|
|
|
Following last night’s win over the White Sox in Memphis, the Mets flew to Miami, where they’ll face the Marlins tomorrow afternoon at 4 pm in the season opener.
The Mets will work out in Miami today, after which the team is expected to announce their final, opening-day, 25–man roster.
…it appears that the decisions are are as follows: either put Orlando Hernandez on the disabled list and give Mike Pelfrey the first few starts in April, or demote pelfrey and start hernandez; choose between Brian Stokes, Nelson Figueroa or the young Joe Smith for the last spot in the bullpen; and, lastly, pick either Brady Clark or Fernandez Tatis for the final roster spot, and then regret your decision in a few months when Ruben Gotay is doing well for the Braves…
i could see the mets keeping figueroa as a reward for a good spring with smith and stokes providing insurance. they’ll keep tatis for right-handed power with clark declining the minor league assignment and leaving via free agency.
i also see gotay being pushed to the curb or sent to the minors by the braves when infante comes back from injury.
I agree, adding that Pelfrey will start the year as the #5 starter with Duque on the DL until Pelfrey gets lit up like a christmas tree again and Duque comes to the rescue for a dozen starts until he gets injured again.
anyone know why we’re going with 5 starters so early when we don’t have to? I guess for Pedro’s sake, the other guys will all be fine with 4 days rest……….. I think a couple more starts each in extended ST or AAA would help duque and pelfrey
Word was it was so Pedro could get extra rest from the beginning.
If Gotay was really still somewhat injured why didn’t they put him on the dl and delay putting him on waivers?
I’m with you. I think Matt might be overstating Gotay’s value a bit–he’s a useful bench player, but he’s not exactly the second coming of Rogers Hornsby–but it didn’t seem to be necessary to put him on waivers. He had barely played since hurting his ankle, so stash him on the DL for a while–certainly until after all teams have their rosters set. It just seems like a strange and unnecessary move.
That being said, while Gotay may be little more than a bench player, I do somewhat agree with Matt that it could come back to haunt the Mets. At least because Gotay went to a division rival. 18 games against the Braves–it’s hard not to imagine that Gotay will get a game-winning hit in one of them, at least.
I think he’d shown enough recovery that the team couldn’t justify DL’ing him, otherwise they’d have a strong incentive to wait until everyone else’s rosters were full before waiving him.
Even if he does well in Atlanta, it will still be the case that with the starters the Mets have, they didn’t and don’t have room for a 2B with below-average defense who can’t hit lefties.
oops. failed to mention that it’s probably a prudent move to let pelfrey take the #5 as a means of forcing him to grow up and assert himself as a major leaguer. he needs to stop being so humble, pull out his press clippings from wichita state and be THAT guy again. if this fails, el duque will come back with a positive state of mind and his strength in two and hopefully be the dependable starter in terms of production he has been in his met tenure.
Enough with this whacky psycho-babble argument for Pelfrey, as if all he needs is some confidence and a pat on the back. Maine and Wright are “humble” and it doesn’t affect their performance. He’ll get confidence when he pitches well, not the other way around.
Let him earn his spot instead of handing it to him based on potential and crossing your fingers.
sports and psychology go hand in hand. if you don’t have confidence, you don’t perform. that’s pretty much a given. pelfrey had already stated that he knew el duque should be the #5 starter so in his mind, he’s already defeated himself before he even threw a pitch.
so what you call psycho-babble is actually something that is obviously the case in any sport or life in general.
In this case, it just sounds like an excuse. It was El Duque’s spot to lose. Pelfrey wouldn’t disrespect him by saying otherwise.
But Pelfrey knew that he would get an opportunity…he himself stated in an interview that injuries are inevitible and sooner or later he would get his chance this year. Once El Duque had his issues, it’s a little absurd to say that Pelfrey didn’t think he had a chance at that point.
If not having confidence and not performing well go hand in hand. Then how would giving him major league starts he’s not ready for help him right now? His confidence is apparently already shot so in theory he would continue to perform poorly, which would just lower his confidence even more which would make him perform even worse. It just sounds like we’d be throwing him into a never ending circle.
sports and psych do go hand in hand, but all the confidence in the world won’t make pelfrey’s mediocre stuff better all of the sudden.
I’m not sure that Gotay would have made the team after the injury to Alou. You have Anderson, Easley, Chavez, Castro, and Pagan. There is no question that the Mets needed a right-handed bat with power off the bench. Now I know Tatis and Brady Clark aren’t ideal but do you sacrifce balance and late inning strategy for Gotay. Gotay is a great hitter but if he was put in a pinch hitting role then he would face that teams top lefty out of the pen. His numbers would have suffered. Gotay rakes on righties. I don’t agree with Gotay being waived but I can see what the Mets were thinking. If Gotay was going to stay on the team he wouldv’e had to beat out Easley and become the first infielder off the bench.
Gotay just doen’t have that kind of game to unseat Easley. Willie is not going to pinch hit with Castro so that would leave Easley as the only right handed bat off the bench. Now imagine if Easley was replaced by Gotay. Your talking about a glaring weakness.
Now if the Mets carry only 11 pitchers today then this argument is moot. But if they take 12 pitchers, which they should, then that leaves 5 spots with Chavez starting in left. When Alou returns I believe the Mets will cut Clark of Tatis in favor of Pagan. Easley, Anderson and Castro as infield and Pagan and Chavez as the outfield. There is no doubt that is a capable bench. And there is no doubt that Gotay does not fit.
Keep in mind, even if the Mets took 11 pitchers and 6 bench players or 12 pitchers and 5 bench players and Moises was healthy, someone deserving had to get cut to make room for
Duaner Sanchez. So it makes sense to try a pitcher and send him down when Sanchez is ready than to play games with the bench.
So the 12th pitcher and 5th bench spot will get cut when the team is at full strength when Alou and Sanchez return. In any scenario it is very clear that Gotay was playing for a spot on the team and his injury cemented his fate. The only way Gotay makes the Mets is if he would’ve beat out Easley.
great post. you make perfect sense.
Very good post. Agreed 100 percent.
And also, saying we will regret this when Gotay is doing well for the Braves is a bit funny. I am sure Chipper Jones and Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar are all losing sleep now that Mr. First Ballot Hall of Famer Ruben Gotay is in town. Kelly Johnson is marginally better then Gotay. Turth be told, if we were to lose Castillo for a long period of time I would rather see the playing time go to Anderson Hernandez and his glove. I like Gotay also, but I do not understand this love fest with him. He is a pretty solid hitter against RHP with a little pop and okay plate discipline. That is literally all he brings to a team. He cant field, cant run, cant play the OF, cant hit RHP. Atleast Hernandez brings some speed and versatility, and a solid glove. Plus he had options.
Meant to say Johnson is not just marginally better then Gotay, it isnt even close.
I’m not going to shed a tear over Ruben Gotay or any other bench player.
There are plenty of role players on this team and the concentration on defense is evident. Unless you can outhit your bad fielding there’s no room on the bench.
I know you may mention Delgado but he has a proven track record and he’s a starter that can hit 30HRs and drive in 100rbis.
The 5th starter pseudo drama is really just that. Does it matter really who the 5th starter is? My guess is Hernandez, he’s paid more money.
Breaking training the Mets look like the class of the NL. Nagging injuries may beleaguer the team early on although not enough to make a big difference.
Getting out to a fast start isn’t mandatory but erasing the ghosts of ‘07 by May will go a long way for anxious fans. Look for the Mets to be 19-9 going into May with a big chance to break the division open going into June.
27 games against division opponents in the first two months with 15 against Fla and Wsh should give ample opportunity to make a big move.
Through the season there are some concerns. Four west coast trips before the All-Star break on three of them the team doesn’t have a day off upon their return. One stretch from May 20th to June 8th has them playing 20 games in a row. The fly out to Col. then return to Shea then fly out to SF and SD without a day off. Seems pretty brutal. They get a day off then it’s back on the plane to Shea then back to the west coast.
That seems to be the biggest trouble they’ll have regarding their schedule. No long road trips and no long homestands.
I’d rather have the brutal part of the schedule before the all-star break… at least the break gives the team a chance to recover somewhat.
This year, like last, we end the season with 17 games with no rest. Hopefully we’ll keep all 3 of our early-September rest days (last year we lost one to making up a rainout) otherwise once again we could be weak by game 162
as much as we all liked gotay, we needed someone who can hit lefties off this bench, not that clark or tatis will be very good at it but gotay certainly wasn’t…sad to see him go but i dont think this is going to be earth shattering, atleast until he hits a game tying double in the 8th off heilman on ab april 5th.
just go with duque while he is capable of pitching. if he goes on the DL he’s just going to injure something else. besides, pelfrey has been terrible.
figueroa is a no-brainer because smith has had a bad spring and stokes is…stokes.
tatis or clark? doesn’t matter. i think clark should be rewarded for his good spring, i don’t think tatis earned a spot.
Gee Matt, getting a little snarky lately. I like it!
Metchamp is right, in that the big debate about the last pen and bench guy is probably moot once Alou and Sanchez come back. And I think his projection of Endy and Pagan for the OF just might be right.
I would take Clark over Tatis, but I don’t think it will make that much differenece. I would also start Pelf in AAA, and if Duque can’t go 4/5, keep Figgy on the roster, and give Sosa or Figgy the #5 spot for a few turns.
Stokes I hope to never see. He really does seem to be a proven suckerdoodle, so hopefully Sanchez doesn’t take too long to get ready.
With any luck (and assuming no more injuries that require the DL during April), by 5/1 the roster should pretty much be settled out to what they wanted for opening day.
I wonder (hey, Matt, use your connections to find out!), but do they think the A Hern is now a viable option to replace Castillo if he goes out for a DL stint? Maybe 2 weeks, but I can’t see him as a LT option. maybe Tejada will make the big leap (he looked pretty good early), or the other Reyes guy.
I would think Easley would the first option to replace Castillo for any extended time. Marlon Anderson was also a starting 2B for several years. I think A. Hernandez only comes up if they need a fill-in at SS for an extended time.
I doubt Anderson has the glove at this point, and I worry about Easley being able to withstand the rigor of playing everyday for a long period.
He is fine as the guy to give Castillo a day off occasionally though.
Just say Luis goes on the DL. Who gets called up to replace him on the roster, someone to play, or someone to replace Easley on the bench?
Same question with Delgado.
That’s a good question. Right now I think you’re right–they would bring up A. Hernandez. Easley would start most games there still I think. Argenis Reyes is another option to try at 2B if A Hernandez struggles. (I’m hoping he has a breakthrough as he hit .300 at AAA last year.)
When Castro comes back, you could bring up Cancel (when healthy) or Molina to free up Castro for pinch hitting.
At 1st, Casanova can play a little 1st. I’d guess M. Anderson would get the most playing time there, and that they’d call up either Saenz or M. Abreu–not sure who would likely get the call first.
I say if Castillo goes on the DL, AHern will get the starts. Unless of course what Omar and Willie have been saying about defense up the middle was total BS. Easley can possibly handle Castillo’s days off once every couple of weeks but his skills as a middle infielder have decreased greatly. He won’t be able to handle it defensively on a daily basis. Thing is, who gives Reyes a day off? You have 4 guys right now that can do a decent job backing up in the outfield, but nobody that can do it in the middle infield defensively. Does a team really need 4 backup outfielders? Alou comes back Tatis/Clark is gone. Anderson and Easley are your LH and RH pinch hitters. Chavez is your main defensive outfield backup. So maybe Pagan’s spot should be sacrificed for that backup MI. I would think that the 25th spot would be of more use in that role then the few amount of times he’d have to come up in key pinch hitting spots. But thats just my opinion.
Tejada’s only 18, and has yet to play above rookie ball outside of this Spring. I’d be stunned to see him before 2010. If nothing else, it’d eat an option for him.
Easley would probably get the first call. I guess after that maybe Argenis Reyes, even though Reyes’ career hitting is nothing like as strong as the numbers he put up this Spring. A-Hern’s also gotta be high on the 2B depth chart.
less than 30 freekin hours!!!
I can’t wait!!
I totaly share your sentiments regarding Gotay. The kid could hit. Omar makes some great moves but trading Henry Owens, Royce Ring, and Matt Lindstrom were mistakes last year. So is letting Gotay go, especially to the Braves. Does anyone in the Mets orgainzation evaluate other team’s needs. Could it not have been predicted that the Braves would snatch him up. It’s bad enough they traded Milledge to another division rival, now Gotay is on the Braves. I know Gotay is not going to be an everyday player but he will help the Braves. Why are the Mets helping other teams in their division?
royce ring wasn’t a mistake. if that’s the case, then the padres and the braves both made the same mistake. i don’t even know what team ring is now.
henry owens was hurt last year with arm problems which a lot of people were afraid was going to happen given his unorthodox delivery. i want to see heath bell do it again before i consider that trade a mistake, same goes with lindstrom. let’s remember relievers are rarely ever effective year after year. the few that are never get traded.
milledge, while i wasn’t big on the trade, isn’t going to be the difference for the nats. they still have a ways to go before they do anything beside playing spoilers.
i could care less about gotay.
yeah that royce ring and henry owens were AWESOME on the DL and AAA last year…and for most of their years in the mets system.
Gotay could be an every day 2B on a lot of major league teams, but he had no place on our team, I mean this team doesnt have room for Hanley Ramirez let alone Gotay, your bench cant be comprised of the best payers, it must be of the most useful, and Matt you should know better.
I was thinking the same thing but didn’t want to call Matt out! Guys, this isn’t fantasy baseball… you can’t stash guys with potential on you bench. They have to be useful on the big league club or in the minors. Since Gotay was out of options, there was little that could be done. BTW, it was clear what the Mets thought of Ruben when they traded for Castillo even though he was hitting like .330+ If that wasn’t clear enough, the nail was in the coffin when Castillo was signed to a 4 year deal. I’m sure Omar tried to trade Gotay after that little run. Obviously there was no interest.
I’d put money on El Duque and Tatis making the team.
I’m less sure about the final bullpen spot. I think Figueroa has a slight edge over Smith. Stokes makes the team if they think that they can somehow turn his good arm into good pitching eventually.
BTW, I think Ricardo Rincon has beat out Scott Schoenweis and should make the team as the lefty specialist. There is no doubt that something is wrong with Schoenweis and he has not made any kind of adjustments this off-season to warrant making this team. Heck I would take Willie Collazo over Schoenweis right now. At least those guys won’t slow the game to a crawl and show no fight while casually giving up line drive shots to triple A players. Schoenweis is the weakest link show him a New Orleans uniform or give him his release but whatever you do, do not cut guys who have shown potential and keep this guy who has cost this team so much already and has shown nothing this spring.
This is a really important point. If Schoeneweis’s contract weren’t an issue, Rincon would be the obvious choice as the third lefty in the pen. I doubt the Mets are willing to eat two years of Schoeneweis’s outrageous contract, and no other team will make a deal for him. My suggestion is that, to open the season, the Mets keep Schoeneweis *and* Rincon on the 25-man roster, and use Schoeneweis as the long man. Smith and Stokes would go to the minors and Figueroa has to be let go, unless the Mets can sign him to a minor-league deal. It’s possible that, if Rincon and/or Schoeneweis prove effective early in the season, the Mets can at least get value for one of them in a deal. It seems a shame for the Mets to release Rincon now only to see another team pick him up.
Another question (opinions anyone?)
Who thinks there might be a late move coming? I keep thinking that Murton was a perfect fit for this team. He could fill in FT for ALou, then get pelnty of time spotting Moises and Church, fill in for the nest 2-3 Alou DL trips, and possibly (if he has a break out year) take over in 2009.
If they got Murton, then Tatis/Clark never see Shea. When ALou comes back, Pagan goes to AAA 9nice to have options!)
If not Murton, is there soeone else possibly available that could serve the same purpose? Maybe a guy like Gotay, out of options but without a spot?
The Mets do have openings on the 40 man, so they could easily pick up someone, and they do have a glaring hole on the 25 man for an OF, so they could carry a no-option guy all year.
answering my own question…
The guy that could have done this was already in house: Ben Johnson. If he had come close to doing what they expected last year, or had shown anything this year, he would be that RH OF guy most likely.
Just get Murton, and I suddenly feel much better about the bench and OF rotation.
i would love murton but…you’re giving up heilman or neise and someone else to get him. tricky, tricky…
Who would we give up for Murton?
I really hope that giving Gotay to the braves does not come back to haunt us…. I do not see what the problem was about keeping him he hit 295 and led the team in pinch hits
marlon anderson is on the team. who would you rather see up in a “clutch” situation late? gotay or anderson?
gotay hit .295 but .194 as a righty batter. you don’t think any manager worth his salt if he truly thought gotay was a hitter to be feared wouldn’t simply get his loogy out of the pen to deal with gotay?
Murton would be perfect fit, who you giving up for him? I assume they ask for nothing less than Niese, cause they can get the equivalent of that from a few teams.
He prob costs too much
how do you know what they can get from other teams? I expect that if the Cubs had that kind of offer on the table, he would be gone already.
Hopefully Omar at least has asked and knows what they want, or called with an offer. The guy is a spare part in AAA right now for the Cubs.
I wouldn’t trade Neise for him though. Way too hard to get promising young pitchers like that, and he quite likely is in the rotation next year (if not this one).
I do trade Joe SMith for him, and if they would take Show, I drive him to the airport.
word is they might be in need of a lefty reliever…. the question is would they take schoeneweiss’ contract in return considering murton makes peanuts in comparison?
I think I would have to pull the trigger on a Niese for Murton deal. I’m not sure, but I think Murton is a better prospect right now both as far as current ability and upside. Yes, Niese is a pitcher, but Murton’s talent trumps that.
no it doesn’t. he was a full time platoon player forthe cubs and couldn’t crack a starting gig in the outfield. i wouldn’t touch niese especially when our biggest issue after the santana trade is pitching depth.
if this wasn’t a concern, then xavier nady would have already been a met by now.
You’re probably right, but Niese is the 7th or 8th SP right now behind El Duque, Pelfrey, and possibly Figueroa. I’m hoping he has the talent to make the rotation in a year or two. Are we overating him because he’s ours and had that one good ST start? I don’t know.
Murton would be at least a platoon player in RF/LF this year, help the offense, and could start full time next year.
I don’t think the Nady comparison if fair. He starts for the Pirates, Murton didn’t make the Cubs team. Pirates aren’t trying to trade Nady, Cubs are shopping Murton….Nady would cost a lot more.
Once El Duque and Pedro make their annual trips to the DL we’ll need that 7th or 8th starter. Niese is a 7th or 8th starter now because we just drafted him, we don’t know what he’ll be in a year or two. With Pelfrey looking like a possible bust, Perez possibly leaving in FA, and El Duque and Pedro’s future’s being up in the air after this season we really can’t afford to send a young arm away.
A) DL El Duque, go with a 4 man rotation until necessary.
B) Joe Smith and Nelson Figueroa, let them battle it out until one needs to be sent down for El Duque. (If not an option, then keep El Duque on the roster and keep Figueroa).
C) Brady Clark
And sorry, the only thing I’d be regretting re: Gotay is not doing more to trade him before now. He’s extremely limited in what he is, can’t hit lefties, can’t field anywhere, He’s essentially a young Marlon Anderson, except Anderson has since learned to become competant at 3 or 4 positions, whereas Gotay can only play 2B.
will people apologize and metsblog be as adamant about gotay when he does nothing for the braves but hit right handed pitchers, and is limited as a bench player that plays infield positions badly?
Regret your decision when Gotay is doing well with the Braves?
C’mon. If there was anything there to regret he would still be with the team. He couldn’t play the OF, which is what we needed. We have a 2B and a SS so we have no place for Gotay. See ya. We can dip into the system and pluck out another Ruben Gotay.
Where do we need another outfielder? Beltran and Church are starting, then you have 5 more guys. Chavez, Pagan, Easley, Anderson, and Tatis/Clark. And thats before we even get Alou back. If we have another guy in the system then he should be plucked now because we need someone to back up that 2B and SS. Cause what we have now doing it is pathetic and is the exact opposite of Willie’s and Omar’s mantra of defense up the middle.
I wouldn’t say that half of the guys you just mentioned are viable OF options. Tatis? Anderson? Easley? Those three guys would be better suited playing 2B than they would in the OF.
Tatis at third maybe, but they all should be nowhere near the middle infield. Thankfully Tatis is gone, but the other two have time in the outfield and are just as good as Alou at shagging flyballs. Still my whole point is that we need someone who can play real defense as a backup for 2B and SS. Though you point out your feelings on those guys outfield prowess, you never mentioned your thoughts on my main point.
gotay only plays 2nd base. We already have 3 2B in Castillo, Easley and Anderson all of which are better defensively. Gotay doesnt hit lefties and that is the mets’ major need.
Now if your argument is that they should have let Castillo go and play Gotay then thats one thing but keeping him on the bench really makes no sense.
I would have put him on the DL and then if there are no more injuries waive him so a team would have to make a roster move (during the season) to pick him up but thats just me.
Gotay being a young Marlon Anderson is a good view point…….BUT Marlong Anderson is one of the best Pinch Hitters in the game and Gotay has the potential……both stink in the field
Also not a Schoenweiss fan either but he had a good spring and Rincon blew…………
If they can pull of a Scho for Murton deal and then give the second lefty spot to Rincon I am cool with that
Wagner doesnt count since he is the closer and I would like them to have Feliciano for late innings and another like Scho or Rincon for the middle
Those Mets uni’s were great yesterday. Anyone know who they were replicating?
NY Cuban road unis (old negro league team)
Alex Cintron was released by the Cubs. Maybe he catches on with the Mets as the super utility infielder?
Mets trivia buffs:
is there any correlation betw. Mets opening day losses and great seasons, and vice-versa? Recall that last year we swept the Cards to start out.
I get superstitious about these things, but I also am hoping that the Mets go 162-0 this year!
smith and clark made the team
pelfrey too
my post with the link isn’t posting for some reason. according to mets(dot)lohudblogs(dot)com, it’s smith, clark, and pelfrey
Gotay didn’t impress as a pinch-hitter last year, he was much better while starting.
That being the case, the only likely scenario that Gotay does well is if Johnson goes down. I suppose we might regret having given the Braves a serviceable backup, but we’d deal with it by knowing that losing Johnson hurts them far more than having Gotay helps them.
what happened to Chip Ambres. Wasnt he only able to hit lefties and i think he went what 1-3 last season. Not too bad plus he had good numbers in AAA.