Veteran starter, and ex-all star SP, Ervin Santana, has been pitching respectfully this season in AAA-Syracuse. He's 4.42 to in 7 starts there and dominated late last week on 7/19 with a 6-IP, 1-ER, 9-K start.
Question:
We keep sending untested minor leaguers to Queens, only to take a step back. If we need a starter or two to finish out this season in the rotation, why not send up the time tested Santana?
10 comments:
The Mets are hopelessly out of contention, so they are better off using some of the many Quad-A types they have on the 40-man roster for the rest of the season. There needs to be a wide scale purge of these tweeners anyway, which can be determined by their performance in August and September.
Ervin Santana would only serve to eat up innings that should be given to the participants of "Quad-A Survivor." There are currently 38 players on the 40-man roster - and 24 of them are pitchers. That is two full pitching staffs of starters and relievers, which is a terrible way to stock the roster and one of my criticisms of BVW's work this year.
The Mets could designate Avilan, Mazza, Gagnon, Peterson, Pounders, Zamora, Rhame and Hanhold for assignment tomorrow, and I would bet that at least six of them would clear waivers and be eligible to re-sign minor league contracts. That's eight guys auditioning for the two bullpen slots not already guaranteed to someone else.
Diaz is going to close. Wilson, Lugo and Gsellman are going to stay in the pen. That leaves only three open bullpen spots for 2020 auditions - and two if the Mets stubbornly keep running Familia out there instead of finding a phantom Bennett's lesion to justify shutting him down until September 1.
I should've made this a short column instead of writing it all in the comments!
Agreed. I'd rather see if, given the opportunity, a Mazza, Oswalt or Flexen could actually amount to something or should we just move on.
Jack
We miss your columns around here.
MACK/JACK - AGREED
I personally think that Lugo should start and Matz should go into long relief. I don't think Matz has the emotional make-up to be a closer. He seems very volatile and sensitive, and reacts very negatively to perceived failures. Also, he seems to have trouble usually the 3rd time through the lineup. He reminds me a lot of Chris Capuano. He could give you 2-3 innings every other day. Just my opinion. I think Lugo has enough pitches and enough "stuff" to be middle to back end starter on a a decent team.
I also like this "open thread" idea. Sometimes I don't necessarily want to write an article multiple times a week, but simply want to interact with other Mets fans.
Dwight -
Look forward to your participation
Santana has done a decent job in AAA and his experience can help the Mets if they call him up.
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