March 30, 2008

Smells Like The 25-Man Roster is Cooked!


From various sources, the Mets' roster, at least to open the season, looks to be as follows:

Rotation

Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, Oliver Perez, John Maine & Mike Pelfrey


Bullpen
Billy Wagner, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, Matt Wise, Scott Schoeneweis, Jorge Sosa & Joe Smith


Positional Starters

Carlos Delgado, Luis Castillo, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran, Ryan Church, Brian Schneider


Bench

Marlon Anderson, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley, Raul Casanova & Brady Clark

Pelfrey, apparently for now, has beaten out El Duque for the final spot in the rotation, as more than likely, Hernandez will start the season on the disabled list. Clark has beaten out Fernando Tatis for the final bench spot, while Raul Casanova stays in the majors as long as Raul Castro remains on the DL. Joe Smith beat out Nelson Figueroa, Brian Stokes and Ricardo Rincon for the last spot in the bullpen. Duaner Sanchez is not ready to start the season and will probably remain in extended Spring Training until more of his arm strength (velocity and durability) returns.

I am surprised about Clark, although he is a seasoned major leaguer, both a decent hitter and fielder; Pelfrey seems to be the only logical choice with O-Hern out, in spite of the terrible spring he suffered through, and Smith is certainly deserving of another shot after a strong first-half of his rookie season in 2007.

Of the players who didn't make it whom we once thought might have a chance, Steven Register is back with the Rockies; Ruben Gotay was claimed off waivers by the Braves (ugh!); Figueroa, Rincon, Tatis and SS Anderson Hernandez will all await a major league call-up, spending their time in AAA with the New Orleans Zephyrs. Brian Stokes has already been designated for assignment. Tony Armas is pitching himself into shape, while Jose Valentin, Ben Johnson, Michel Abreu and Robinson Cancel will all go through various stages of rehab, and their assignments won't be finalized until they are ready to resume playing full-time. Only Valentin would pose a challenge to the current roster out of this group.

Ultimately, if Valentin, Sanchez and O-Hern recover reasonably well and reasonably soon, Pelfrey, Smith and Clark might go back to the Zephyrs as well. Although the season is about to begin, the roster is still far from settled, and Omar and Willie will shortly have more decision-making to do. The roster above, however, is, for better or worse (and it had BETTER be better) your New York Mets of 2008!! See you Opening Day!

2 comments:

Ceetar said...

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the young guys make the team. I like that. Once baseball actually starts, the secondary roster moves as people come healthy or start under/over performing will be secondary.

Anonymous said...

i still cant believe that gotay is now a brave...smooth move omar