It looks as if the Mets are planning on bringing back Jose Valentin. Seeing that he won't resume baseball activities till mid-March, he will be given a minor league deal and an invitation to spring training. If he were to make the team he will make $1 million dollars. This seems like good insurance if Luis Castillo were to go down. Although after signing Castillo to a 4 year, 25 million dollar deal, we would like to expect him to play the whole season. If he misses a significant portion of time in the first year of that debatable contract, Omar will never hear the end of it. If things go well, we should not expect to see Valentin play on the major league club this year.
The last roster spot would be better utilized to bring in a RH hitting OF who dominates lefties, instead of the switch-hitting Valentin who has struggled from the right side. Kevin Mench and Sammy Sosa are available. Mench would need to be offered a guaranteed contract, and probably could be offered a starting job elsewhere while the Mets could possibly take a flyer on Sammy Sosa and offer him a non-guaranteed contract to see if he is willing to come to NY. Omar has always had a thing for Sammy Sosa, and this could finally be his chance to bring him to NY. Before I am crucified for mentioning Sosa's name here are his stats vs. left handed pitchers last year.
119AB .328 AVG. 7HR 37RBI 132B OPS-. 1023
I wouldn't mind inviting him to spring training and seeing what he can do, especially if we were to trade some of our outfield depth in a deal for Santana. Although his overall numbers weren’t that impressive last year, he still showed that he can hit the long ball. The added pop will help our bench, and definitely be a large upgrade over the power-hitting Julio Franco who was our primary pinch-hitter for the early part of last season
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The toughest part for bringing on Sosa would be finding a roster spot for him. The Mets already have the following for their bench:
R. Castro
D. Easley
C. Gomez
M. Anderson
E. Chavez
R. Gotay
That's an extreme tough list for Sosa to break through. It would seem to me he's too old and he just isn't versatile enough to beat out those guys.
Unless there is an injury to an OF in spring training, there is a good chance Gomez will begin the year in AAA so he can play everyday and improve his hitting.
However, I'm hoping he will be playing for the Twins on opening day.
Post a Comment