Gotay Claimed by Braves

Ruben Gotay was put on waivers yesterday and was claimed by the Atlanta Braves today. The Mets put Gotay on waivers because they did not have any room for him on the major league roster. They wanted him to start the season in AAA. In order for him to be sent to the minors he has to go through waivers, and the Braves picked him up.

The Mets once again did not trust a second baseman from their minor league system. Again, the Mets gave a young second baseman a chance and took it away. The Mets gave Jeff Kepinger a chance and he hit .284 with 3 home runs, 9 rbis, and 9 runs in 116 at bats but eventually traded him to the royals for Ruben Gotay. The Mets gave Anderson Hernandez a shot 2 years ago when he started the season as the Mets second baseman. He made a spectacular catch in the Mets Opener but shortly after got injured and did not receive the second baseman job again. And now Gotay, the Mets started him and he flourished, but I guess they didn’t think he had what it takes.

The Mets wanted to send Gotay to the minors because of his inability to hit left handers. Even though he is a switch hitter, Gotay only hit .194 against lefties. The Mets are most likely going to bring Fernando Tatis with them to start the season. The 33 year old hit .194 in 2003 and did not play in the majors again until 2006 for the orioles where he hit just .250. The Mets essentially gave a way a young bat who is working on hitting left handers for a 33 year old third baseman who has not hit higher than .250 since 2000. He better not miss left handers then because that doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.

To read the full article and more visit Mets Prospects.