I May Be Wrong, But… Frank Francisco, Chris Young, Johan Santana, Vinnie Rottino

I May Be Wrong, But… Frank Francisco, Chris Young, Johan Santana, Vinnie Rottino 

 • I’m just not sold yet on Frank Francisco. He looks a lot like K-Rod on the mound, but the ball just doesn’t get to the plate as fast. He admits that he’s currently not 100%, but who says they are at this point in the pre-season? He told a New Jersey newspaper that he likes when the opponents have a big inning because that means he will be coming in. First, that’s bullshit. Closers come in when opponents don’t catch up and you have the lead. They also come in mostly when an inning begins. Someone needs to sit Frank2 down and explain what his job is.

 • I’m thrilled that reports say that Young may sign with the Mets sometime next week. I assume it is a minor league deal that would allow him to attend camp in April and rehab in May. This could be the replacement for Mike Pelfrey come June. Monday’s Matt Harvey outing has slowed down the chants of his arrival, and Miguel Batista and Chris Schwinden could hold down the fort in April. Young also brings an immediate upgrade in your rotation and sets up a 2013 opening day rotation of Johan Santana, Jon Niese, Young, Harvey, and Jeurys Familia. Sweet.

 • I never thought the world would ever see Johan Santana throw a baseball 86 times on the same day. That alone is a victory, but his rebounding from a bad start was old-Johan. I don’t know what Coach Dan said to him when he came to the mound, but it sure worked. Big, big news. Much bigger than the return of David Wright.

 • Vinnie Rottino had two more hits on Monday. This is my kind of utility player. He can play either corner outfield position, third, first, and he can catch.

I May Be Wrong, But… Roster Opening – RHH OF/Back-up CF

People are telling me that the Scott Hairston injury can easily prevent him from heading to Queens in April. Hairston is your right-handed backup outfielder, plus the only player currently on the 25-man that legitimately can backup Andres Torres in centerfield.

There’s not many options ( and don’t get hung up by these stats because there are so few at-bats right now):

RHH Juan Lagares – (.000/.000/.000/.000) – The Mets need to play this guy in center during the spring to see if he has the range.

RHH Vinny Rotinno – (000/.000/.000/.000) – definitely not a center fielder (and we have already learned this short ST season that he has limitations at third).

LHH Kirk Nieuwenhuis – .250/.250/.250/.500 – The Captain may bat left, but he’s the only possible centerfield replacement if Torres went down (it’s just too early to consider Matt den Dekker).

RHH Josh Satin – (.600/.600/.600/1.200) – this is the bat the Mets need, but he’s never played a game in center.

RHH Cesar Puello – (.500/.500/.500/1.0000 -played some center today in a split schedule game.

Summation:  Too early to call.