Month: March 2008

Countdown To The Final Roster

We’re nearing the deadline for the Mets to decide who will make the last few bubble spots on the team. It looks like Angel Pagan will be in the outfield and Brady Clark will be left off the major league roster.

Ben Shipgel of The New York Times gives his take on what the roster will look like. I think he’s pretty accurate. As I said in an earlier post, keeping Fernando Tatis really doesn’t make sense to me at all.  If Ramon Castro’s hamstring isn’t ready than Raul Casanova will get the backup catcher spot until Castro is ready.

I think Shipgel is right that Brady Clark won’t make the team either. Angel Pagan has just been too hot offensively to leave him off the roster.

Tomorrow’s game in Ft. Lauderdale may very well decide if Mike Pelfrey or Orlando Hernandez gets the fifth starter spot. It’s too bad that it has to come down to one game but neither pitcher has clearly established himself.

Ruben Gotay On Waivers

Ruben Gotay joins Steve Register on waivers. It’s hard to believe that the Mets like Fernando Tatis for a utility role over Gotay. He was clearly upset by the news as reported by MLB.com:

“I thought I did a good job last year,” Gotay told multiple news outlets, including the New York Post and Daily News, on Thursday morning. “I didn’t deserve this.”

I like Gotay and think he had good potential. Hopefully, he’ll get picked up and have a chance to make a contribution with another team. If not, maybe he’ll be back in the minors for the Mets.

Tatis’ career is very checkered. He didn’t play in the majors in 2004-2005, and 2007. This move really puzzles me. I hope Omar Minaya knows something that I don’t.

Young 100-Game Winning Pitchers

I’ll warn you up front that this isn’t a 100% Mets-related post. But Doc Gooden does figure prominently here so you’ll understand why I’m writing it.

This is a link to a really long blog post by Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star. The post reviews the 100 game winning pitchers by age 26. The prompt for the post is C.C. Sabathia winning his 100th game last season in which he turned 27.

Although it’s a long post, it’s a great read. It’s really eye opening how many innings that pitchers used to log.  They must have used tape to keep their arms attached to their shoulders. Some of these guys were throwing 300 inning seasons.

I noticed that The Hardball Times was linking to this blog today too. My buddy John emailed it to me this morning before THT got to it though. You can read  the blog post here.