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Moises Alou told reporters that he will be ready for action against the D’Backs this weekend, after learning that he does not have a fracture in his ankle.
…in case you’ve forgotten, alou is the tall, skinny guy with quick wrists, who hit well for the Mets at the end of last season…don’t worry, you’ll know him when you see him…
Meanwhile, Brian Schneider remained in the hospital yesterday with a staph infection in his thumb.
…the common theory seems to be that schneider will be activated when alou is activated, when the team can demote Gustavo Molina back to Triple-A…Ramon Castro is still not an option…he has been playing games in extended spring training, but, according to Omar Minaya, who talked with reporters yesterday, castro is still limping when he runs…
Meanwhile, Matt Wise is also expected to join the Mets in Arizona on Thursday, after having been on the disabled list since April 8 due to a bruise on his right forearm.
…so, who will go when wise enters…logically, it would have to be either Jorge Sosa or Joe Smith…sosa will need to pass through waivers to remain in the organization, while smith can simply be sent to Triple-A with no consequence…obviously, smith should stay (from a talent point of view), but sosa may need to stick around for a while from a roster management point of view…
Lastly, Jose Valentin was in town to have his neck examined by team doctors and told reporters that he has been cleared for baseball activities.
Valentin will soon report to extended spring training in St. Lucie, where he’ll be able to do light throwing and hit from a tee.
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horrendous. another situation where contract determine splaying time. it is the sunk-cost fallacy. joe smith and jorge sosa both should stay with the team in the pen. the worst reliever should be gone, contracts should not determine playing time. it’s shooting yourself in the foot at your own expense, based on what you hoped you’d get in production months prior based on salary. so stupid.
It isn’t salary (Sosa doesn’t make that much) it is really being able to keep guys.
If you keep having to DFA guys (like Sosa), you wil deplete the depth in th esystem. Now, Sosa may not be great, but the logic is, what happens if someone else goes on the DL and they need a replacement?
My opinion, of course! ALthough Sosa does fill a different role (the long man). WIhtout him, the pen is all 1 inning guys (or less). And no emergency starter.
Lack of confidence aside….Aaron Heilman can be a long inning/emergency starter if need be.
nope…he needs to be stretched out, and this recent slump aside, his value is being a setup guy.
I believe he’s talking about wise?
We can send Joe Smith down to the minors.
He’ll only be there a day or two before Alou injures himself again anyway!
Or, maybe there could be a trade in the works? Might be better to try and trade some BP excess (assuming some team wants it!) for something you need (like the Morales for Heilmann idea)
By BP, do you mean batting practice?
bullpen
haha…i know. but sosa and heilman have pretty much been bp (batting practice).
plus there is no such thing as bullpen excess… they’ve all been needed, and sometimes havent been enough.
I would feel much more secure with Smith and Muniz at AAA, than just Muniz and losing Sosa.
I would feel much more secure with Smith and Muniz pitching in games that matter than Sosa.
Heilman, Sosa and a A ball prospect for Morales. I would jump up and down all day.
I love that idea.
I say send Sosa down. If he gets claimed , so be it. Its not like he’s been lights out for the mets. Call up Vargas if you need a “long man.”
Would anybody claim Sosa off waivers?
its very likely with the lack of good arms around baseball.
Now that team may turn around and DFA him in a three weeks… but he likely wouldnt make it through waivers. The Braves are short on pitching…
Sosa is a replacement-level pitcher at BEST. If another team is dumb enough to claim him, and we need another arm, we have Muniz, Collazzo, etc. I really can’t see them sending down Smith — he’s been a valuable piece of the pen.
Out of Sosa, Wise, and Smith, Sosa should be the odd man out. GIven Wise’s past numbers, hes the better pitcher. He actually looked pretty good against the Marlins before giving up that homer — it was mainly stupid pitch selection that cost him the game.
However, Willie used Sosa last night and he had an easy inning. Anyone ever think that Sosa’s value diminishes when he gets used every night?
Think about it. Last year, when he first did some spot starting and then bullpen work, he was very good. Later in the season, after he appeared in about 130 games, he started to regress. Same with this year. He started off OK, then started serving up the gopher ball. I think he had a few days off and had a 1-2-3 inning last night.
Just an observation. Didn’t look up numbers to back the points up, but it seems that way. Maybe he just isn’t effective when used like he is.
Seriously, though, Willie’s been using Sosa A LOT. This is not the long-man role in the way Willie has used the long-man in the past. Darren Oliver would go weeks between appearances sometimes.
It really looks like they’re trying to shop Sosa, a lot like they did with Jorge Julio before Julio was traded.
I agree. Get innings out of him while you can and hope he does well enough to trade him.
Funny you mentioned Darren Oliver. That’s the comparison I was going to make.
Willie uses Sosa for one inning one night, say the 7th. Then, the next night, he tries to get two innings out of him, say the 6th and 7th. Two days later, he may be asked to come in the middle of an inning.
He is the long man and should be treated no differently than Darren Oliver was.
actually, this use of Sosa was exactly why the Mets didnt make him a starter this year. They planned to be able to use him as both a long and short reliever, maybe just not this much.
He can soak up innings, and unless Wise can do that, they may have to look to Heilman to be the long man. He is already not the 8th inning guy, so he might as well be used more when the starter goes out in the 6th.
I’ve been saying that all year. He is great when he is relatively fresh. When he’s used on a consistent basis he becomes very hittable, otherwise he is fairly good.
Sosa’s tenure on this team is coming to an end. At some point this season, Figgy will be moved into the pen and take on the duties of the long reliever. May as well bump Sosa now, and let Vargas take his spot until get get a healthy Pedro.
I’m for keeping Joe up here.
Fig is getting skipped in the rotation anyway. He can get us through the weekend.
There are various guys in AAA who we can give a shot to.
Lugo and Armas may not be worse than Sosa. They can give some length in the pen. We have to give other pitchers some looks.
Stokes had an excellent start last night, he would also be a long man candidate. And Vargas has already pitched 5 innings, so he’s ready as a long man, if not starter…
Between those four they should be able to find someone who can pick up Sosa’s long man work. The short man work would have to go to Smith and Wise. I guess they could get by without Sosa afterall…
who do you trust more sosa or heilman? sosa can’t be the worst guy in the mets bullpen. i am of th ebelief that you keep the best players you have on your team.
In the past Heilman has been more successful than Sosa.
Heilman isn’t far behind Sosa if his issues are not resolved…..which is a shame.
I trust Heilman more, if you take the long view (and not really that long!) I just don’t see Sosa as ANYTHING that can’t be replaced by a Muniz, Vargas, Armas, eventually Figgy; whereas Heilman has been very good at times not including the past couple weeks. You have to believe he will work out of this funk if he is used properly…and not completely demoralized by the fans sitting right over the dugout.
Man, if I could afford those seats…
At this point I would love to see a trade of Heilman, Sosa and Endy/Pagan for a decent 1B/OF. Don’t know if the Angels would be interested in Heilman or not. Maybe the Tigers? Anyway I would rather have a BP of Muniz, Smith and Wise than Heilman, Sosa and Wise. At least with Smith and Muniz they are young and will hopefully get better. Heilman’s confidence looks shot and Sosa is shot.
If no trade could be worked out, I would just risk it with Sosa. As for not having a long man, Heilman and Wise can both go multiple innings.
It is hard to tell how much faith the organization has in Sosa. It seems to me — too much, which would indicate sending Joe down even though he has been very good, simply because it doesn’t risk losing a player. I think the risk of loss on Sosa is very low — if he clears waivers, nothing changes; if he is claimed, he seems very easily replaceable by really anyone on the AAA roster. But Willie continuously going with him over Smith seems to suggest they like Sosa — or maybe just Willie does.
At any rate, Endy and Pagan are really the most duplicative players, particularly once Alou returns (for however long he returns…). I wonder if they are considering sending Pagan down as an option?
You know what? My neighbor’s five-year-old can do some light throwing and hit from a tee. Maybe the Mets should activate him too.
Well, if he can hit consistently off a tee, he’d be ahead of Delgado at least.
I wonder if the reason Sosa has been used so much is to try and keep the innings off of Smith? Maybe they know that Sosa will have to go or be traded so they want to get as many innings out of thim as possible.
Either way, I still think you have to let Sosa go. I don’t get the depth part because unless a bullpen arm gets injured if you want Smith on the team you have to lose one of them.
Maybe possibly showcasing Sosa.
Maybe Willie is still looking for some hope in Sosa.
Crazy theory but maybe Willie is looking for Sosa to fall on his face so the decision is easier.