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During the pre-game broadcast on SNY, Kevin Burkhardt stated, twice, that Ruben Gotay has been put on waivers.
Meanwhile, on his blog for the Journal News, John Delcos points out that Gotay hit in today’s minor-league game suggesting he is not on waivers.
…from what i understand, that’s okay…a player can be on waivers and still play, it depends on the type of waivers…
…that said, i give up…he is on waivers…he isn’t…he may be…he might be…whatever…what we can logically assume here is that Fernando Tatis is now the leading candidate to round out the bench, meaning gotay has to hit waivers eventually since he is out options…again, i have faith that gotay will clear waivers because he is defensively-challenged, injured and out of options, so hopefully he makes it back to the team’s minor-league system…you know, because he is the next Melvin Mora, according to Evan Roberts on WFAN…
…so, considering the above, i think it’s safe to assume that, as of right now, as of this very second, the team’s Opening Day Roster will likely look as follows:
Starting Pitchers: Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine and either Mike Pelfrey or Nelson Figueroa.
The Bullpen: Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Scott Schoenweiss, Jorge Sosa, Matt Wise and either Joe Smith or Brian Stokes.
Position Players: Brian Schneider, Carlos Delgado, Luis Castillo, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Angel Pagan and Ryan Church.
Bench: Raul Casanova, Damion Easley, Marlon Anderson, Endy Chavez and either Fernando Tatis or Brady Clark.
Yep , that looks like it’s it……………key is as of this second
I think Omar signs Vargas and both Pelfrey and Figueroa hit AAA……………….we need depth in the minors so it’s not a bad thing
Also I think they will get a RF/1B Righty bat but Tatis actually is that type of player it’s just that he has’nt played in the big leagues for a while and we are all a little skeptical as to what he can do
once again Matt Murton is perfect and could be a option
Also a bunch of guys will get released in the next 24-48 hrs so they can scoop someone up if it’s a good fit
Strengths = (1) First 4 starters look very good, (2) the first 4 lineup spots are very good, (3) the bullpen is pretty good (though Duaner will be left in PSL for more work, and it’s not clear when he’ll join the team, and (4) our defense is pretty good (except for Delgado).
Weaknesses= (1) Jorge Sosa may be our #5 starter b/c El Duque is crippled and Pelfrey sucks, (2) our #5 and #6 lineup spots look like a near-finished Delgado (I thought he would bounce back, but it doesn’t look good now) and whatever journeyman fills in for Moises (we’ll be lucky to get last year’s 90 games from him), so the lineup looks real thin after the first four, (3) other than Endy’s glove, our bench is not contender-level, and (4) if Duaner doesn’t come back strong, our bullpen has some real question marks.
Castro should be ready by Opening Day.
If Clark & Tatis are both going to make this team shouldnt one of them be the opening day LF against a lefty starter?
Seems pretty complete all the way around.
Did everyone dismiss the notion that Sosa could be a starter? That would open a pen spot for the other of Stokes/Smith.
per Mets notes on SNY:
Stokes pitched 4 innings in Pedro’s simulated game spurring speculation that he could be the 5th starter or long man.
Stokes threw 4 innings today in Pedro’s simulated game.
You beat me to it. Damn you.
Nice to see Jose bunting the runners over to second and third.
can somone tell me why Scott Schoenweiss is still on this team…i hate this guy! i know $, but regester has nasty stuff. i cant stand how old these guys are. and gotay???? come on!
because he had a good spring training and he has two years left on his deal for a good amount of money? welcome back.
show actually was the only guy in the bullpen who did well down the stretch last year. He played through injury last year (and didn’t bitch, so we didn’t know) and is supposedly feeling better. I think he’s poised to have a big year and we’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Do we have a legitimate defensive utility infielder? Who is the back up shortstop? Easley or Anderson would be a nightmare. PH and OF’s do not make a bench. Where have you gone Joe McEwing, our fanbase cries for you
both easley and anderson play a good 2b, so who cares…oh and reyes plays 158 games a year…so if we need easley to play 4 games at SS so be it, would you rather have ahern on this team for the other 158 games instead of a backup who can actualyl help?
well, you only need a SS for 3-5 games this year… so they could prob fill in… or wait till A-hern has to be up here.
if an injury occurs… who cares cause the season would be over
We will all know soon…………real game on the 29th!
oh Delcos blog
Ruben Gotay hit against Pedro Martinez in his minor league game. News he was placed on waivers is inaccurate. That’s not to say it won’t in the future, but not right now. He appears to have fallen behind Fernando Tatis.
The emergence of Tatis could also push out Brady Clark.
correction 31st……whoops
If Pedro is healthy, I don’t know why they’re bothering with a 5th starter for the first 3 weeks — other than to have an easy way to let Pedro start the home opener.
Pelf needs to pitch regularly – send him down. Stokes being stretched out could mean a trade involving Sosa is coming.
In any case, it’s good to see that there’s more than one guy in the pen who can work 3+ innings — I’d much rather see Willie pull a starter after 100 pitches where the Mets are up big, and let 1 guy finish the game, rather than having 3 guys use an inning each and be limited the next day. And, of course, if they’re down 8 after 6, this mopup guy can come in then too. Mis-handling blowouts was my biggest criticism of Willie’s bullpen mgmt in prior years…
gotay is likely done with the mets. they are getting rid of any of the immature players who played around with reyes last year. lastings was traded for that reason despite the fact that he’s going to be very, very good. his defense isn’t good enough and gotay’s offense was two months (during his minor and major league career…that’s it)
im 99% sure that Willie had something(a lot) to do with the departure of Gotay. I dont think he’s liked him one bit since he came over. Ever since he couldnt even remember his name in a interview with M&MD a few months back I’ve kinda been waiting for the other shoe to drop….
i agree, i think since he played 2b, willie wants a more complete, defense oriented player at the position. The best we can hope for is that the kid clears waivers and goes to the minors. His numbers prior to coming to the mets were horrendous, then he came here and turned it around, so the jury is out on him i think still. He’s proved he both can AND can’t play…lets hope he clears and can give us all more insight on his skills…
same goes for Brady Clark too, in that i hope he accepts a minor league spot, because I think he can definitely help the big league team in spots this year
Keith just told Omar that he put Gotay on waivers in a question about Tatis and Omar didnt correct him.
Omar stated that Tatis is a utility guy who can play all over, and they because he is a righty bat he stands a better chance to make the team.
Omar Minaya JUST stated during the game “we feel Tatis can play a lot of spots, 1b, 3b, 2b, outfield, so he has that versatility. Brady Clark is a good bat in the OF and off the bench. But we feel the more versatile we can be to go along with our versatile guys in DamioN Easley and Marlon Anderson, the stronger our team will be. PLUS, anyone that bats from the right side of the plate, has an advantage”
that is obvioiusly not a word for word quote, but close to it. So translation; welcome back to the bigs, Mr. Tatis
I can’t believe we’re letting Gotay go. A 25 year old middle infielder who can hit, and we let him walk. That hurts even worse than Milledge, because we’re not even getting anything for him. I don’t think he clears waivers.
And look at the guy we traded him for:
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=cin&playerID=433898
Hit .332 last year, playing 5 different positions. It’s not the getting rid of players I can’t stand, it’s the getting rid of talent without getting anything in return.
Gotay IS NOT ON WAIVERS, or else he wouldn’t have been batting against Pedro today during Pedro’s simulated game. I believe this is all just a rumor, now, it may end up happening later if he doesn’t make the team, but as of now, he’s not on waivers.
The booth was talking about Gotay on waivers with Minaya, and Minaya didn’t bat an eye. He’s gone.
i agree. not yet though. braves traded tyler yates today.
mlb wire: mlb.mlb.com/mlb/transactions/index.jsp
well its obvious he’s going to be on waivers, but he was batting against Petey, so that tells you it hasn’t happened yet. Gotay won’t make the team and i’m not sure why everyone is so upset about it. He simply does not fit into the teams plans this year. He’s can’t hit lefties, isn’t good defensively (can’t play SS either, which would have actually made him keepable) and hasn’t been healthy. Is there anymore for you people to figure out that he just doesn’t fit on the team this year? Hopefully he clears waivers, I like him as a player for the future possibly, but he’s not making the cut this year.
you can play when you are waivers.
Actually, you cannot play when you are on waivers, but it just depens on what type.
I am very surprised that Gotay is getting this much attention. He had a nice little hot streak last year, but that’s really it. He’s not completely healthy right now, so I think Matt is correct…he will most likely be sent to the minors.
You’ve got an aging secondbaseman coming off of surgery limping around the infield. You don’t think we’re going to need someone at that position at some point? Are Easley and Anderson the answers? Talk about bad defense….
The people who say Gotay is poor defensively never seem to mention Anderson in the same capacity. They also seem to be the people pretending Tatis can play all over the diamond.
I’m not sure that Gotay is much of an improvement over Easley / Anderson defensively.
Keeping Tatis over Gotay would be a monumental mistake.
How about keeping Tatis over Clark? Thats a more likely scenario.
How about keeping Tatis, Gotay, Clark, and sending Pagan to AAA. That works for me too…
Alou’s continuous injuries, by themselves, always set off a depth problem domino scenario, and the smart money wouldn’t bet against that ugly problem happening again this year, especially with Castillo and Delgado as other high potential breakdown candidates.
Best advice to the Mets is keep everybody. They’re all getting major league playing time in 2008.
How about letting Willie and Omar and all the coaches who know FAR more about this than we do make the decision.
Everyone here is so quick to call out the executives and coaches for the decisions they make, but they know the players intimately, they see them on the field and off the field, and they know what they are doing.
At least let a decision not pan out before you clobber them for it.
Regardless, Tatis is more versatile than Gotay, has more experience, and probably fits in better. What’s the big deal? Trust me, the World Series in 2008 does not rest of whether we have Tatis or Gotay…this is small potatoes.