OF Cory Sullivan
OF Jeremy Reed
RP Lance Broadway
SP Tim Redding

Nothing that wasn’t already expected there, but it’s worth noting that only Sean Green remains of the trade that sent “six players” to the Mariners and Indians in the J.J. Putz deal.

Other Notable Non Tenders

The Oakland A’s have non tendered outfielder Jack Cust. Cust has led the American League in strikeouts for three consecutive seasons, including 2009 when he struck out 185 times, after a season in which he whiffed 197 times. I’ve heard some rumblings from Mets fans who see him as an opportunity, but I say no way. You have to draw the line somewhere. Besides I thought the idea of acquiring a player was to improve the team not make it worse. Two thumbs down.

Colorado has parted ways with Garrett Atkins. The 29 year old corner infielder is coming off a terrible season in which he batted just .226  with 9 homers and 48 RBIs. However, before this past season, Atkins was a solid offensive force and a key component in the Rockies offense. Between 2006 and 2008, Atkins averaged .301 with 25 homeruns and 110 RBIs. He is righthanded and would certainly add some power off the bench while filling a platoon role with Daniel Murphy at first base. Two thumbs up.

Despite enjoying two of the best years in his career in Chicago, Wise declined an assignment to the club’s Triple-A affiliate recently and elected to become a free agent.

As a veteran journeyman, Wise has spent time in Toronto, Atlanta and Cincinnati prior to joining the White Sox in 2008. While his career numbers at the plate are rather unimpressive ( a lifetime .216 hitter), Wise is able to make himself a useful player due to his strong defense.

In 371.1 innings this season, the 31 year-old, Wise compiled a fielding percentage of .990. This is directly in line with his career number of .989.

Along with this comes a stellar attitude, which was something his former minor league coach, Rick Sweet, emphasized in an interview with the Courier Journal. In it, Sweet describes Wise as a “hard worker who always took pride in his defense”.

Sweet later adds that “he [Wise] always made great catches for us”. After a year in which fundamentals cost the Mets almost as much as injuries the team could use a breath of fresh air when it comes to players that can field their position.

To me, Wise is an ideal fifth outfielder, in the sense that he can be relied on to provide solid defense in the latter innings of tight ball games.

This is more than the Mets can say about the man, who currently fills the position, Jeremy Reed, who really didn’t seem to do much of anything during his time in Queens.

As Amazin’ Avenue’s James Kannengieser points out Reed is a likely non-tender candidate, which would open up a spot on the roster for Wise and possibly others to compete for out of spring training next year.

Wise reminds me of ex-Met Endy Chavez, a bit, in the sense that both men have a knack for making highlight reel catches while providing consistently good defense throughout the season. Both players also bring with them a positive attitude.

To be fair, however, Endy, has a bit more pop in his bat than Wise does.

Still though, Wise would be a valuable asset to the ball club, especially if they pursue either Jason Bay or Matt Holliday, who are both noted for having less-than-stellar defense.

Also, Wise could spell Carlos Beltran in center-field from time to time in an effort to prevent Beltran’s knees from giving out on him midway through the season.

The question still remains, could the Mets afford to fill a spot on the 25-man roster with a guy, who brings practically nothing offensively to the team?

The answer is probably not, especially when you consider that in all likelihood the team will bring back Alex Cora, who is another defensively-orientated bench player that does not pose much of a threat at the plate.

However, if the team adds a bat or two, then the team could certainly allocate two bench positions to defensive specialists.

Regardless of what the team does this off-season, it couldn’t hurt to at least offer Wise an invitation to Spring Training, perhaps the team could catch lightening in a bottle.

Wouldn’t it make sense to be defensively flawed at one position rather than two?

Jeremy Reed is a fine defensive outfielder, and in his career he has less than five starts at first base all of them coming as a Met this month.

If Dan Murphy is the heir apparent to Carlos Delgado at first base, why was Jeremy Reed playing first instead of leftfield?

I guess it’s just another one of those Jerry Manuel head-scratchers.

Fernando Tatis will play first base for the Mets today.

The Mets will also have Ryan Church out of the game according to Coleman. Playing in his place will be Jeremy Reed who may also spell Delgado at first base tomorrow. Ryan Church has been slumping badly of late and continues to see reduced playing time.

Larry Jones will not be in the lineup when the Braves  take the field thanks to a hyper-extended elbow. I can’t help noticing how impotent the lineup looks without him.

Finally, Rich Coutinho of ESPN 1050 gives a nice account of where the Mets stand today.

At 17-13, the Mets have the third best record in the National League behind the Cardinals and Dodgers and only the Red Sox and Blue Jays have posted better records in the junior circuit but when you look even closer at the team’s numbers, they might be better than that. They are 11-6 in the spacious confines of Citifield and clearly have mastered the art of playing in a big park as they lead the league in both triples and stolen bases. No team has a higher team batting average than the Mets in all of the National League and they also have hit much better with runners in scoring position in recent weeks.

As far as their pitching is concerned, their team ERA ranks third in the league which is amazing considering the issues the Mets have had with their starting rotation. That can be attributed to a bullpen with the lowest league ERA coupled with a nearly perfect season from their ace, Johan Santana.

Not bad, not bad at all. Enjoy the game everyone!

You’re not going to win many games when you leave 14 runners on base, and that’s exactly what the Mets did.

Maine started and other than letting up two solo homers to Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla, he had a good outing allowing just those two hits and a walk in five innings pitched, while striking out five. He retired the last seven batters in a row.

Sean Green and Bobby Parnell followed Maine and both struggled to get out of the inning. They each gave up a run on three hits. Putz then pitched a scoreless eight inning.

In the ninth inning with Feliciano on the mound, the Marlins’ newest weapon Emilio Bonifacio was called safe on a close play at first. O’Day relieved and walked Hanley Ramirez who had three hits in the game, setting up the final matchup against Cantu who won the game and sent the Mets into the clubhouse while a celebration ensued at home plate.

Dan Murphy, Ryan Church and Carlos Beltran each had three hits, including a solo homer for Beltran.

The Marlins continue to give the Mets fits even on a day where they got good starting pitching.

The Mets were 0-10 with runners in scoring position tonight until Jeremy Reed tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth.

During the broadcast, Gary Cohen reminded us that the Mets payroll in $100 million dollars more than the Marlins who at $38 MM have the lowest in the majors.

It was interesting to see Manuel use both catchers in the game with no emergency catcher in the dugout. He used every player on his bench tonight.

When Gary Sheffield pinch hit for Maine, he was intentionally walked to bring up Jose Reyes… it worked out for the Marlins as Reyes weakly popped one up.

We’ll, there’s nothing left to do except go back out and try to beat the Marlins tomorrow afternoon when Livan Hernandez makes his debut for the Mets. The fish are off to their best start in franchise history.

Somebody stop the Marlins!

In left field, Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis figure to split time – with the plans being for Murphy to get most of the playing time.  Murphy came up last year, and instantly started producing (.313, 2 HR, 17 RBI, 131 AB).  His major league production was better than his minor league record – so it will be interesting to see how he develops in his sophomore season.  If he falters, the reigning Comeback Player of the Year Fernando Tatis will hope to pick up where he left off before getting injured at the end of last year (.292, 11 HR, 47 RBI).  Coming out of nowhere, there are some questions on whether he can do it again.  Fortunately, the combination of the two give the Mets another path if either doesn’t fulfill their projected roles this season.

There are no questions about center field.  Carlos Beltran had another solid year at the plate (.284, 27 HR, 112 RBI, 25 SB) – and only missed one game all year.  His defense will also never come into question, as he won his third straight Gold Glove last year.

Right field has one main question, and that is the health of Ryan Church.  Church hopes to play more this year, as two concussions limited him to 90 games last year.  When in the lineup, he was productive (.276, 12 HR, 49 RBI), and was solid in the outfield.  If Church can’t stay healthy, look for Tatis to spend a good amount of time in right.

Jeremy Reed, Marlon Anderson, and Nick Evans will get any remaining playing time.  Jeremy Reed is capable of playing all three outfield positions, and is solid at the plate (.269, 2 HR, 31 RBI, 2 SB).  Marlon Anderson will primarily be used as a pinch hitter this year, although he didn’t exactly thrive in that role last year (.210, 1 HR, 10 RBI).  He doesn’t have as much versatility as he once had – mainly limited to left field, first base, and pinch hitting.  I expect at some point this year, Nick Evans will force Anderson off the roster.  He is younger, has more upside, and is right-handed.  He received 109 at bats last year, and showed he could hit major league pitching (.257, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 10 doubles).

If the Mets are in a position to make the playoffs most of the year, it is doubtful we will see Fernando Martinez called up.  Angel Pagan, Cory Sullivan, or Bobby Kielty will get called up if anyone goes awry during any part of the season.  If it is a tight race around the trading deadline, I think its possible that Martinez could be a candidate to get traded for a starting pitcher.

Overall Grade: B-

Projected Statistics:

Daniel Murphy: .265, 8 HR, 61 RBI
Fernando Tatis: .284, 10 HR, 44 RBI
Carlos Beltran: .277, 30 HR, 107 RBI, 27 SB
Ryan Church: .279, 17 HR, 81 RBI
Jeremy Reed: .244, 2 HR, 26 RBI, 10 SB
Marlon Anderson: .243, 2 HR, 12 RBI
Nick Evans: .251, 5 HR, 32 RBI