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Yesterday, the Daily News was the first to report that the Mets had placed RHP Steven Register on waivers.
According to the Denver Post, “The Mets put Register on waivers with the intention of returning the Rule-5 pick to the Rockies.”
…register’s spot on waivers has now been reported by a variety of mainstream outlets, which suggests the emergence of Brian Stokes and the resurgent Joe Smith will fill in for Duaner Sanchez, who will likely start the year on the disabled list – as we have all been predicting for weeks…
…by the way, good for you, joe…way to get back on the map…
Additionally, according to WFAN’s Ed Coleman, speaking on air during yesterday’s mid-day show, the Mets have also put Ruben Gotay on waivers.
However, in today’s New York Post, citing ‘a source who had access to the waiver wire,’ Bart Hubbach states that Register is the only player on the Mets who has been included on the waiver wire as of yesterday afternoon.
Nevertheless, at MLB.com, Marty Noble writes: “The Mets might give Gotay his outright release, though the club is fully aware they could lose him through waivers.”
According to Noble, if Gotay is released, “The chances of Fernando Tatis earning a roster spot is enhanced due to the need for a right-handed bat off the bench.”
…there is a lot of talk coming from the team mentioning tatis, Brady Clark and Angel Pagan…a lot…which is odd because, a) is probably why gotay is in trouble, considering he is out of option, struggles on defense and is a bit injured, and b) he’s losing ground to Fernando Tatis…repeat, Fernando Tatis…
…does tatis also come with a time machine so he can go back to 1999 and hit well again…
…seriously, how did this happen, ruben…ugh…
In eight major-league seasons, the 33–year-old Tatis has played second base, third, left field, right field, short and first base.
In 2006, his last season in the big leagues, he hit .286 in 28 at-bats against left-handed pitchers.
Tatis did not play in 2005 or 2004, but hit .240 against lefties in 2003, and .230 against lefties in 2002.
He has not finished a season hitting over .290 since 1999, since then he is batting .235 in 1,081 at-bats, during which he has struck out more than 25 percent of the time.
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Can we trust Ed Coleman? Didn’t he suggest that Luis Castillo wouldn’t return because the Mets felt he was a bad influence on Jose Reyes?
He also started the big Coco Crisp rumor, and it seems that there was little truth that there were any serious talks.
You know what’s funny about Tatis? I remember saying and thinking the SAME THINGS about JOSE VALENTIN when we first signed him. How he was good back in the day, but now couldnt hit water if he fell out of a boat, he can’t pinch hit, he can’t field, etc etc….and he turned out well
Not that Omar is PERFECT, but he has proven these “reclamation projects” turn out well….so if Tatis and Brady Clark, 2 VETERANS with plenty of experience and pop, make the squad at the expense of Gotay, whatever.
That being said, I hope no one claims him and he takes an assignment to AAA
I’m not really a big Gotay fan either. He had one hot streak last year, but his defense stinks–including mental mistakes, and he can’t hit lefties. His career suggests that he probably can’t even maintain his modest numbers from last year.
I wish he still had AAA options, as he still could have upside. Right now, he’s a mediocre IF fill-in and the 2nd or 3rd pinch hitter against righties.
The whole point is why get rid of a 25 year old kid, who can obviously hit and has some potential for reclamation projects in Tatis, 33 or Clark, 34.
The decision makes no sense, just becuase Gotay got hurt he’s being penalized for it. Why give up on Gotay at this point?
Ferragamo…I’d guess the answer to your question of why get rid of a guy who has upside vs similarly talented guys who are reclamation projects and have no more upside is that the METS see the needs of the club differently than you or I do. All things being equal…Tatis is likely a better RH hitter and slightly better defender than Gotay in their eyes right now.
They play similar positions.
Plus…I guess they do not see as much upside as we may want to see in Gotay. Remember..they see him in practice and working every day. We only see the games. They know he has deficiencies and must think he is not getting any better at correcting them.
This assumes the Gotay rumor is accurate
Mike, listen to the Ed Coleman segment again from WFAN. The Gotay discussion begins at around 10:30. Ed Coleman says “I still put a question mark on Gotay” and they discuss his shortcomings (defense, right-handed batting) and the possibility of putting him on waivers, but I don’t think Ed ever explicitly states that they have put him on waivers.
At the end, Coleman says “unless they want to go out and get that guy, it may very well be Gotay” referring to the last roster spot. I don’t think Coleman would have said that if the Mets had just placed him on waivers
I don’t know what the Mets see in Stokes, although I certainly hope I’m wrong. What I’ve seen of him, I don’t like. Marty Noble keeps referring to the “swing and miss” pitches that Stokes brings. I was at a spring game against the Tigers (Pedro’s first start this spring) and Stokes was getting rocked all over the yard, four runs and six hits in an inning. Register also pitched that game and worked a scoreless ninth for the save. Stokes will be 29 this year, I’m not so sure he’s going to develop into anything and last year’s numbers were downright wretched (2-7, 7.07 ERA in 59 appearances for Tampa Bay). I was hoping the Mets would give Register a shot. And to be honest, I liked the arms of Joselo Diaz, Ruddy Lugo and Register much more than Stokes. Oh well, I’ll be rooting for Stokes to prove me wrong…..
Can’t say I didn’t see the Tatis-angle coming from a mile and a half away.
I figured he’d be up with the team in some capacity in 2007, and now that he has a full year of Triple-A under his belt in Omar’s “Former Expo Agreement” — there’s virtually no chance he goes a full 2008 without being on the Major League roster.
And I’m fully expecting Gotay to be lost through waivers, while Tatis joins the Major League team.
Hopefully, he contributes.
This is all very confusing. But then again, there is no official word that says Gotay has been put on waivers. But it makes little sense, unless there’s some attitude/personal issues the public isn’t aware of.
The Register thing has been confusing from the get. Considering Stokes has been horrible, and Duaner isn’t going to start the season with the Mets, why play with bullpen help?
Very confusing.
If Gotay is lost it will be a numbers game, not because the Mets wouldn’t prefer to keep him. I have thought that the best thing to do with Gotay would be to have him work in the outfield and first base as well as the middle infield. I understand that defense is the issue, but often with a true utility player passable defense is acceptable. It’s a shame he didn’t have more time to make the team.
I know it’s a luxury to be obsessing over the 25th spot on the roster, but I have this sinking (and perhaps irrational) feeling that if the Mets lose Gotay like this, he is going to establish himself elsewhere.
If I was in Omar’s position, I would explore putting Gotay on the DL and assigning him to extended Spring Training. I understand he is better, but if his ankle is still not 100%, I think you could DL him in good faith. Who knows what the situation will be in a few weeks?
After people like Jose Valentin, Endy Chavez, Ramon Castro, Damian Easley, Marlon Anderson became contributors off of the bench, I have stopped overanalyzing these names.
Does anyone remember Endy Chavez fighting with Tike Redman for a roster spot that spring? At that point, did you really care?
Fernando Tatis…why not
To be fair, Tatis has hit decently well in AAA the last two years.
his 31 doubles, 5 triples, and 21 homers for the Zephers last year in 497 AB’s suggest he still has the pop he had in the bigs, but with 103 strikeouts it seems that hole in his swing is still there.. and the 844 OPS isnt that impressive for AAA.
I think Clark and Tatis will both make the roster as right side counters to Endy and Marlon Anderson. I would be inclined to keep Gotay over Easley, but that leaves a lot of good bat / iron gloves on the IF bench.
I remember a time back in ‘99 when Tatis was the “next big thing” and everyone was convinced he was gonna be a star. Boy how wrong people were back then…
Easley is the only backup at 2B & SS? That’s scary…
It’s looking like 13 position players, by position/depth chart (injured players in [ ]):
C: Schneider – [Castro] – Casanova
1B: Delgado – Easley – Tatis
2B: Castillo – Easley
3B: Wright – Tatis – Easley
SS: Reyes – Easley
LF: [Alou] – Chavez – – Anderson
CF: Beltran – Chavez
RF: Church – Pagan
Marlon Anderson seems to be taking up space, a la Julio Franco. I’d much rather have a more reliable IF glove than Easley, especially if he could be an emergency catcher. Where’s Super Joe when we need him?
Marlon is also a backup at 1B and maybe maybe 2B.
He is somewhat redundant defensively, but you have to carry a guy who can PH like Marlon Anderson can.
Guys like Tatis and Clark allow Easley to remain on the bench availiable to PH. If Easley is getting starts against LHP’s then the Mets are weak in the PH game those days, so I much prefer him on the bench.
Reyes will be playing almost every inning until Sept 1st when they can call up AH.
re: Super Joe. They do have Anderson Machado at AAA if you want someone who can play all over and hit .190