3-5-13 – Omar Quintanilla, Mets OD-OF, Josh Satin, Hansel Robles

NYMets945 ‏@nymets945

With the way Brandon Hicks is playing I could see the mets DFA him and starting year with Omar Quintanilla on roster over him

       The first series of ‘roster cuts’ are going on right now (re: LAD Nick Evans) and the Mets list is, as usualy, late to come out. I could easily see Hicks as well as OF Cesar Puello (minors), P Carlos Torres (DFA) and P Gonzalez Germen (minors).

       There are other outfielder candidates for cuts (Brown, Hoffman), but the injury to Kirk Nieuwenhuis probably will hold that up for now.

The projected opening day Mets outfield has changed with the Nieuwenhuis injury.

       LF – a lock for Lucas Duda

       CF – Collin Cowgill

       RF – Marlon Byrd

       Subs: Mike Baxter, TBD*

*on the surface, this would be Jordany Valdespin, but he continues to play exclusively in the infield.

Josh Satin

"The guy's the best third baseman in the game, and I happen to be a New York Met. Even though that's probably my best position, it's not going to happen. You continue to work on it and try to be the best player you can at third base because you never know where you're going to end up. But you also have to try to do something else."

              This is the last year that Satin will play for the Mets. He will be a free after 2013 and will be able to take his resume on the road at the 2014 playing age of 28.

              So far, he brings a 5-year minor league batting average (2,036-AB) of .303. You would think the Mets could have found a home for this bat in the outfield, but going into this season, Satin has played 286 games on second, 167 on first, 78 on third, and two on short.

       He tried.

Hansel Robles

Adding a player to the 40-man roster straight out of the short-season New York Penn League really starts his clock in an aggressive manner. Every player gets three option years during which a Major League team can send a player who is on the 40-man roster down to the minor leagues without exposing him to waivers. Robles’ first option year will be in 2013 now that he is on the 40-man roster. If he starts in St. Lucie, Robles could, with a strong first half, end up in AA Binghamton. Then, he would be starting 2014, either in AA or AAA in the minors on option #2.

              There’s two problems here. One, you’ve put some additional internal pressure on a kid that hasn’t pitched for a full season team yet, and two, you’re trying to make up for the years lost before you signed this soon to be 22-year old.

            

              I still say this whole spring thing involving him was a showcase, but what do I know?