Roster Move: Anderson Placed on 15-Day DL

God forgive me, I actually pumped my fist when I saw Marlon Anderson pull up lame on the basepaths last night. I have nothing personal against Marlon, of course - the man couldn't pick me out of a lineup and I would never put him in one in the first place. It's such a sad state of affairs when you need a player to injure himself just to save the manager and the general manger from themselves.

Anderson was batting .173 with a .204 OBP going into the game last night, and yet there he was, batting sixth for the second straight contest, the second of four straight left-handed batters in a lineup that must make LOOGYs around baseball salivate. Still, the Anderson fiasco is more Omar Minaya's fault than Willie Randolph's - the general manager signed a pinch-hitter to a two-year deal while putting together a 40-man roster with woeful outfield depth, a roster so lacking in outfield talent that a catcher had to be called up when Moises Alou went on the disabled list earlier this week.

So Anderson is out for some time and word on the street is that Nick Evans will be getting recalled from Binghamton to join the big club today. What a sad indictment of the roster down at New Orleans. Brady Clark would've been in line for the recall, but he had microfracture surgery on his knee this week and is out for the season. The Zephyrs have three other right handed or switch-hitting outfielders available (Victor Mendez, Val Pascucci and Chris Aguila), but they were all passed over for the 22-year-old Evans. Mendez is the youngest of the group at 27, so what are any of them doing in the Mets' farm system if a C prospect from the B-Mets merits a recall before them?

Anyway, Evans has been splitting time between first base and left field this season - scouts say that he can't play either position very well. But he is a right-handed outfielder below the age of 27 that can hit a little bit, which is what passes for a prospect in the minor league system these days. God save us all.

The only question I'm still waiting for an answer on is whether or not Evans can be added directly to the 40-man roster or if someone is going to need to be released first. The 40-man roster on the Mets' website only lists 38 players; I'll update this space once I can find out the particulars. Let's take a look at the active roster now:

STARTING PITCHERS
Johan Santana
Oliver Perez
John Maine
Mike Pelfrey
Claudio Vargas
Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez-DL
Pedro Martinez-DL

RELIEF PITCHERS
Billy Wagner (closer)
Duaner Sanchez
Pedro Feliciano
Aaron Heilman
Scott Schoenweis
Matt Wise
Joe Smith

CATCHERS
Brian Schneider
Ramon Castro
Raul Casanova

INFIELDERS
Carlos Delgado
Luis Castillo
David Wright
Jose Reyes
Damion Easley
Fernando Tatis

OUTFIELDERS
Carlos Beltran
Ryan Church
Nick Evans
Endy Chavez
Moises Alou - DL
Angel Pagan - DL
Marlon Anderson - DL