat FMart second…I guess he wants him to get more at bats. I wonder if this is what the opening day line up will look like if Beltran/Castillo aren’t ready…
Hmmm….im sure its possible but i highly doubt they start FMart in the majors even if Beltran isn’t ready
It doesn’t matter what the spring training lineup is. Willie did it last year. He bats the guys he wants to see more of early in the batting order to get them more AB.
Also, when the season starts, Willie would never put any rookie in the 2 spot. He always starts his veterans there and puts the rookies in the 7th or 8th spot. Look at DW his rookie year!
True. Good point.
Are they yankees getting fined for the draft policy? I thought not. BS.
WOW! This is nonesense. They have regulars injured and cant come in. Pelf can definitely be counted as a regular – he started plenty down the stretch, as can Marlon Anderson. This is nit-picking if they make something out of it…cmon – it’s the first game!
This is not exactly a new move by the Mets.
I have family in Lakeland and in past years have been lucky enough to be visiting them when the Mets play the Tigers. The team they send over EVERY year is barely recognizable as the Mets. I understand not wanting to make the trip, but don’t schedule the game if you’re not going to make an effort to field a reasonable team.
There are fewer and fewer team in Florida for Spring Training, even less in the future… These types of trips are going to become more and more unavoidable…
I bet Tigers fans were the ones who complained – because their vaunted lineup could only put up 4 runs against our B-team. Ha!
and they only scored in the seventh inning when they had their B-team playin, so their startin lineup only had 2 hits through 6 innings and no runs
They knew what they were doing, serves them right.
It’s no big deal though.
Bud Selig – balls of steel.
how can the mlb think to fine a team so abritrarily? how can you judge who may or may not make the team? our b- guys dont have a reasonable chance to make the team?
well, we know they dont — but you can SAY they def. wont in the mlb’s case!
MLB is too money hungry. Spring training is not about fielding a “reasonable team” or competitive games. Spring training is about getting ready for the regular season. If a team just wants to let its regulars stretch and play the young guys to see what they have, then so be it. MLB makes enough money in the regular season that they don’t need to start dictating how teams prepare for the season.
If MLB wants to worry about reasonable teams, maybe they should make some of the lower echelon teams spend some of their luxury tax money on their roster!
Great post!!
You’re right, but the fans that spend their money on Spring Training want to see somewhat representative teams.
It’s spring training ferchrissakes.
As in, spring TRAINING
If they called it “spring major league”, that would be different.
The fans know when they’re choosing to spend their money that they’re not going to see a full major-league lineup. They still choose to pay their money.
To be brutally honest, if I was going to buy a ST ticket, it’d be to see the guys who are not locks for the team – I’m gonna get to watch the starting lineup 162 times starting March 31st.
If they are going to reprimand the Mets, they should just make them take 8 or so regulars on a couple of (far) away games thoughout the spring.
What about Pelfrey, Matt Wise, Pedro Feliciano and Jorge Sosa???
I’d consider at least 3 of them to be ‘regulars’ for 2008…
Exactly. They complie and sent a min 4 regulars.
Bud Selig: silent on steroids and HGH for 10 years, but tough on spring training roster violations. Way to pick a battle, Bud.
If that doesn’t sum up Bud Selig’s tenure as Commissioner, what does?
Do forget pushing owners to not pay above “slot” in the draft.
Bottom line, it’s all about drawing as much money from fans and keeping player’s salaries down. Something that damages the integrity of the game but draws fans, like rampant steroid use, is too nebulous for MLB to take on.
I don’t like Bud either, but my friend’s explanation is that the owners LOVE him. He’s lasted this long because of that. Before he makes any decision, he polls all the owners to see what they want. He isn’t pushing owners to do anything. This makes total sense. If there’s anyone to blame it’s the OWNERS!
They love him because he was an owner for 30 years.
The whole point of the Commissioner’s office is that it’s supposed to be independent. Of course, other than the short-lived Bart Giammatti/Faye Vincent regime, it never really has been an independent commish. The owners have to approve the commissioner, and are unlikely to pick someone who will rock their boats too much.
All that being said, Selig is someone who’s never even had the slimmest facade of impartiality. He’s always been squarely on the owners’ side. That’s why the other owners love him. And it’s also the biggest reason why we had a strike in ‘94.
Matt,
whats the lineup for today against the cards?
ummmmmmmmmmmm…………….
::scratches head::
posted above.
The point here, I think , is that Omar and the brass would probably rather pay the fine than take the chance of injuring key players.
That said, if you’re gonna send a representative team, don’t schedule the game.
Way to go Bud you dumb a**
gotay, anderson, sosa, matt wise, pedro feliciano, church, and castro all were in the majors for the majority of games for there teams last year…that’s 7 …i don’t get it…these are all major leaguers.
Don’t relievers count as regulars? What about Feliciano and Sosa? Down the stretch, they became a regular problem nearly everyday.
Those guys were definitely “regulars”. If they _mean_ “starters” they should say “starters”.
I think it’s a good idea. I mean for fan appeal. I am going down to Port St. Lucie next mouth to see the Mets play the Astros and the Red Sox and I would like to think that I was going to see a good game with team “regulars”. It’s good for the game and it’s good for the fans.
Then I think you’re going for the wrong reason. Any regulars should really be looked at as a bonus with ST. The organization should have free reign to prepare for the season however they fit.
Steroids?…..who cares
HGH?……never heard of it
Not playing 4 regulars in a spring training game?……..HOW DARE YOU!!!!