Some deck-chair shuffling in the bullpen, which seems to be a prelude to another move. Carlos Muniz is back again, at least for the next few days; this guy must be racking up the frequent flyer miles between New Orleans and New York. This is a little surprising, though, because Vargas has been pretty effective as a swing man before last night's performance. One bad outing generally doesn't earn a release, so perhaps the Mets are confident that he's going to get through waivers anyway.
I wouldn't worry too much about not having a long man in the pen - how often does a Met reliever give them a three-inning appearance? I wouldn't be surprised to see Aaron Heilman filling that nominal role for the time being, but I don't think it's the first step in his conversion back to starting pitcher. He'll just be the guy asked to go 2.1 or 2.2 innings on occasion when a starter gets bombed out.
As for the next step, I agree with Mack that there must be a subsequent move in the waiting. Because of the off-day tomorrow, the Yankee series can still be staffed by pitchers on regular rest - Pedro Martinez and Mike Pelfrey Friday, Johan Santana Saturday and Ollie Perez on Sunday. (That is, if Walsh doesn't have him shipped to Siberia first.)
John Maine would be in line to start on Monday against the Cardinals in St. Louis, but then Tuesday night's game becomes the issue. Manuel would have to send Pedro or Pelfrey out there on short rest (unlikely) or someone else will need to be brought in to make the start.
My first guess would be Tony Armas, but I think the Mets would have to expose him to waivers to send him back down. Since there's no reason to believe that anyone in the rotation is getting traded, demoted or released, the Mets may not want to risk losing Armas to a spot start. If that is the case, it could mean the one-night return of Nelson Figueroa, who has been pitching well with New Orleans since returning to the Zephyrs last month.
Let's take a look at the active roster now:
STARTING PITCHERS
Johan Santana
John Maine
Pedro Martinez
Oliver Perez
Mike Pelfrey
Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez - DL
RELIEF PITCHERS
Billy Wagner (closer)
Duaner Sanchez
Pedro Feliciano
Aaron Heilman
Scott Schoeneweis
Joe Smith
Carlos Muniz
Matt Wise - DL
CATCHERS
Brian Schneider
Ramon Castro
Robinson Cancel
INFIELDERS
Carlos Delgado
Luis Castillo
David Wright
Jose Reyes
Damion Easley
Fernando Tatis
OUTFIELDERS
Carlos Beltran
Endy Chavez
Trot Nixon
Marlon Anderson
Moises Alou - DL
Ryan Church - DL
Angel Pagan - DL
5 comments:
Listen Flynn, you want to fix Ollie, you can have him, wear him like an albatross around your neck but its plain to see that every five days more we wait to dump this guy he's becoming less and less attractive to the rest of the teams we could have pawn him off to already for a good utility middle infielder (Perez and Heilman for Counsell and a young un')
Counsell? Tell me that's a joke. They're not going anywhere this year - let him leave and take the draft picks (unless I'm not thinking straight and they don't get any).
Tim loooooooooooooves Craig Counsell. I honestly think there's a Counsell poster above the bed in his room.
The absolute last thing the Mets need is a light hitting late-30s infield utlity man. If they want to trade Perez and Heilman, it needs to be for someone much younger and more useful than Counsell.
The guy's got rings. Obviously it would have been a better move in the off-season to get him, he can spell Reyes, and Wright along Castillo. Light hitting or not he's not a smuck.
And yeah, so I have a Counsell poste right next to my Steve Register poster you have Heilman and Perez posters and you kiss them every night!
Just to be clear - I have my Rickey Henderson (as a Met) and Dae-Sung Koo posters proudly displayed.
No way Heilman ever gets on my wall.
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