Watching the Mets and the collective inertia of the front
office, one has to ponder why. Obviously
the “plan” wasn’t to fight the Marlins for the basement. The “plan” might have been to cut as many
expenses as possible but which would explain jettisoning players due for large
salaries in contract negotiations.
However, does this draconian austerity extend to minor league players
who might be more productive while giving more highly paid major league players
a chance to regain whatever mojo they once had.
One argument bandied about is that they cannot move
players who are not on the 40 man roster without fear of losing them should
they have to demote them later. It is
that rationale which would explain perhaps why Josh Satin who has the most reps
at 1st base in AAA has not flown east to take the place of the
totally lost Ike Davis or why Omar Quintanilla currently hitting .330 cannot
supplant Ruben Tejada. Neither are on
the 40 man roster, consequently there is a risk upon their return to the minors
that they might be usurped by another organization.
News flash – the reason some players make the 40 man
roster while others do not has to do with their overall potential to play long
term in the major leagues. Once a team
has decided you are no longer worthy of one of the protected spots, they are
telling you that your future is elsewhere.
In the case of Quintanilla, for example, they traded him for the proverbial
bag o’ balls last year and he came sniffing around for a roster invite in
2013. This type of player will always be
available. The nonsense leaked by Mets
officials about getting “thin” at any position makes no sense whatsoever. If there isn’t a good 21 year old ready to
step in and man Q’s glove in Las Vegas, there are dozens of 30 year old Q
clones just waiting for a chance to play.
AAA has become more of a veteran-heavy league even in the case of the
Mets where you have players like Andrew Brown, Josh Satin, Zach Lutz, Omar
Quintanilla, Brian Bixler, Landon Powell, Brandon Hicks, Jamie Hoffman, Matt
Fox, Justin Hampson and Carlos Torres all 27 or older. Reese Havens is turning 27 this year, too. Their prospect window has closed.
However, if any of these players must be added to the 40 man
roster then who will they replace?
For starters, why is Gonzalez Germen protected? He hasn’t had a good year since he was in St.
Lucie, yet he kept getting promoted.
Is Collin McHugh part of the future? (For that matter, is Jeremy Hefner?) Didn’t we let Hefner walk away once already?
Now we get to some tougher ones. Is Robert Carson a lost cause? At 24 and a hard thrower you’d hate to give
up on him already but he can certainly be sent to the desert to make room for
Scott Atchison.
On the offensive side of the ledger, why is Zach Lutz
protected? Yes, he can hit, but he’s
blocked at the ML level at his primary position by the team captain and even if
he was healthy and promoted to Queens he doesn’t have the requisite number of
gray hairs to warrant Collins penciling him into the lineup. At his age and given his health history the likelihood he'll ever be a regular is pretty slim.
What about Sandy Alderson’s great ML trade of the winter –
Collin Cowgill? After his Opening Day
heroics it’s all been downhill. Even in
the hitter friendly confines of Las Vegas he’s only hitting .256.
Wilfredo Tovar is another head scratcher. He hits below Cowgill, has less speed and no
power whatsoever. What is the thinking –
that he’s the second coming of Rey OrdoƱez?
Similarly it may be time to fish or cut bait on Kirk
Niewenhuis. Even with his recent HR
barrage he’s still hitting a paltry .226 and striking out in 1/4 of his ABs. Cowgill has shown as much power in the
minors, stolen more bases and hit for a higher average.
Why is Rick Ankiel here?
He’s already regressed to norms…a .244 batting average and striking out
in 1/3 of his ABs. Is he part of the
future?
Right away you can see there are several players who can
easily be removed from the 40 man roster if you need to send Davis and Tejada
to the land of Lost Wages and have to create vacancies to accommodate the likes
of Quintanilla, Satin and, dare I say, Zack Wheeler.
2 comments:
Look at that... Kaplan's post goes up and the Mets move Quintanilla...
Maybe next I should write about changing GMs and field managers.
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