Category: Roster

Juan Rincon Refuses Triple-A Assignment

The Minnesota Twins designated reliever Juan Rincon for assignment on Friday. They asked him to accept an assignment at Triple-A Rochester but he refused. The Twins now have 10 days to trade him or release him.

Rincon has a one year contract for $2.475 million. Last year and the beginning of this season have been pretty bad for him. Check out his career statistics (click to enlarge):

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Source: Baseball Reference

He’s pitched in a lot of games in his career and is only 29 years old. It would be worthwhile for Omar Minaya to get a scouting report on him from Johan Santana.

If Minaya is looking at making some deals before the non-waiver deadline this season, the bullpen is an area that they could use as bait. Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoenweiss, and Joe Smith could all have value in trades for more consistent offense at first base and the outfield.

Roster Changes A Long, Difficult Road For Mets

For weeks I’ve been hoping that the Mets would settle on a direction to go for this season. There are two choices: change the manager or change the roster. The acquisition of Trot Nixon from the Arizona Diamond Backs may signal that Mets GM Omar Minaya is going to give the latter a try.

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Although I hope that Minaya has decided to pursue roster changes, there are a few problems that I have with the Mets organization. First, they shouldn’t leave Willie Randolph twisting in the wind for a variety of reasons. Second, the Mets roster is going to be difficult to make significant changes to, and it will take time to implement.

Minaya has offered tepid support for Randolph twice over the last two weeks. The lack of substance to this support has left the players, and certainly Randolph, wondering when the shoe is going to drop. The Mets need to eliminate this distraction and offer full support such as, “Willie is our manager for the rest of the year” or not talk about Randolph’s job security at all. Going half way with his support isn’t helping the situation. Minaya has to be smart enough to know that.

Continue reading “Roster Changes A Long, Difficult Road For Mets”

Alou Back To Disabled List

Moises Alou lasted one game in left field before going back on the disabled list with a strained calf muscle. Robinson Cancel was recalled to from Triple-A New Orleans to replace him on the roster.

I still can’t understand why they’re going with three catchers. The only way this makes sense is if they use Ramon Castro as a pinch hitter to take advantage of the offense he brings to the table. But they haven’t been doing that.

Video: Billy Wagner Post Game June 12

You’ve probably seen this video by now. Billy Wagner is brutally honest about his brutal performance yesterday. I respect that he’s taking the heat for the team but I’d respect him more if he was saving games!

If you watched ESPN Baseball Tonight after the Mets game it was interesting that they bleeped the word "sucked" from Billy’s comments. Is that really a word that needs to be bleeped in current English vernacular?

See his post game reaction below.

Report: Front Office Unhappy With Randolph Last Night

NEW YORK - JUNE 11: Mike Pelfrey #34 of the New York Mets is removed from the game by manager Willie Randolph #12 in the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamonbacks on June 11, 2008 at Shea Stadium in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal reports that the Mets front office was unhappy with Willie Randolph’s decision making on two points last night:

  1. Letting Mike Pelfrey talk Randolph into pitching the ninth inning
  2. Bringing Billy Wagner into a game during the middle of an inning

Personally, I thought that the game should have been Pelfrey’s to win or lose. I understand that the five game losing streak may have influenced the decision. But Pelfrey was the best pitcher in the stadium last night and should have kept pitching. I would have allowed him to give up more than one hit before pulling him.

Rosenthal goes on to write that the Mets players understand that it’s a foregone conclusion that Randolph will be fired at some point this season. They just want to get it over with and move on to eliminate the distraction hanging over the team.

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Bartolo Colon And Missed Opportunities

Back on February 25th when I was looking at the Mets potential Quadruple-A starters, I wrote that I was disappointed that the Red Sox signed Bartolo Colon. At the time, the Mets were put off by his excessive weight.

Well, tonight Colon beat the Orioles to bring his record to 4-1 with a 3.41 ERA. I know that hindsight is 20/20. I know that you should look forward and not back, but this was a big mistake by Omar Minaya.

Colon would’ve given the Mets a great insurance policy in case someone (let’s say Oliver Perez) blew up during the season or someone was hurt for a significant period of time (Pedro Martinez). Perez is 4-4 with a 5.37 ERA. Martinez is 1-0 with a 6.91 ERA is three starts.

Who knows if Colon will make it through a long hot summer? He is obese. But he sure looks good for Boston so far.

Alou Out Again Tonight

The headline should be "This is getting ridiculous". Moises Alou came off the disabled list for a strained calf muscle yesterday only to leave the game with soreness. He’s not in the lineup tonight claiming that the calf doesn’t feel right.

I love to watch Alou hit and think he has a tremendous positive influence on the offense when he’s in the game. But this injury-prone act can’t go on forever.

I don’t know how severe the calf problem is, only Alou does. But Ryan Church tried to power through post concussion syndrome for two weeks. Alou can’t play with a sore calf for nine innings during the most trying period of the season? That is ridiculous.