The New York Mets purchased the contract of outfielder Chris Aguila from Triple-A New Orleans to fill the roster spot opened when Abraham Nunez was designated for assignment.
Aguila was mashing in New Orleans: .308 17 HR 40 RBI’s in 221 at-bats. He spent parts of 2004-2006 with the Florida Marlins with a .234 career average.
After the loss to the D-Backs last night the Mets announced that Abraham Nunez was designated for assignment. There wasn’t a corresponding addition to the roster but Omar Minaya told reporters that it would probably be a position player.
There’s been some speculation that the player added to the roster may be Jose Valentin. He went to Triple-A New Orleans a few days ago to continue his rehab from a neck injury.
The Mets made several roster moves today:
Apparently, Abraham Nunez is staying. He can’t hit at all but can play the infield.
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Today the Mets placed outfielder Ryan Church on the 15 day disabled list retroactive to Friday June 6. He’s still been feeling lingering effects from a concussion suffered in Atlanta on May 20.
There’s been a lot of speculation that the Mets botched the situation by not placing him on the DL immediately. Initially I disagreed with that because a concussion requires that the patient be completely honest about the symptoms that they’re experiencing. I don’t think that Church was completely honest when he told the team that he was okay to continue playing.
The problem that I have with the Mets is that they should have put Church on the DL as soon as he told them that his symptoms were recurring. I suspect that the Mets didn’t do that and kept Church on the active roster is because:
The fortunate thing about this is that Church can now concentrate on getting better, not playing better. And the Mets are preparing for the return to the roster of Moises Alou or Marlon Anderson.
Moises Alou told reporters in San Diego that he’ll be ready to play tomorrow night against the D-Backs. He’s been eligible to come off the disabled list from his strained left calf muscle since Friday.
Marlon Anderson may come off the disabled list this week as well. He has a tear in his left hamstring but his rehab has been going well.
Several Mets players are in the news today as they finish the fourth game of their series against the San Diego Padres.
Ryan Church is out of the lineup again tonight against the San Deigo Padres. It’s the third game in the last four that he hasn’t played. Last night there was an obvious opportunity for him to pinch hit in the ninth. Instead Carlos Delgado got the nod. After the game Church told reporters that he couldn’t play and got annoyed at the line of questioning.
Church has been the most consistent offensive force on the Mets this season. He’s also played a Gold Glove caliber right field. I can see why the Mets are hesitant to put him on the disabled list and lose him for two weeks. It’s not like the Mets have someone in the minors that can come up and rake at the big league level. That’s obvious by the brief callup’s of Raul Casanova and Nick Evans. If it’s a couple of days off that he needs, keep him on the active roster and deal with it.
Last night Johan Santana was hit in the left shoulder by a Randy Wolf pitch. He went down to the ground and stayed there for a minute before recovering and continuing the at-bat. He pitched the bottom of the sixth inning after being hit and told reporters after the game that he didn’t think that it affected his pitching.
Anybody that’s played baseball and been hit by a pitch knows that it’s usually more surprising than it is painful. Unless you take one in the back, knee, or face it’s not a big deal. The only concern here is that it’s his pitching shoulder and might bruise up. I haven’t seen any injury reports on Santana today so I don’t think this will affect his next start.
The Mets Report 