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According to Adam Rubin at his blog for the Daily News, the Mets have decided to send down Joe Smith on Wednesday to make room for either Adam Bostick or Willie Collazo, who will start Wednesday – and only Wednesday – for the Mets.
…as rubin points out, the goal is to use a pitcher from the 40–man roster…whereas Claudio Vargas, like Jorge Sosa, would have to be passed through waivers if the team wants to return him to the minor leagues following the start…
Rubin also reports that Matt Wise will be activated from the disabled list on Thursday, “once the spot starter is returned to New Orleans.”
Ted Berg, of SNY.tv thinks the Mets should just demote Sosa, and risk losing him, writing: “The only rationale the Mets could have for keeping Sosa around is the fear he could flee to free agency or be claimed by another team if he is waived. But at this point, how many Major League teams are clamoring for a reliever with a 7.06 ERA?”
For more, check out Rubin’s report in the Daily News, where he quotes Billy Wagner on the decision to demote Smith.
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
…this is absurd…Willie Randolph is having a hard enough time managing his bullpen, now he’s being forced to go at it without smith, who has been his best reliever not named wagner…all for sosa, who is due to earn $2 million on the year…unreal…
…i hope this is temporary, in that they recall smith as soon as Wednesday’s starter is no longer needed, which would mean putting a player like Luis Castillo on the disabled list to make room for smith or Matt Wise…
…it’s just so difficult to understand when a team is unwilling to field the best 25–man roster possible…
… added to by Joe Janish …
… if the Mets are so bent on keeping Sosa around, wouldn’t it make more sense to demote Nelson Figueroa? Figueroa would have to remain in AAA for ten days, but his turn won’t come up again until May 24th … then you demote the spot starter on Thursday and activate Wise in his place … plus Figueroa gets a start with New Orleans to stay sharp … unless the Mets are worried that Figueroa won’t pass through waivers on the way down …
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awful move…awful
Phenomenal name you’ve got there.
Demoting Figueroa is the way to go, no one is going to take him and he loves NY so will stay.
Unreal. Sosa has been awful. Give a younger guy like SMith a shot to stick. He has been very good and he has held his own. We need to get younger. Show faith in the younger guys.
Sosa is junk!!!
if i was willie and omar i would demote sosa and take the chance we can always bring up a starter if we have to and move figuerora to the long relieve position because as i have heard he has a rubber arm and can throw on back to back days. keep smith around. i also dont see the fasination with wise if i dont recall correctly, he blew two games earlier this season on home runs which lost us games, hes prob junk also. if pedro can be back in 2-3 weeks the above situation will work.
To answer why the Mets did this,…it really is very simple:
They are stupid.
The more we accept this fact from them as an organization, the more we can move forward from this.
fire omar
I hate to bring this up…but look at the last names. Omar has a soft spot for the Latins…theres no way around it.
Uhhhh no.
This is why Matt wanted to moderate the comments. People like you. Go root for another team, thanks.
Stay in the Upper Deck.
No, stay OUT of the upper deck… where I sit.
Stay in the parking lot.
so dont bring it up…saves you from looking so stupid
ha, nice try, nothing saves upperdeckdweller from looking stupid.
Think about this logically…Omar’s job is up for review at the end of the month. He is absolutely not going to play the race card, especially considering the stark difference in the performances of Smith and Sosa. He is clearly making the move to keep Sosa around, instead of losing him. Considering there is nobody else who can give the team 3-4 innings when Perez/Pelfrey fail to get out of the 6th inning. Of course, if you asked me, I’d rather demote Sosa, move Figgy to the swing man spot in the pen, and bring up one of the other guys to take Nelson’s spot in the rotation.
Can you change your name to “IgnorantUpperDeckDweller” ?
Can we toss you from off the Upper Deck? Please???
It’s a money issue, pure and simple. The Mets are on the hook to Sosa for 2 million, and don’t want to DFA him because they lose their 2 mill. Smith has options so he gets sent down, this way the Mets don’t risk losing Sosa. Not saying sending Smith down is right, because it isn’t, but to say it’s about race is just dumb.
Is “Bostick” a Latin name??
Sickening move by Minaya.
Disgusting. You only do this if you are SO afraid of losing Sosa that it is worth it to lose arguably the best reliever we have.
How Omar can make this move after last night in particular is just horrifyingly bad. It’s the “safe” move, but its the wrong move.
Completly agree bro and i think u nailed it. Its the safe move not necessarily the right one. Id say its worth the risk to demote sosa. Who the hell would pick up a guy with a 7 era. Only problem is it would leave us w/o a long man and thats all i could think of. Crappy move……
How is this the safe move?
Vargas or Bostick couldn’t come out of the pen and pour gasoline on the fire the way Sosa does?
It is only “safe” insofaras it keeps Sosa in the club.
Personally, I’m happy to see him go.
So the choice is, keep an effective sidearmer who can get huge outs when you need it, or keep a mop up man who can’t get anybody out and gives up grand slams at will. Tough decision.
I think people may be overreacting just a tad, but I agree with the confusion over what Sosa has done to be guaranteed a spot. Willie does not even use him as a long man, so I am not sure what his value is.
That said, I’d send down Figueroa anyway, and let this spot starter take his turn if need be.
How is this overreacting? Sosa is bad, Joe Smith is good. I hate to make it that easy, but in this case it really is black and white. That should make this decision easy to make, not easy to screw up. But they did screw up, in a major way.
I love what Omar has done with this team, but this is indefensible and unjustifiable.
Because it’s a long season and you can’t manage your roster like it’s a fantasy team. A healthy Wise should be able to take Smith’s innings without a problem, and for a team with pitching depth issue you don’t just cut Sosa loose after a few bad outings.
yeah, but Joe Smith is pitching great right now. Wise can fill in for those innings, but can he be as effective as Smith is?
Sosa’s had about a half season of sucking out of the bullpen, for what it’s worth.
One half-season of sucking.
One decent month out of the pen.
Lifetime trust from Willomar.
Why can’t wise take Sosa’s innings instead?
Dave27 is right. It’s probably the wrong move, but it’s not indefensible. The entire league is starving for bullpen help, and Sosa can actually start, too, for the especially desperate. If injuries pile up, you could be wishing you had Sosa, believe it or not. Bottom line, there’s a reasonable position that if it’s mid-May, and you can avoid risking losing people, you make the move that eliminates the risk.
Why can’t wise take Sosa’s innings instead?
Maybe because we haven’t seen Wise throw a single pitch this year.
Wise has made 2 appearances for the mets this year. Also he made the team out of spring training, Wise is a guy that should definitely be in there. Smith will be back in a couple weeks so let’s step back from the ledge
My point is, they have been trying to figure out how Wise gets on this team. It seems senseless to me to drop Smith (and btw, I’m no huge Joe Smith fan) and keep Sosa. If they are afraid someone will snag Sosa, all I can ask is why? He’s not ever been the kind of pitcher who is hard to replace. And he’s currently a liability out there.
Nonsensical and asinine. Pure stupidity on the part of Minaya and whoever else made this decision. If Sosa has such a rubber arm and is supposed to be our long man and spot starter, then why isn’t he pitching on Wednesday? Oh yeah, because he sucks eggs.
Get him out of here. Good performance should be rewarded, whereas the worst performance in the bullpen should be jettisoned out of town immediately. This makes two years in a row that Joe Smith has been punished for pitching well. I’d demand a trade if that were common baseball practice.
Willie’s fault. he should be backing his players. Where’s the confidence rating so I can vote “1″
ummmmm really?
I know it’s omar’s decision. I hope he can see beyond the 1.5 left on Sosa’s contract. I like Smith. the numbers game stinks. Couldn’t Sosa have made the start?
Agree, I don’t disagree with your numbers and agree,
I just can’t say this is Willie fault and i’m trying to figure out if you are being sarcastic..
What if Willie has been standing up and Omar made this decision? We likely will never know, but this isn’t an easy “willie’s fault” like not double switching or whatever…it MAY be though….but
Well, if Sosa has enough value to be claimed, then the Mets should try to trade him for some bodies to add to the Minor L depth.
Anyway you look at it (ST or LT), the best baseball decision has to be to cut ties with Sosa. Unless they really think he is better than this (just in a little slump?), and will become an important part of the team later on, you ditch him.
This is not a move you make over $$, since in the big scheme of things, it isn’t that much money.
besides, if he gets claimed, the claiming team will have to assume the salary. It is only if he clears waivers to become a FA that the mets are on the hook, right?
I still say try to trade him. Right now, Muniz looks like a better option. Heck, Figgy for sure is, Luggo might be, even Kunz could be called up at some point. SOsa just does not bring anything valuable to the table.
Exactly right. Sosa probably has *some* value even with his lousy 7 ERA…but then again, no one claimed Turnbow. If he has any value whatsover the least you can do is get a middle-infield-playing bench player for him…
And whose roster spot does said bench player take?
Pagan’s? We do not need he and Endy both on the bench. They are the same player.
Why won’t Mex manage? Has he ever said? He’s the smartest guy in the organization (sez me) and all he does is offer the best analysis in baseball. Imagine what he could do from the dugout?
He has stated as being opposed to suiting up everyday again. Look at his broadcast schedule…he just took like a week off. Obviously SNY would love to have Keith as much as possible, but he is even opposed to a full broadcast schedule.
Hernandez would be a terrible manager. Too conceited and he wouldn’t be disciplined enough to motivate the team over the long haul.
He’s great as a color commentary guy and I generally like his storytelling abilities (except when he’s bored) and analysis, but I can’t see him being a decent manager.
I agree he’d be a terrible manager. All he’d do is whine and say things like, “we didn’t do it like that in my day,” and “what’s a GIRL doing in the dugout?”
You do know he’s reading this right? haha.
In my day we never read blogs. They just do it differently in today’s blogosphere. (sigh)
This is a completely ridiculous move. If we lose Sosa — if some other team is dumb enough to pick him up — what is the WORST that can happen if we need another reliever? That we’re forced to bring up Carlos Muniz — who has actually been effective — instead?
For all the Mets’ talk about how valuable Sosa is because he can go multiple innings, it really doesn’t increase your value if you go multiple crappy innings. And last night Sosa was so bad he couldn’t even go more than 1.
Ridiculous, nonsensical, and wrong.
Amen! Another person with sense on this site. I have been saying it for months, Sosa=Mota. Dump him, he is dead weight. Eat the money and move on. It can only benefit the club. Its not an “innings” issue, its a bad move issue. Omar doesnt want to look bad so its been created that sosa is valuable in a situation when we need “innings”. The guy never goes more then an inning in 90% of his games anyway. Bring in Smith or Muniz from AAA if thats what you need. This move weakens the club. Frustrating!
You know, this has long been the problem with this organization. They REFUSE to admit mistakes. I mean, why is Sosa even back with this team? Because he can log innings?? So can a variety of other guys. This guy stinks, has a 7.06 ERA….but, we’re paying Mota, I mean Sosa, $2 million so he has to stay here? What a joke. This is outrageous. I hope Omar is reading this…because guess what…THIS is why we never win. Silly mistakes organization-wide from the top down.
Omar is not reading this.
***SPEECHLESS****
If we need a guy to soak up innings with a bit more success, how about David Wells?
I Hope Omar, just like Keith Hernandez, reads this blog, especially the comments section. I’ll be fair, at least let Omar have his morning cup of coffee
Sosa is terrible. 2 Grand Slams, yesterday’s outing…how much more do they really need to see before they get him out of here? I don’t quite understand…how does everyone know he stinks except Omar and Willie?
Definatly agree bro. What good is a long man when hes going to put you even more behind. Nothing this guy has done has gone right for him. We were down by 3 when nelson left the game, and in usual fashion after a sosa inning of work..we were down by 7. This guy just continues to fail and while i understand hes the rubber man/long man w/e….at the end of the day its about winning. This move i hope smith understands its about options and it doesnt demoralizes him (like a “realtiy check” from willie to pagan). The kid did really good and the positive i think is it would buy smith some rest and he can come back down the stretch rested and ready. The way willie uses the pen i would hate for this kid to have a repeat of last year. I just dont understand why they continue to stick with sosa…is there anyone that may be better for that role. Perhaps figz but that may not happen till pedro gets back……
It won’t get him rest. He’s not going on vacation, he’s going to pitch in the minors.
Figueroa can be the long man out of the pen… Get rid of sosa, he’s a bum…
This team is going absolutely nowhere this year and it honestly is time for the fanbase to start coming to terms with it. Your life will be much less stressful.
We have a manager and GM that are run by veteran favortism, spanish players, and money. That doesn’t win anything. We toss aside Joe Smith, who outside of Wagner is clearly our best reliever. I’m at a loss for words. You send down your best reliever and keep Jorge Sosa who is absolutely worthless to this team. Why is that Omar? You have some explaining to do….Shea is only going to get more and more hostile with these types of moves, and this type of play.
Furthermore, this is following a complete beat down last night from one of the worst offensive teams in baseball. 2-2 on a homestand vs 2 of the worst teams in MLB. Awesome. The Mets will never get more than 5 games over .500 They are as medicore as a team gets. Just wait for Philly to go on their run…the Mets will be eating their dust, and not even sniffing the playoffs come September.
It’s almost Memorial Day people. Nothing is going to change. This is the team your paying for. Willie Randolph, at the very least needs to be shown the door. He clearly has lost his players, and his motivational techniques are garbage.
Well if that is what we are and we won’t improve then shouldn’t you just give up?
Fully agree. Everyone needs to come to terms with this team
We have a manager and GM that are run by veteran favortism, spanish players, and money.
LOL at Spanish players
At least be accurate in your racist statements
Everybody just needs to lay off Los Mets
It isn’t racist. It’s becoming more apparent each day.
Sosa = another Omar “guy”
What does THAT mean, exactly?
MetsFiend19 has it exactly right. The way this team has played thus far is a blueprint for the way they will play the rest of the way. Pedro, El Duque, Alou: the question is when they will get injured again, not if. Delgado: he may hit a bit here and there but for the most part, he will look like he did a last night and his “defense”, if you can call it that, will cost us more runs than he produces. A four year contract for a prematurely over the hill second baseman who has lost his range and is fragile. If the organization thinks we customers are surly now, just wait till the temperature warms up.
This is a travesty.
I’m pretty sure that Smith struck out the side last night, while Sosa completely imploded for the umpteenth time this season.
I don’t care if Sosa can pitch three innings in a game. Is that the only reason we’re keeping this guy? His ERA is over 7 more than 20% through the season!
Unbelievable.
I think Omar thinks since both Sosa and Zito have ERA’s around 7 that this is his personal version of Zito. So we basically did get Zito last year.
Well…I’ll say this as long as Figuero is still on this team we need a long man…I dont care if its Sosa or whoever, we are going to lose those games and need someone to eat up those innings and Show/Smith/Felic cant go 5 innings…
I assume once Pedro is back or Claudio Vargas is ready that Sosa goes bye bye and Smith is back…or even release Sosa and call up Tony Armas already…
Can Armas be any worse than Sosa? I doubt it….right? Then again, we have lived through “Lima Time”.
Prismo I agree with you…after Figgy is gone.
As a fan of the Mets for over 40 years I, and I’m sure many others as well, are just about at my breaking point. I’m to the point where I could care less about this team unless Randope AND Omar are fired. You know what I’m talking about?
As pissed off about this as I am (and believe me, I’m pissed off – just read my post a few comments up)….no, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’m a die-hard Mets fan forever, no matter how many bone-headed decisions they make.
I don’t have to like all the personnel though. ;)
this is such a great move i dont know why all of u r complaining. lets keep a guy with an era over 7, can only throw a slider, and doesn’t know how to throw a strike. lets demote smith because his era is under 2 and knows how to throw strikes.
Since the Jacket loves sliders so much that he made Pelfrey throw it instead of his curve he must love sosa, jacket needs to go as well.
At the end of the day, Sosa should be a goner, but let’s not jump off a bridge here. With Show, Feliciano, Sanchez, heilman and Wags, there are still enough arms in the pen to get the job done. What’s more alarming is the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation keeping this team from going on any type of win streak. We’ve lost the last 6 games started by Figgy and Pelfrey. I’ve seen enough of Figueroa now. Issuing BB’s to that crappy line-up last nigth was unreal.
I would agree with you but the only problem is the starters are not lasting long enough to make that an effective bench and i think that reason alone is the reason we have to continue to endure “sosa time”. Those guys are 1 inning guys, 2 innings tops and thats pushing it. They need a rubber man to eat those innings and use the innings guys effectivly. i just wonder if there are better options out there…..
Correct. Add Figgy has no upside, Pelf does. I’m going to cry if I have to watch Figgy one more time. Notice his sky box of fans is getting smaller.
We can’t put Castillo on the DL and not call up a backup infielder. We can go one game without a backup infielder if we use the Castillo DL move to call up the spot starter, but when we demote the spot starter we have to call up Anderson Hernandez or someone of his ilk.
Lets just call up Jeff Keppinger to play 2nd, oh wait, we got rid of him, another great move and reason we won’t ever win anything.
Yeah, because if we had Keppinger all of our problems would be solved and they would already have World Series tickets on sale.
I imagine we could use his high average and the good defense he plays, contrary to all the reports about him. I guess you are satisfied with our pitiful offense?
We could use the high average, but lets be real. Keppinger was let go for the same reason Gotay was let go, and that was because he was awful defensively.
Keppinger was traded for Gotay so we could always call him up. Oh wait….. nevermind
Omar has never tried to put the best possible players on the field so why should this be any different? I doubt there will be any takers for Sosa so they shouldn’t be worried about losing him. He could be replaced with someone in AAA, they couldn’t be much worse.
If at any point you argued that we should have kept Gotay, you are not allowed to make this argument.
Interesting idea…keep Smith, cut Jorge, promote Bostick or Vargas, move Figgy into the swing man role. Figgy has great numbers first time through the order and would be a good long man.
Figgy was a one game wonder…..great story but no longer is a viable option for this team. Smith was going down for Wise anyways.
well said and fully agree. Figgy should not be here
I’ve defended Omar in the past, but I hope that report that the Wilpons were going to evaluate the team at the end of the month doesn’t just stop at Willie. They both need to go.
Smith strikes out the side last night, Sosa gives up 4 runs…it makes perfect sense…send down Smith. INCREDIBLE!!!
And Smith pitches well against the Yankees, I believe.
Can Joe Smith give up grand slams in as many innings as Jorge Sosa can? No! Obviously, we need the guy who can be flexible enough to give up many runs over many innings on any given night. Smith failed to give us that kind of endurance, because he was too busy rushing through his one inning and getting people out.
Remember, next time Sosa gives up seven runs in three innings, Smith would have only been capable of going out there and getting three guys out. And Willie says Sosa is throwing the ball well, and just needs to get into a groove. We will see that groove when it happens, as long as we can be among the lucky fans who get into Citi Field. Be patient!
The problem is, a lot of you guys just want to look at results and facts and stuff.
willie’s his own worste enemy here.. he loves sosa…
if he left him buried out there.. maybe omar would have gotten the drift…
janish, i completely agree with you and posted the same last night in the in game comments section: send down figgy, bring up a spot starter, send down the spot starter, bring up wise. it gives you 13 days before you have to make this move
It’s Omar and Willie’s turn to get booed….. haaaa
can someone from the Mets justify this move? I’m really at lost here. Smith has been doing so well, and his reward is to go back to get demoted.
Willie/ Mets Poll do over!!!
how’s this willie’s fault again?
Heaven forbid another team pick up Sosa………… who would we use to offer up meatballs?
This is ridiculous. Why does this team let dollars dictate rather than results?
This team spends money unwisely and then are stubborn to admit such waste of money was a mistake.
1. So Sosa is making $2M? If he blows one more games and you miss the playoffs by one game like last year, isn’t the playoff revenue worht more than $2M? If money dictates the Mets thinking then they should think about it that way.
2. It would have made sense to demote Sosa or Figueroa. Look, Nelson was a nice story but he’s not cutting it anymore. You could have demoted him and then brought up Bostick, then demoted Bostick after the start and activated Wise.
When the Mets needed a #5 starter they could then have brought Nelson back up or Vargas. However, they would have bought themselves time.
3. If I were a minor leaguer, the last organization I would want to play for is the Mets. Can Omar and Willie please start playing some youngsters? I mean Wright and Reyes were here before them and thank God because if not they may still be in AAA or traded for another Jason Vargas-type pitcher.
Keppinger, Bell, Lindstrom, etc.
4. This team spends money unwisely. Look, getting Pedro, Beltran, Santana, Wagner and even trading for Delgado was money well spent because you were obtaining a shutdown closer, an ace or a game-changing slugger.
But then there is Castillo. 4 years for a guy who’s main offensive weapon is his legs and those have been going for the past two years?! Castillo is not a game-changing player. Even at his prime, I wouldn’t have given him that kind of money and years. Why? Because the net gain on his offense for the dollars spent is not as high as many infielder you could get on one year deals. I mean I’d rather see Damion Easley at second on a one year deal.
Then there are the Sosa and Schoeneweis deals. I mean Scott pitching his heart out this year, but you don’t give 3 year deals to middle relievers. You just don’t.
I love Omar, but for all his great moves…..with the exception of the Johan trade they have all been accomplished with money. Any armchair GM can outspend their rivals and sign Pedro, Beltran and Wagner.
I give him credit for John Maine, but let’s remember he was willign to trade Perez for Linebrink until the Padres backed out, so let’s not say he was a genius for keeping Perez too.
Vargas is younger than Kepp, Bell, Owens or Lindstrom.
yeah, but he’s terrible and injured.
My six year old son is younger too. So are my three year old daughters. What’s your point again?
Not to mention, how much longer will the Mets get away with how they’ve been handling Wise? Isn’t there a max time/number of rehab games a guy who is NOT HURT can stay on the DL for?
I have no love for Wise, he is a complete unknown, but this whole thing just reeks of Omar having no clue what to do with the bullpen, and its embarassing and harmful.
Way to back up your reliever who is starting to gain even more confidence after STRIKING OUT THE SIDE in one inning by showing him the door to keep a guy with multiple 4 RUN + allowed innings under his belt. I don’t get it at all. We are talking about losing Sosa or Wagner? The situation will come where you wished you had Smith to throw out there. And why does this Wise guy (wink) get a spot in the bullpen just handed to him? What has he done to deserve it?
He was actually a pretty damn good reliever for the Brewers. But after hitting some guy in the head middle of last year he hasn’t been the same. “Supposedly” though Peterson fixed that and he is back to his old self again.
Given that they haven’t made the move yet, there’s still time for them to reconsider this idiocy.
I’ll begin holding my breath … now.
I do not dwell on the loss last night– these things happen throughout the course of the season (although the Mets have had 4 or 5 so far…)
I am a pretty ardent supporter of Willie and Omar, but I must confess that Sosa has been bad this season, and Smith looks like he has made the adjustments for this year (of course, let’s see if he can stay effective all season– remember he had that dead arm thing mid-year and wasn’t heard from again.)
The only way this makes sense is if the front office is evaluating bullpen work and is trying to rotate Smith out for a spell to keep him fresh.
“…this is absurd…Willie Randolph is having a hard enough time managing his bullpen, now he’s being forced to go at it without smith”
Really? He has been going without smith for the most part anyway. I asked this question last night, and nobody seems to have mentioned it here. before last night, WHY HASN’T JOE SMITH PITCHED SINCE MAY 6TH???
He has been a reliable arm but has only pitched occasionally, while willie trots out sosa on nearly a daily basis. omar deserves blame for making the final decision to demote smith, but who is to say that the manager does not have input into the choice? it is apparent that sosa is one of his “guys.”
I think they’re trying to use Smith less because of what happened in the first half last year when he got demoted, when his arm got tired and they wanted to rest him more.
they must be doing the same with feliciano and schowenweis (sp?)
I am not surprised at all. Willie and Omar for some strange reason have this infatuation with Sosa which I cannot understand. I actually want the Phillies or Braves to pick Sosa up off waivers because he is that bad.
Its as simple as this…Willie’s prob is that he uses Sosa in many situations, but you need a guy like Sosa on the team so every time Ollie or Figgy (who should be the guy to go) only pitches 3 innings and we are down by 6 or more runs, we have a guy who can “mop up” and we can save guys like Duaner, Hielman, Show, etc to pitch the next day when we still have a shot to win, otherwise we will be in a 3-2 game the next day and have no one available because our other 6 relievers cant go more than an inning at a time….
it sucks, but its something we have to deal with as long as our starters continue to dissappoint and go short outings.
way to go Mets,, this organization is falling apart. Its all about Money ..
So Mets fans,, don’t hold back anymore.. This is a perfect example of a organization that cares more about not wasting money than it does about winning. So boo like you’ve never booed before.. Enough of this bull,, I’m sick of this.. Get OMar and WILLIE OUT OF HERE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT A JOKE THIS ORGANIZATION IS…
get rid of Sosa AND Figgy and bring up Armas to be the long man, leave Bostick in the rotation until Pedro comes back…
That’s easy to say when we’ve never seen Bostick pitch before.
dr jones, go be a yankee fan, good riddance
Before this homestand, most fans on here agreed that a 5-2 homestand vs 2 of the worst teams in baseball was acceptable. This was the measuring stick for the Mets…a chance to start climbing over .500. I said 6-1, if the Mets really are as good as they think they are. Either way….thats not happening. They wont win the next 3. So we’re looking at a 4-3 OR possibly a 3-4 homestand vs the Reds and Nationals. That is absolutely pathetic. You gain nothing there….1 game, big deal. 3-3 road trip vs quality teams is one thing….this is another.
This team is a massive dissapointment, and yet again…YET AGAIN….I’ll repeat: No one is held accountable! Not the GM, not the manager….no one. When is it time to start the firing squad?
Btw…..Joe and Evan destroying the Joe Smith move on WFAN. Not a person in Metsville understands this move, outside of Omar Minaya. What a team we have.
this is embarrassing…sosa is only hurting the club anyway…and so is figueroa…i say demote both figgy and sosa and bring up wise and the spot starter…bc at this point the spot starter cant be much worse than figgy anyway…you can keep him around in the pen and we might need him the double header against the braves anyway…and for all of you that feel bad for figgy he wont be around for much longer anyway with pedro coming back in a couple of weeks…this is a no brainer…sosa is back to his old terrible ways
Good to see this organization is learning so much from last year’s mistakes…..
Mota = Sosa
The parallels are frightening.
idea here….
if Sosa gets picked up by another team, then the Mets can hit a grand slam off of him.
any takers?
if smith is sent down just until after bostick pitches then it’s not a huge deal, but if he’s being replaced by wise beyond a couple of games it’s a terrible move.
i’d send figgy down before sosa. sosa can take a start if necessary down the road and can pitch in many different spots. he hasn’t been good this year, but we’ve seen him perform last year. his slider is good enough that sosa can get a righty out in a big spot.
He can’t be sent down and then immediately recalled. He has to stay in AAA for at least 10 days unless he is called up because of injury.
You can’t even use the Castillo DL move to call up Smith, because if you do that, you lose the ability to make the DL move retroactive.
if a player goes on the dl smith can be recalled.
i don’t want him send down, but i’m going crazy over it if it’s for a week to 10 days. it’s better than losing sosa. if it’s figgy then i’m fine with losing him.
But a player cannot be replaced on the DL retroactively and Smith be recalled. The Mets lose the right to do that if they DL Castillo, because they would want to make that move retroactive.
didn’t catch the ‘retroactive’ part. i’ll trust you on that.
i can’t say you’re wrong. i just don’t want to lose sosa. it should be figgy.
Figgy is a better option for the long man role than Sosa though. One, he’s better at getting leftis out. Two, he’s AWESOME the first time through on order. It’s when he has to go back through the order that he starts to struggle.
Sosa sucks in every split every which way.
you can’t just judge based on this season. sosa has been a much more successful pitcher than figgy.
How do you judge success? Sosa is enigmatic, at best in his career.
And Figgy has a much better track record in the bigs then you give him credit for.
Much?
I think everyone needs to just take a chill pill.
Wise is a perfectly good replacement for Joe Smith. While I don’t agree with keeping Sosa around, why piss 2 mil down the drain??
Figgy needs to go as well, the bloom is off that rose. He has shown us why he had trouble getting steady work in the majors. And Figgy, quit complaining about what the Nats were doing in the dugout. How about this, throw strikes, get them out, and they won’t act that way. You were the only one that acted like a girl.
Have to agree w/ MUSTSEETV, we are looking at this team and the moves it makes in a sport strategy sense, when in fact its all about the allmighty dam dollar. This is not a sport any more. Its a marketing empire designed to seperate us, the “blind fanactics”, from our hard earned money! The “Great American Pastime” has passed us by.
can someone clear something up for me.. If the mets DFA Sosa and another team claims him. Does that team have to take on his contract?
Sosa… somewhere for player to be named, cash, hell even a bag of balls… he’s outstayed his welcome
Let’s relax guys and stop spewing venom. I know we are all frustrated about last year, but our frustration stems from our love for this team and our need to see them succeed.
Still this organization is better than it was 4 years ago. Still, I criticize Willie and Omar and agree that if the Mets fail to make the playoffs that they should probably be replaced, but let’s ride this out for better or worse for the rest of the year. There isn’t anything we can do right now.
“Fire Willie and Omar.” Really? And who takes over? Can we foget Bobby Valentine? He is a great in-game manager but the guy’s ego has hurt organizations he’s worked for in the States.
Lee Mazzilli? That’s an available candidate, but he wasn’t that great with the Orioles. I’m not sure if it was the talent he had or him, but still it’s too much of an in-season risk to take.
Who’s GM? Tony Bernazard? His staff has failed to develop one signicant prospect. I’m not ready to give him the keys to the organization.
So let’s ride this out. It’s like poker. We went all in. We can’t pull back our bet. Let’s see how the cards unfold and support this team.
Do I think the Sosa move is dumb? Yes. Will I criticize it? You bet. But I’m not going to lose my head over it.
Tony Bernazard? He is part of the problem and he needs to get tossed along with Omar….
clearly NOT IN THE TEAMS BEST INTREST ….. eat the money send sosa down….
Sosa’s not making $2 million anymore. the season is 22 percent over. Thus he’s making “only” $1,555,555.
It’s not nothing, but I can’t see wrecking the bullpen for that amount of cash.
I don’t get why anyone would want to keep sosa around just because he can eat up innings if a starter fails. If the offense could sustain success they could overcome bad early innings from the starters, but they can’t. Having sosa there to eat some middle innings is pointless when we leave the bases loaded more often than not. Besides, sosa has given up 4 or more runs in 5 appearances, has only 12 k’s in 21 IP and allows a .924 ops. .924!!! You really think that’s an advantage over a starter who’s having a rough go at it? I’d rather ride out the starter and see what happens than bring in the gas can.
Fire Willie. Cut Carlos Delgrampa. Trade Omar back to the Nats for Manny Acta. Problem solved.
I can’t say I agree with this move, but the only reasoning behind it that I can imagine is that Sosa can pitch pretty much every day, and you can throw him out there for 2-3 innings when the team is already down 6 runs. Or up 6 runs and hopes he pitches ok for an inning or two.
But, what message does it send to a young player like Smith by sending him down?
I’m pretty confident that he will be back up within the next week or two, in which case, whatever the reasoning for this move, it’s not that big a deal.
I can pitch pretty much everyday with a 8ERA, should I be on the mets too?
Hmmm…. fair point.
Joe Smith
16 IP, 16 K, 5 BB, 12 H, 2.81 ERA, 1.06 WHIP
Joba Chamberlain
15.3 IP (not sure how that’s not 16…), 17 K, 5 BB, 10 HA, 2.93 ERA, 0.98 WHIP
The Yankees are doing very little right this year, but I don’t think they’d send down Joba because of his options.
true that.
awesome.
The Metsbolg reality check post of the day (sponsored by Bermuda Tourism).
do i get a trip to bermuda?
no
Great post by backinbusiness.
This move would be like the Yankees sending Joba down for Kyle Farnsworth.
Nah, Farnsworth actually has a 3.00 ERA for the Skanks so far this year!
This is like sending Joba down for LaTroy Hawkins.
Omar Minaya Confidence Rating: -6
this was a way of making a move without making a move to see how Pedro reacts.
if Pedro is back in a couple of weeks and no one else gets hurt, then another pitching move will need to be made. either demoting Figgy or cutting Sosa. Sosa has a $2M contract. tghis was a way to make a move without losing any money to the owners.
now Omar has 2 more weeks to decide what to do with Sosa and guess what? Smith will be there ready to come up in 10 days if necessary.
Omar was just not ready to cut ties with a plyer yet because he didn’t have to. when Pedro comes back, he will need to make another move. eventualyl he will need to decide on keeping Sosa or letting him go. who knows. maybe he has a team interested in trading a bat boy for him.
i read it differently. this team is clearly worse with sosa instead of smith…maybe 1 or even 2 games worse over a 10 game span. and i don’t think omar particularly minds that despite the “evaluation” that’s taking place in 2 or 3 weeks.
i think omar is ready to fire willie.
Isn’t it possible Smith is sent down for a few hours? Or is it definite that Wise will come back in his place as Rubin reports?
I can’t see them sending someone down that has been this effective unless it was just temporary…He is the only one with options, so you can understand it as long as it is temporary, i.e. Smith better be back in a week to 10 days
Let’s all relax and see what happens after Wednesday.
Smith > Sosa and Wise. Frigin numbers game! The Mets should eat the 1.5m owed now instead of at the end of the year when they lose it in lost attendance if we fall out of contention because of poor transactions.
can someone confirm this for me? if Joe Smith is Sent down he can’t come back up for 15 days unless someone goes on the DL. Then bostik is called up, starts is sent back down. Matt Wise is activated, Castillo goes on the dl and then smith can be recalled. Do I have it right
what is the 15 day thing? Ian Kennedy was sent down on May 4 and is being called up on May 15, how is this different? (Are they putting someone on the DL?)
i am not sure about the 15 day thing, I believe there is a waiting period
i think it’s 10 days unless the player sent down is called up to take the place of a guy placed on the DL, and in that case, the guy on the DL can’t be put on it retroactively.
this is just an idiotic move unless omar thinks sosa is a better pitcher than he is. which he isn’t. sosa spit the bit in atlanta and in st. louis, where they made good pitchers out of jeff weaver and braden looper. he had a few good months here last year but he was terrible in september (willie’s liberal use of him down the stretch probably cost us the division on its own) and has been worse this year.
there is no reason we couldn’t go get a veteran righthander to take his place if needed. boston DFAed julian tavarez who has been no great shakes but has clearly posted better numbers this year in the tougher league. we have armas and vargas sitting in AAA and there’s no reason they couldn’t be better than sosa
the innings-eating argument is irrelevant. no one needs an innings-eating pitcher who gives up tons of runs. besides he isn’t used to spot start and willie isn’t capable of leaving a long man in a decided game for more than 2 innings anyway.
shea fans aren’t stupid. joe smith is a fan favorite and they’re gonna realize exactly why he’s not around anymore. sosa has been getting off comparably lightly given the degree of his ineptitude but he’s just become the new whipping boy and and don’t think he’s gonna be happy about that.
How long before Omar signs Julian Tavares?
he’s better than sosa. and after all that chanting nonsense, you know taverez would have put someone in the hospital last night. i like that about him.
Tavarez is just a very old version of Sosa. PASS.
i don’t want him either. my point is, if we let sosa go, and we decide later we need a crappy righthander to eat innings, we can find one.
Omar has showed that he really doesn’t have a clue.
trading:
Brian Bannister
Heath Bell
Jeff Keppinger
Matt Lidstrom
Henry Owens
Signing:
Pedro when he has pitched a season and a half in four years
Sosa to two million
Mota to a two year deal
El Duque to a two year deal
Julio Franco to a two year deal
Schowenweiss to a three year deal while letting Chad Bradford go
not to mention that he did nothing to improve the bullpen this offseason
Agreed. The bullpen is inexcusable. The talent evaluation is horrid. When is the press going to hold this charlatan accountable?
Trading:
1. Jury is still out on the Bannister trade (wait for Burgos to get healthy)
2. Heath Bell was horrible in NY given multiple opportunities, sometimes things just don’t work out with a certain team.
3. Jeff Keppinger, was a career minor league player until he got to the Reds (remember the royals also cut him)
4. Owens and Lindstrom were traded for Vargas and Bostick (owens just had shoulder surgery)
Signing:
1. If you don’t offer Pedro 4 years he stays with the SOX (remember they along with alot of teams were offering 3 years)
2. Sosa seemed to be turning around his career last year (remember he started the year like 7-0 in his first 7 starts before his hamstring injury.)
3. Mota (no excuse for this, eventhough we only had to pay him for 1)
4. El Duque was our most reliable starter in ‘06 why would he not get a 2 year deal??
5. Julio Franco was seen as a mentor for the younger players and was productive in 06 (eventhough i think the mentor crap is way overblown)
6. Schoenweis has a 1.50 era this year and was great in the second half last year when Willie used him against lefties primarily (in that role he is one of the best lefty specialists in baseball. Also the team viewed Joe Smith as a much cheaper and equivalent reliever to chad bradford and nobody expected him to duplicate his 06 season.
As for the bullpen he added Matt Wise, subtracted Mota (which is a huge plus) so I wouldn’t say he did NOTHING to improve the bullpen. Besides its not like theres tons of reliable relief pitchers on the market, which is why you see guys like schoeneweis signing 3 year deals.
Wagner, Sanchez, Feliciano, Joe Smith, Wise, Schoenweiss, and Heliman isn’t a bad bullpen.
Wagner, Sanchez, Feliciano, Heilman, Sosa, Wise and Schoenweiss is a bad bullpen.
The reactions on here are so comical the day after a loss. Unbelievable how everyone is overreacting to one roster move this week. We all know Smith has pitched better than Sosa and Smith will be back shortly, even if he is the one being demoted, which is not even known yet. Its amazing how people defend Figgy who has been brutal his last 2 starts and comment how he will be a great long man. With the injuries to Pedro and Duque, the staff is still in flux right now. Its going to take another 3-4 weeks for this to play out. in the mean time, Omar is not willing to cut a player who could help us later on. Yes, Sosa has been brutal, but we all know how fickle pitchers can be. Lets stop overreacting to a roster move that has not even happened yet and show a little patience here.
Breaking News from Rubin’s blog:
“Major news out of New Orleans today: Surfing the Mets has learned that the Zephyrs scratched Claudio Vargas from his start today, signaling they’ve reversed course and will promote him to take the start tomorrow against the Nationals.
Vargas wasn’t under consideration even yesterday afternoon because the spot starter was supposed to be returned to New Orleans right after the game to make room for Matt Wise.
Why did the plan change? It would look like Nelson Figueroa’s poor performance Monday night is the major factor. I’d be seriously worried arriving at the ballpark today if I were Figueroa, since a Vargas call-up would mean he’s in the rotation for more than one turn.”
BREAKING NEWS: The Mets read MetsBlog
(This is in addition to gd84’s post above)
Additional major news: Fernando Tatis looks like he’s coming up, too. Perhaps Luis Castillo’s injury requires the DL.
UPDATE: Sounds like the Mets may have come to their senses and will spare Joe Smith, too. That could mean Jorge Sosa is in trouble….It might not be Castillo going on the DL. Sounds like Angel Pagan was in discomfort with his shoulder last night.
if unclear, that’s from Rubin’s blog.
no matter what they do with the fifth starter, smith, sosa and wise cannot all be here at the same time. and wise has to come back. so it’s either smith or sosa.
Man, when I read some of these comments I can just feel brain cells dying. “Omar is an idiot”, “Willie is an idiot”, “They don’t want to play the best players” (yeah, that’s a good long term strategy I’m sure they’re employing), “Fire everybody”, “someone has to pay”, etc, etc., BS BS. After less than one quarter of the season, with major injuries and slumps affecting much of our lineup, we’re two games out in the loss column. We’re playing better as of late. But lose one game (ONE GAME!) to the Nats, and half the people on this board want to commit hara kiri. Look, the Mets are going to lose more games this year. There’s 126 left. They’re going to lost at least 50 more times. This is not football, where every loss represents a significant chunk of the season. Are any of these people actually baseball fans?
if you have the brain cells left to do some math: 74-74 over last 148.
cookie cutter “x is a moron” posts are pointless and boring, agreed, but in terms of accurately gauging how this team has performed over almost a whole season, are more accurate than the excuses and baseless optimism i read from the apologists.
step back from the ledge man….
calmo
calmo
It’s you’re.
And calling strangers names on the Internet is the mark of a real genius.
If you have something to say, say it. If not, get lost.
I don’t think that person gets sarcasm.
I was kind of hoping that was it.
Since is most cases Castro won’t pitch hit, and considering how much the bullpen is used on this team, you have to have a full bench. I agree with where you’re going, but you can’t cut a bench spot.