Roster Moves: Playing Catchup Again

OK, here we go again. Roster Moves are probably more important to me than they are to you, which is why I'm annoyed that I seem to keep falling behind on them.

Starting off, John Maine's season may be over due to shoulder soreness; as I mentioned in the Flushing University column, this is a very serious blow to the Mets' playoff chances. If I hear the words "rotator cuff surgery" and "John Maine" anytime between now and January 1, he'll be getting his unconditional release from my Strat-o-Matic baseball team.

Since Maine's next start wouldn't be coming until next Tuesday anyway, Luis Castillo got the initial recall after nearly two months on the shelf for various leg ailments. No one missed him while he was gone. Castillo has been plugged right back into the starting lineup and right back into the #2 spot, and you have to wonder if Jerry Manuel really wants to manage a baseball team in 2009. Decisions like that will doom you to being a bench coach forever.

Blowing a seven-run lead and losing to a division rival is a devastating loss in its own right, but the Mets lost more than a baseball game on Tuesday. They lost their best catcher, Ramon Castro, to a quad injury. Robinson Cancel will take his place on the roster and Brian Schnieder will go back to catching six days a week. Neither of these developments are positive ones. Now that Castillo has been handed the second base job again, the Mets have no need for Argenis Reyes again until Labor Day. They do, however, need another arm, so Nelson Figueroa is back to provide Manuel another one-batter option in the sixth inning of big games.

Let's take a look at the active roster now:

STARTING PITCHERS
Johan Santana
Oliver Perez
Mike Pelfrey
Pedro Martinez
John Maine - DL

RELIEF PITCHERS
Aaron Heilman
Duaner Sanchez
Pedro Feliciano
Scott Schoeneweis
Joe Smith
Brian Stokes
Luis Ayala
Nelson Figueroa
Billy Wagner (closer) - DL

CATCHERS
Brian Schneider
Robinson Cancel
Ramon Castro - DL

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

OUTFIELDERS
Daniel Murphy
Nick Evans
Carlos Beltran
Ryan Church
Endy Chavez
Marlon Anderson - DL

Blame Pedro For This One

Another terrible loss for the Mets last night, and of course the bullpen will be front and center for criticism in this one. Pedro Feliciano in particular has been downright awful this season, after several solid years as an important bullpen contributor for the Mets. Jerry Manuel is simply going to have to stop using Feliciano in important situations for the rest of the season. Of course, Manuel also has to temper his matchup-happy ways; I know Omar Minaya inexplicably decided to pack the bullpen with specialists this year, but there are still a few relievers in the bullpen who can reasonably be asked to get lefties and righties out.

Let's not forget, however, that the bullpen gave up three runs in seven-plus innings of work last night. That's not the stuff of world-beaters, but it's not bad either. Aaron Heilman was heroic in extra innings, and Brian Stokes has been shockingly competent when you consider his professional body of work. The Mets had a 7-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning, but Pedro Martinez was the pitcher most responsible for making it a competitive game again.

Pedro's August resurgence came to an abrupt end last night in a four-run fifth inning that got the Phillies back within shouting distance. Martinez is the nominal #4 starter in this rotation only because of John Maine's injury, and as I wrote for Flushing University this week his starts need to be minimized down the stretch. Any thoughts of re-signing Pedro for next season, even at a "discount" price, should be ignored unless there are four competent starters in front of him in the rotation.