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According to eyewitnesses, Tony Armas Jr. has finally arrived to 
Tradition Field after being held out of the country due to visa problems.
The Mets signed Armas to a minor league contract in February.
He appeared in 31 games last year as a starter and reliever, posting a 4-5 record with a 6.03 ERA.
…this is actually somewhat important, since Phil Humber and Kevin Mulvey are in Minnesota…i mean, when Orlando Hernandez ends up back on the disabled list, and if Mike Pelfrey is struggling at Triple-A, having a guy like armas will be necessary – as much as i hate to admit it…
…the thing is, the initial buzz around armas had been that if he does not make the major-league club, he would refuse an assignment to the minor leagues…however, by arriving to camp with just two weeks left, i suspect that will alter his decision…i mean, it’s sort of hard to repackage yourself on the open market after you’ve missed a month of workouts…it probably makes more sense for him to accept going to Triple-A, wait and see what happens on new york’s major-league roster, and then re-evaluate his situation once he is ready for action…
It wouldnt surprise me if he started the year with the St. Lucie Mets in an extended ST mode, then a few at AAA to show what he can do, then if the Mets dont have a need for him yet he’ll likely opt out on May 1st if he has that right.
I was disappointed to hear some of the egomaniacle quotes out of Jose Valentin recently where he goes back on his word about going to AAA. I thought the moved on from guys with this kind of selfishness.
They are creating some strange roster log jams, and adding Valentin to the big league roster to start the year would be one of the less useful log jams.
The only way tha Valentin makes sense on opening day (even assuming he is physically able to play) is if Gotay has to start on the DL. That would create a spot for a guy that can play MI (hopefully he still can!) and hit from the left side.
Also, he is probably the best (or at least most experienced) back up 1B on the roster right now.
I’m completely comfortable with Marlon Anderson as the backup 1B, he played there quite a bit back in 2005 and was just fine. Easley is also a decent option when talking about it relative to Jose Valentin.
I think its imperative to start the season with Valentin in AAA because they can only move him there to start the year. If Gotay needs to start on the DL it will most likely only be for a couple days. On April 10th, how are you supposed to DFA Valentin and expect him to stick around in AAA?
Gotay’s out of options so he’s not easy to send down either.
That is exactly why its going to be a problem. That is the crux of my arguement against putting Valentin on the roster to begin with.
‘Stache really was a great time while he lasted, but to echo the two prior posts, he really doesn’t have a place here at this point. If Gotay’s hurt, fine, but the assumption is that he won’t be, and in that case you have 3 MI ahead of Valentin, with Easley in the mix. Sometimes it seems as if we’re talking about a player with an all-star resume when it comes to Valentin, when the fact may very well be that we caught a whole mess of lightning in a bottle with him in 2006, and now he’s two years and a nice collection of injuries older.
Fact is there aren’t enough OF spots to accommodate all the talent and potentially useful players and there aren’t enough spots in the bullpen. You could come up with a scenario (though not too likely) where arguably the two best performers of the entire spring (Pagan, Jorge Sosa) to this point are both left off the team, or at least just barely fill in the 24th and 25th spots. Jose Valentin just should not be on anyone’s radar.
At this point I dont see how much hope can be held out for Armas. After approx 7-8 yrs of having nice stuff / potential with very limited results, should anyone really expect him to suddenly put it all together and go 12-3 as a #5 SP ? There will be other guys in N.Orls who havent had the physical issues that could also be big surprises.
Re: Jose V, I didnt interpret his comments as being selfish. I thought it was more like saying I am not trying to hang on as long as I possibly can. He is supposed to be such a great character guy, almost like having an extra coach on the bench the way Julio F was (but still able to contribute).
It does seem very limiting to have a bench consisting of 1 c, 1 OF’r, & (3) 2b’n trying to cover the IF & OF positions as well. They field adequately at best but dont have the power you normally expect in the OF, 1b or 3b. Damion-Jose-Marlon pretty much bring the same skills. The starter is a questionmark in terms of durability & his main strength - running. Only Ruben can be looked at as possibly continuing to improve and contribute beyond this year; and he may be the least likely to make the team !!!! WTF ????????????
In the end it turned out Julio Franco was selfish, when they arent getting playing time it changes it always seems…
I wouldnt expect Armas to do much better record wise than the slew of other fill in starters they have had over the past two years. But he can at least stay in games a little better.
This years team is much better equipt to deal with someone who can go 5 IP give up 6 runs, and at least save the pen from having to go 6-7 innings.
if Pedro and Santana go 30-15 or 35-15 and Maine and Perez repeat last years 30-20 then the 5th and fill in starters can be bad record wise and they will still win 90 games.
Who’s looking for 12-3 from a #5 pitcher? If we had that, we’d be talking about ‘86-like numbers of wins.
If he goes 6-7, that’s good enough because we’ll be screwed anyway if we’re not winning a good majority of starts by the 1-4 pitchers.
It stinks that both of the Mets catchers are down, they just can’t seem to catch a break.
has anyone seen what humber has done this spring…9 ip 0er…not too shabby…but good for him and gomez isnt doing awful either.
I always liked humber, and thought he should have gotten a better shot last year when the pitching was falling apart. But, at least he went for Santana.
Keep in mind though that ST stats don’t guarantee success in the regular season, plus 9 innings is a real small sample. And who was he facing?
im not saying hes gonna win the cy young this year…im just saying good for him…he’s doing his best to make the team over there.
I think Valentin said in the begining that he would stay around and do whatever they ask him to do until May 1. At that point if he is not able to make the MLB team he’s done. I applaud him for that not ridicule him. Who wants to sit around in AAA after a decent career just in hope that they might need you later in the season. AAA is no MLB, I would do the same thing. Either I am good enough or I am not. I am not going to get any better at age 38.
Besides, it doesn’t necessarily do the team any good for him to be clogging up the farm.
For what it’s worth, it’s not like Valentin said he would try to catch on with another team if he didn’t make the roster in April. He would just retire. So yeah, his comments weren’t selfish per se, and given the injury bug that’s hit camp so far, I’m sure they’re going to find space for him.
They team has so many question marks right now with health that lots can change by 5/1. So hopefully he takes the AAA assignment to get PT and see what happens.
how about horacio ramirez?? he was dropped by the m’s..just as some pitching depth…he is a lefty, has some talent and the jacket could probably work with him