The Roster Dilemma

From Ed Ryan at Mets Fever (Network Member):

Looking ahead 10 days to the August 31, roster deadline the team will be faced with a very difficult decision. The rules state that players must be on the 40man roster as of August 31 or they're not eligible for the playoffs. This rule can be circumvented by using the DL, when a player from the roster is placed on the disabled list, then he can be replaced by a non-roster player. The Players are broken into two categories, position players and pitchers. The player replacing the injured must be from the same category. So for all intents purposes the category numbers are more important then the actual players names. Most teams who have a chance of making the playoffs will adjust their roster to a 14/11 shift for just a day and then expand their roster the next day. This allows a team to carry six bench players in the playoffs, they will still have a seven man pen because a fifth starter is not needed. Last year on August 31, the team did exactly this by sending down Heath Bell and recalling Ahern.

Here's the thing the Mets don't really have a pitcher that can be sent down to make room for a position player. Once the player is sent down their not eligible to return for ten days, this usually isn't a problem because a team has a player with option who isn't essential and can be replaced to start Sept. by a roster expansion player. The only pitchers with options are Maine, Perez and Feliciano and I can't see any of them going anywhere. The team has carried Sele, Mota and Schoeneweis for all this time. I can hardly see them risking them on waivers just to make room, if they were going to waive them they would have done it a long time ago.

This situation would leave the team one bat short in the playoffs; with all the switches, double switches and pinch hitting situations this maybe a very critical decision to make at the end of the month.