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Mets Roster Update


By Mike Silva ~ March 7th, 2011. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Mets.

Last week, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York predicted the Mets roster to be the following:

Rotation
Mike Pelfrey
Jonathon Niese
R.A. Dickey
Chris Young
Chris Capuano

Bullpen
Francisco Rodriguez
Bobby Parnell
D.J. Carrasco
Taylor Buchholz
Tim Byrdak
Pedro Beato
Pat Misch

Lineup
Jose Reyes, ss
Angel Pagan, cf
David Wright, 3b
Carlos Beltran, rf
Jason Bay, lf
Ike Davis, 1b
Brad Emaus, 2b
Josh Thole, c

Bench
Mike Nickeas (while Ronny Paulino serves remaining eight games on suspension)
Daniel Murphy
Chin-lung Hu
Scott Hairston
Willie Harris

That’s a pretty good projection by Rubin, but two individuals are throwing a curve (no pun intended) into the situation.

First, Nick Evans, although looking shaky on defense, is hitting the ball. He’s out of options and surely a candidate to be picked up off waivers. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any room with Willie Harris and Scott Hairston being essential, especially with the health of Carlos Beltran in question.

Evans biggest value could be as trade bait, perhaps to keep Rule V draftees Brad Emaus or Pedro Beato if they fail to make the club.

The second individual is Jason Isringhausen. A month ago Izzy wasn’t even a Met, but he showed up the first week of February to throw for J.P. Ricciardi. His impressive side session led to a minor league deal with a big league invite, and all he’s done is impress the coaching staff ever since.

Although Isringhausen could hypothetically get through waivers and report to Buffalo, he told the St. Louis Post Dispatch he will retire if he’s cut this spring. This week is a big test for Izzy as he will attempt to pitch back to back days tomorrow. Reports indicate his velocity touched 90 mph and he displayed his signature curveball. So far he’s strung up zeroes making this an interesting call.

Do the Mets cut a Pat Misch and risk losing starting pitching depth through waivers? Do they offer Pedro Beato, who also has been impressive, back to the Orioles? Do they wave goodbye to Taylor Buchholz who has tremendous upside if healthy? None are easy decisions.

The Mets could use another experienced arm in the bullpen. If healthy, Isringhausen could close ballgames in the event K-Rod is hurt or needs a day rest. As long as you don’t sacrifice someone with long term upside (see Beato), I see no harm in keeping Isringhausen over Misch. There are tons of league average starters like him available on the free agent market. You already have another named Boof Bonser. In case you are worried about the long man role, D.J. Carrasco could fill that void if necessary.

I think the Mets roster is pretty much set, barring injury, and Isringhausen is the only decision really left to make. I believe tomorrow’s performance could ultimately play a huge part in the final analysis.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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9 Responses to Mets Roster Update

  1. 86mets .
    March 7th, 2011 at 10:48 pm

    I do NOT see Jason Isringhausen making the Mets out of ST. 1st, he’s 38 yrs old. 2nd, he hasn’t pitched effectively since 2008 and not at all since early ’09. This reminds me so much of David Cone in 2003 when he made the Mets after not pitching at all in 2002. We all know how well that experiment turned out. Of course Cone was attempting to comeback as a starter and Izzy as a reliever where he could conceivably succeed with 2 average pitches.

    What bothers me about Isringhausen making the team is that 2011, while not technically a “rebuilding” year in the strictest sense, should be about finding out which young players are going to be long term contributors to the Mets. Now, I know the Mets signed some veteran pitchers such as Byrdak, Carrasco, and Bucholz to compete for bullpen jobs. Be that as it may, the Mets pen could conceivably be comprised in this manner:

    Closer- F. Rodriguez
    Set-up- B. Parnell
    Middle- DJ Carrasco
    Middle- T. Bucholz
    LH Sp- T. Byrdak
    Long- P. Misch

    Those would be the guaranteed spots w/ the remaining spot going to one of the following: P. Beato, M. Acosta, T. Tankersley, M. O’Connor. Personally, I’d love to see Beato get the last spot and see what he can give them. If given the choice I’d rather see one of those guys from the 25-31 yr old age group get the last spot in the pen over a 38 yr old trying to make a sentimental comeback. Here’s the ? I would ask, if Izzy makes the team and they lose Beato back to the O’s and / or Acosta to waivers and then Izzy stinks it up for 2 months and is released, was it worth losing the younger guys?

  2. Jay
    March 8th, 2011 at 1:13 am

    I think you’ve sussed out the bullpen situation pretty well Mike I agree with your take on it.

    To me the bigger question, and perhaps it should be directed to Adam Rubin since this is his roster, is how is Emaus just being given the starting 2B job when they’re barely even playing him in spring training?

    So far Murphy has been given more playing time than Emaus which I understand, but so have Harris, Turner, Castillo, Tejada, Hu and Valdespin (albeit not all of them have been playing 2B exclusively). Even Russ Adams has as many ABs as Emaus.

    It just seems to me that if Emaus is going to be crowned 2B then maybe he should play a few games there. I’ve been very pleased with how the spring has been run under Collins overall but the one obvious head scratcher for me has been the deployment of Emaus.

  3. Mike Silva
    March 8th, 2011 at 7:19 am

    86 Mets

    I agree with your premise, but I don’t think they lose Beato for Izzy. More likely Misch, who I never have been enamored with. He is very replaceable.

    As for the other guys

    Tankersley just isn’t good right now. Has potential, but Byrdak is going to get the LOOGY job. I think Tank has options as well if I am not mistaken.

    Acosta stinks. Flat out I just don’t see him being very good. No harm no foul there.

    O’ Connor is interesting and has options. I haven’t seen enough of him to say whether he would be better than Izzy.

    Point is Izzy helps them compete now, and outside of Beato, none of those other players can be lost. If Izzy is sent down he retires, so lets see what he has.

  4. Mike Silva
    March 8th, 2011 at 7:20 am

    @Jay

    Here is a theory.

    I think they are weeding out those they want cut with early spring AB’s and easing the favorites into things. Hence why you see Castillo, Perez, Adams, etc. getting so many reps.

    Just a thought, but I think we see more of Emaus in the near future.

    Also remember they are watching them in the back fields and doing evaluations more than just going by in game.

  5. Beebop
    March 8th, 2011 at 9:38 am

    Rule 5 guys that can’t be let go? Oh boy!

  6. Russ
    March 8th, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    Has anyone figured out why the Mets held a press conference to “introduce” Hu?

    That was so weird to do that for a marginal minor league pick up that no one had even heard of.

    I guess they wanted NY to know Hu he is, but it was such an odd thing to do unless they are planning on keeping him for international PR reasons or something but I highly doubt the Mets are suddenly going to have a large presence in the Asian market because they have Hu.

    I do like the pick up for comedy reasons though, after every walk or single someone will say “Hu’s on first” and maybe they’ll sign Willie Horton to be his interpreter just so Horton can hear a Hu.

  7. Mike Silva
    March 8th, 2011 at 11:06 pm

    You are correct it was for International reasons. But very odd.

  8. Russ
    March 9th, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    Maybe next year they can sign Yu Darvish so that Yu’ll know Hu.

    Ha! I got a million of ‘em.

    I’ll be totally bummed out if his walk up music isn’t “Hu are you” by the Who

  9. Mike Silva
    March 11th, 2011 at 3:14 pm

    Russ

    They actually played that Who song when he came up at Digital Domain Park when I was at the game today

    Kid you not lol

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