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According to Adam Rubin in the Daily News, the Mets 
have released OF Ben Johnson, who was acquired two years ago with Jon Adkins for Health Bell.
Bell is 0–2 with a 2.55 ERA in 16 appearances for the Padres this season.
…as noted, this one clearly goes in the Oops column for Omar Minaya – to say the least…
Speaking of being released, Victor Diaz was released from Houston’s minor league system.
Lastly, speaking of Rubin, check out his extensive minor-league report at his blog for the Daily News, where he profiles B’Mets 2B Emmanuel Garcia, while reporting that Nathan Vineyard underwent season-ending shoulder surgery
heath bell hurts, no doubt
definately not Omar’s best move, but Bell was given a lot of chances here and never seed to find a groove, much less flourish. Sounds like a change of scenery is what he needed as well.
I don’t know about that. Heath Bell was sent up and down all the time, and was never really given a chance to stick. Always the odd-man-out, he could never find a rhythm, never get into a groove. He showed flashes of brilliance, but was never consistent due in part to his jumping between the big and minors.
I don’t put it all on Minaya, because if you’re Heath Bell, you have to take advantage of what you’re given, but in my opinion, he was never treated well enough to succeed.
That’s what I think too. people always say this about Bell, that he was given plenty of chances, but he always had a plane ticket in his pocket, so I don’t know how he could have possibly settled in to the role.
I really don’t think we gave him a shot. I think that 2006-2007 off-season was pretty poor for Omar.
As a side note, for some reason Willie really disliked Bell. He needed a change of scenary. He would never have succeeded here.
That’s what I was trying to say. everyone is right about him always being shuffled back and forth. But theres no way to know if he would have been sucessful here and it’s one of those trade you chalk up to “ya never know”
He was bad here, period. No matter the circumstances, he just didn’t produce. And as is the case for most relievers who aren’t closers, their level of success varies year to year.
But for Ben “bleeping” Johnson? I really think that I may be better than Ben Johnson.
My point is…at least get another underachieving power arm.
They did get another underachieving power arm – Jon Adkins was part of the trade also. He pitched all of one inning for the Mets (scoreless).
Seems he’s now in the Reds’ farm, but I can’t found out how he got there.
Thing is, Johnson significantly underperformed here. He’d shown promise in the minors and as a bench player the two years before the trade. Just another player that couldn’t make it in NY, perhaps.
Last year was super for Bell, but so far this year his splits show him benefiting from his home park with a 0.00 ERA in SD and a 5.19 away, so I’m not sure he’d be doing the same at Shea this year.
Of course, 2.55 ERA overall would be pretty sweet when seeing Heilmann or Sosa’s ERAs this year…..
No doubt this trade panned out badly for us, but at the time it looked like both Adkins and Johnson had some upside.
If everything in baseball was predictable, they wouldn’t bother playing the games.
Not every trade nets us a Perez or a Maine for not much in return ;)
Not much in return as in a right handed power hitting OF/1b that we desperately need this season?
Why do people always forget Omar tried to trade Ollie for Linebrink the same day, but the pads wouldn’t do it?
I agree with Krumble up top that the mets didn’t give Bell enough of a chance to succeed, even Wagner told Willie that the guy could close games.. they just didn’t have faith in him…
Wags also claims that Heilman can close games, too.
wagner also said that heilman could close games. Wagner may be a great closer, but is one bad scout.
Also, perhaps if the mets had linebrink in the ‘06 postseason, the mets would have won the world series. That would have been a lot less Mota which is worht a few wins.
No, that was the good Mota. The steroid Mota. Remember?
Apart from game 2, but yeah, Mota was generally effective in 06
yeah and didnt the pen get all the blame for the 06 loss to STL? so that linbrink move prob. woulda worked, and today 5/5/08 I would rather have Linebrink (he went through FA so this is all a pipe dream)
The pen in 06? How about Steve Trachsel starting.. Cliff Floyd on the Roster instead of El Duque, not trading for a starting pitcher, or the offense completely choking?
And even Willie not bunting in Game 7..
Yes Heilman gave up the big home run.. but I think of a terrible offense and terrible starting pitching when I think of the 2006 NLCS.
First off, I can name a million different situations where a team has had runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out, bunted, then plated only one of them (which would have done the Mets no good in a situation where they were down by 2). For example, I was watching the Cardinals/Cubs game last night. Top 7, bases loaded and nobody out for the Cubs. Derek Lee pops out, sac fly, then strikeout. End of inning, one run scores. I was all for Floyd swinging away and have no problem to it to this day.
El Duque couldn’t be on the roster. He tore a muscle in his calf.
Cliff Floyd was on the roster for the exact purpose of the 9th inning of Game 7. It just didn’t work out. Oh well. If Reyes finds the gap, we’re not having this conversation.
Petco Park.
Darn, there goes the $250 I spent on customizing my Ben Johnson jersey…
Gotta change it to “Vargas”
I look forward when Vargas gets called up.
And the song when he enters being…. “Viva Las Vargas!”.
Which Vargas?
nooooooooooooooooooo
hmmm…ideas:
helicopter jorge sosa?
Mini Manny!
Mini Manny, as in his career home run total will be miniature sized Manny career home run total.
No doubt this trade worked against the Mets but I mean come on….not one of you thought this was as bad of a trade when it happened, you all saw how Nady flourished as the Padre cast-off in NY and Heath Bell really sucked as a Met, and was given plenty of chances, and every time he got called up he was no better of a pitcher and also 20 lbs heavier.
we gave up royce ring in this trade too, who, while he hasn’t been the shut-down reliever bell has been, has been pitching important innings for the padres and braves since.
so, a double oops, i think.
In his 12 games and 4 2/3rds innings with the Braves this year, Ring has an ERA of 7.71. Flukish? Maybe. But then look at his BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play). It’s actually .333, which is not terribly unlucky and still very close to being within the “normal” range (.270-.330…it was hovering around .245 in 2007). If he had a .375+ BABIP, yes, I could see his ERA as being unlucky. But 7.71 with a .333 BABIP is AWFUL. Also, in his past 24 1/3rd innings (’07-now), while he’s only given up 17 hits, he’s walked 19 batters. His WHIP is dreadful. We lost nothing giving up Ring. Bell was the mistake (although frankly it wasn’t giving up Bell considering the problems he had with the Mets in general, but rather we didn’t get enough value for him).
the only thing Royce Ring was ever worth was Roberto Alomar’s exit from NYC. I’ll take both Felic. & Show over him any day of the week, no double oops just 1 of 2 trades (Bannister) over over a dozen that Omar has made that the other team got the better end…..to date.
I don’t blame Omar on this one.
I honestly though Ben Johnson was going to be a player. EX QB at Memephis. great athlete. speed and power.
too bad.
It’s not like he traded a Starting Pitcher who would finish 3rd in AL ROY voting for a Mota clone with control problems and arm issues.
Ditto. I thought he was going to be a breakout surprise in 2007, especially when ALou went down. Just didn’t happen.
Marty Cordova won the ROY….as did Angel Berroa, Bobby Crosby, Jason Jennings, Eric Hinske, Ben Grieve….and so on
My point here is that ROY means VERY little other than the player had a good first year. If you want to talk about his impressive numbers last year, that’s fine…chastise Omar for that, bc we could’ve used him BUT i dont think Bannister should be looked at as some prized pitcher. I mean, thinking logically here, do you remember how perilously close he was, in seemingly all his starts, to completely losing control of the game? His stuff is so-so, but he’s a smart guy. smarts can only take you to a certain level in this game and i dont think he has the talent to take it to another level…at least to the level where Mets fans think he currently is.
It not all about the ROY award. I know better than to just put the stock of my enitre argument into that one point. Perhaps I should have provided a list of other reasons as well. But I think my point was pretty clear.
Yes, I remember how perilously close Bannister was AS A ROOKIE to let games get out of control. I also remember him usually giving us 6 innings of work, battling, and making pitches when he had to. And he had a pretty good bat. As much as people want to downplay his contributions in ‘06, or his perfromance since that trade, facts are he was good enough to make the starting rotation out of Spring Training on a Mets squad that nearly won 100 ball gmaes. And an even more overwhelming fact is that he has improved every facet of his game since ‘06 on the worst team in baseball playing in a DH league and a division with very good lineups.
I refuse to downplay smarts as an integral part to this game. Ability and Talent alone is not enough. Ask tonight’s starting pitcher for the Mets. Whereas ‘Smarts’ has Greg Maddux knocking on the door of 350 career wins.
Ahh, how did i know Maddux’s name would come up! Maddux is completely different…not only is he one of the smartest pitchers to take the mound, he also has the stuff and talent to compliment his “headiness”…his pitches had incredible movement and he made a lot of guys miss the ball.
I’m not too well versed in stats, but does Bannister do that?
Yes, i understand he pitched for us as a rookie, and i admit he has improved his game, but nothing about him strikes me as lock-down starting pitcher that will have a 14 year career.
77 Ks to 44 BBs???? That’s not someone we should be crying over.
If he wins 12-14 again this year and improves his WHIP, his K:BB ratio and cures baldness in men, then MAYBE i’ll change my mind about him!
Hey…you’re the one that said smarts only gets you so far. IN Fact, Mddux was a fireballer to begin his career, and became great after he became finese and location.
Bannister….I just like the kid. I saw him pitch ST in ‘06 and liked him ever since. He is very cerebral and he had Major League pedigree from his dad who, oddly enough, had a 14 YEAR CAREER!!
He is in control of the game and doesn’t fall apart mentally. He’s solid. Not a Cy Young award winner. But will go out there and give you his best every day. I like smart ball players. I would take a staff of Brian Bannisters over a staff of Oliver Perez’s any day.
Danny, you miss the point. Smarts help, but if you take Maddux and remove his smarts, you still have a better pitcher than if you removed his stuff.
Bannister lives on the edge. We know he’s smart and tough because he has to show it on a regular basis getting out of jams.
His WHIP so far this season is very good, but his BAbip is low (.239). Give him a league-average BAbip and he’d have a below-league-average ERA.
Looking to the future, I’d take Perez over Bannister. The odds of Perez eventually “getting it” mentally – while not great – are still better than the odds of Bannister ever getting close to Perez’ dirty stuff.
If you matched Maddux’ head with Perez’ arm, you’d have a HoF pitcher. If you matched Maddux’ head with Bannister’s arm, you’d have Bannister all over again.
That last line you had definitely puts it into perspective and works for me.
I guess I’m trying to say that you can’t really kill Omar over this move. Considering the circumstance, Bannister was expendable. If Burgos had (and does) worked out, we’d all be singing a little bit of a different tune
I liked “The Money Pit”.
That is my answer to that question.
In the immortal words of Homer Jay Simpson, “D’oh!”
BTW, as much as I’m enjoying Ryan Church, and feel Schneider is great at handling our pitchers, I still don’t love the Millage trade. Not that it didn’t bring enough at that point, but that he refused to conder moving him for a lot more a year earlier.
Shoot, he could have brought us Zito, lol.
err, Milledge.
I love how Sosa gets ragged on..cause his ERA is thru the roof..yet with last night’s win, he somehow has a 4-1 record on the year.
So Bizzare..haha
Just goes to show how random a reliever’s W-L record is.
Yeah, W-L doesn’t mean anything in relief. Only ERA, WHIP, maybe avg against.
Doesn’t always matter for starters either. Didn’t Traschel have 15 wins for us his final year?
Yeah, that said an awful lot about the run support he got, because his ERA was 4.97.
Also says something for being consistent, giving up 3 runs in 5 or 6 innings every start is going to get more wins on a good team than going scoreless one start and giving up 5 the next.
actually the consistent starter loses out on more wins if you really look at it from a mathematical perspective.
The blurb from Rubin about how well Duda was doing, and what seems to be a rpomising future, was nice to see.
I know he is in A ball, but it looks like he could be ready for a call up to AA (except for being majorly blocked there), and we all know AA is just a short hop from the majors…
He was a college player, so he is old enough to move quick if he performs. Might be too soon for 2009, but who knows, maybe whatever stops gap/young guy they start with doesn’t do the job, and he steps in mid year? Besides, I love the name!
And, having a guy that size, if he develops the power he could, would be nice. And 6′4″ is plenty big enough to grab some of DWs throws.
if the mets had linebrink in the ‘06 playoffs that would mean no ollie perez … since omar was going to flip him for Linebrink … who was going to pitch game 7
darren oliver?
‘06 is all about MOTA …. watching SPEZIO’s shot just trickle over shawn greens glove over the wall ……
a game 2 win there and the mets have a world series title right now