Mets Cut Gotay And Other Stories

• Mets Put Gotay On Waivers:

    Someone’s going to claim Ruben Gotay and the Mets are going to lose his potentially lethal bat for no reason other than manager Willie Randolph doesn’t think he can field and the organization, for some unfathomable reason, wants to keep Fernando Tatis or Brady Clark. There may be things going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about in regards to this move, but unless we’re informed of those things, I have to make judgments based on face value; on face value, this decision makes no sense. The logic is so fractured that it’s bordering on the absurd. The Mets decided that Gotay can’t field well enough, nor hit from the right side well enough to justify keeping him on the roster, yet they cut him and instead of keeping another middle infielder, they have a backup third baseman and apparent backup left fielder in Tatis, and a pure journeyman outfielder in Clark.
    I also have some concerns about Randolph’s talent recognition skills and decision-making. It seems to me that Randolph makes decisions based on his experiences as a player. He doesn’t think Gotay can field because it’s quite possible that he’s comparing Gotay as a second baseman to himself. Randolph was a fine all-around player, but that doesn’t mean a potential backup infielder has to be a comparable player to Willie Randolph to be useful. Randolph has done things like this before with his insistence on using Joe Smith last year while the rookie was clearly overmatched as the season wore on; then there was the egregious 2005 decision to use the recently released Shingo Takatsu in an important game against the Marlins only to see Takatsu blow the game. Both threw sidearm, and if I were to check Randolph’s history against sidearmers, I bet I’d find that he didn’t hit them well.
    It would be all well and good if they had to choose between a guy like Marlon Anderson and Gotay; that would be a no-brainer and they’d have to keep Anderson, but they’re going to use Damion Easley if they need a backup infielder and then make roster moves to bring up someone like Anderson Hernandez if they need an infielder for a longer period of time (or they might just bring back Jose Valentin). And all of this is in the interests of keeping Fernando Tatis or Brady Clark. And Gotay can hit left-handed and since he’s only 25, who’s to say his right-handed hitting and fielding wouldn’t improve enough to make him viable. Instead of Tatis or Clark, they might as well just keep an extra pitcher. This was just a bad mistake.

• Rolen Possibly Out Until May With Finger Injury:

    Scott Rolen’s reputation has taken a beating with a second ugly divorce from his previous team because of irreconcilable differences with his manager, first with the Phillies and Larry Bowa and then with the Cardinals and Tony La Russa. One thing that is somewhat unfair is when he gets lumped in with other injury-prone and disinterested players like Carl Pavano, J.D. Drew and Mark Prior. Rolen’s injuries have either been out of bad luck or because he plays very, very hard; but they’re still injuries and they keep him out of the lineup for extended periods on a regular basis. Now this finger injury, which sounds gruesome—-MLB.com Story—-is likely to keep him out of the Blue Jays lineup until May. The Blue Jays (and especially GM J.P. Ricciardi) need Rolen to be on the field and the player he was two years ago.
     I wouldn’t have made the trade of Troy Glaus for Rolen because of the way in which Rolen has had problems with his managers; his injury history and his contract. Glaus has a player option after this year and Rolen is still signed for the next three seasons. No matter what happened with Glaus, the worst case scenario had him as a Blue Jay for the next two years and hungry for another big contract this year. Even though he was just unlucky, Rolen is always hurt and if he’s not in the lineup, he can’t help the team contend, which I think they’re going to have to do to save Ricciardi’s job. It was too risky a move and it’s already looking bad because they’re not going to have Rolen for at least the first month, and who knows what they’re going to get out of him when he comes back?

• The Prince Of New York’s 2008 Baseball Guide:

    The book jumped about 900,000 spots on Amazon.com and I’m grateful to whomever has purchased a copy. For those who haven’t, it’s also available on BN.com and at the following link in paperback and E-book: I-Universe.com.