Deja Vu
ESPN.com: Mets sign Botallico to minor league deal
I guess his strong spring performance wasn't enough to get Ricky Bottalico a job anywhere else in the majors, so he decided to take a minor league deal from the Mets and accepted an assignment to Norfolk.
I would guess that he'll probably just make a few appearances in Norfolk to shake off any rust that might have accumulated since he left the Mets at the end of spring training, then join the big club and hopefully provide some stability in a bullpen that has been too awful for words.
The question is, who would he replace? If either Dan Wheeler or Orber Moreno struggle, one of them would be the obvious answer. But it could also be a sign that the Mets are shopping Mike Stanton or David Weathers, both of whom have had bouts of inneffectiveness thus far; Stanton moreso than Weathers.
Earlier this spring, it was suggested that a strong showing by Bottalico could make Weathers expendable, but the Mets pretty much shot that down when Jim Duquette stated in an interview that appeared on the team's official web site that they intended to keep Weathers beyond the end of this season, when his contract expires. However, since Weathers probably has the most value on the trade market of anyone in the Mets' bullpen, it's possible that they've changed their minds.
Stanton, on the other hand, has little or no trade value at this point because of his poor performance and bloated contract (2 years/ $6 million remaining). If they were actually able to find anyone that's interested in Stanton, the Mets would likely have to pay the majority of the remaining portion of his contract; something they're probably reluctant to do since they already had to do it with Roger Cedeno.
Speaking of the Cedeno deal, Wilson Delgado, who, along with Chris Widger, came over from the Cardinals, is apparently tearing it up at Norfolk. Through his first 8 games, he's posted a .433 avg./.485 OBP/.567 SLG in 30 AB's. If the Mets called him up and those numbers got cut in half it would still be better than what Ricky Gutierrez is doing right now.
I guess his strong spring performance wasn't enough to get Ricky Bottalico a job anywhere else in the majors, so he decided to take a minor league deal from the Mets and accepted an assignment to Norfolk.
I would guess that he'll probably just make a few appearances in Norfolk to shake off any rust that might have accumulated since he left the Mets at the end of spring training, then join the big club and hopefully provide some stability in a bullpen that has been too awful for words.
The question is, who would he replace? If either Dan Wheeler or Orber Moreno struggle, one of them would be the obvious answer. But it could also be a sign that the Mets are shopping Mike Stanton or David Weathers, both of whom have had bouts of inneffectiveness thus far; Stanton moreso than Weathers.
Earlier this spring, it was suggested that a strong showing by Bottalico could make Weathers expendable, but the Mets pretty much shot that down when Jim Duquette stated in an interview that appeared on the team's official web site that they intended to keep Weathers beyond the end of this season, when his contract expires. However, since Weathers probably has the most value on the trade market of anyone in the Mets' bullpen, it's possible that they've changed their minds.
Stanton, on the other hand, has little or no trade value at this point because of his poor performance and bloated contract (2 years/ $6 million remaining). If they were actually able to find anyone that's interested in Stanton, the Mets would likely have to pay the majority of the remaining portion of his contract; something they're probably reluctant to do since they already had to do it with Roger Cedeno.
Speaking of the Cedeno deal, Wilson Delgado, who, along with Chris Widger, came over from the Cardinals, is apparently tearing it up at Norfolk. Through his first 8 games, he's posted a .433 avg./.485 OBP/.567 SLG in 30 AB's. If the Mets called him up and those numbers got cut in half it would still be better than what Ricky Gutierrez is doing right now.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home