Wow, really?

Omir Santos leads the pack with 22, followed by Ramon Castro who knocked in 13 runners before being traded, and Brian Schneider is holding up the rear with 10 ribbies.

Santos is seventh in the league, but when you take a closer look it gets a little interesting. Omir amassed his 22 RBI’s in just 117 at-bats.

Bengie Molina who leads catchers with 40, needed 239 at-bats to achieve the honor. Ivan Rodriguez follows with 29 in 194 at-bats, then comes Ramon Hernandez who has 28 in 215 at-bats.

Another thing that is both interesting and somewhat depressing as well, is that the Mets catching position has accumulated more RBI’s than any other position on the team.

More RBI’s than left field, third base, first base, center field, right field, etc.

A testament to our great catching tandem? Or an indictment on our offense?

I’ll let you decide…

OMG!!!

Just as I published this post, Brian Schneider hit a 3-run bomb!!!

Make that 48 RBI’s for Mets catchers!

Today’s Hot Point Issues

1. Last night the Mets made a bold move by trading catcher Ramon Castro plus all of his remaining salary to the White Sox for one time pitching prospect, Lance Broadway.

On the surface, the trade looks terrible, but is it?

In my opinion, the real benefit to the trade was now what we gave up or got back, but what it allowed the Mets to do, that is; keep Omir Santos on the 25 man roster.

2. Sports talk radio and the Mets blogosphere is still buzzing about F-Mart’s boneheaded play when he failed to run out a fair popup in front of home plate.

But now the discourse centers around how Jerry Manuel handled the situation, and what many perceived as a very weak response with dangerous repercussions. 

Could Jerry Manuel have handled this better?

3. Last night at Citi Field, the much detested “Sweet Caroline” was replaced by our beloved Mets standard “Meet the Mets”. It was a long time coming and nobody knows if the switch is permanent, but what are your thoughts?

Much ado about nothing?

Fire away…

With the emergence of the latest Mets sensation Omir Santos, and the return of Brian Schneider, the Mets had to make a move and so they traded Ramon Castro to the Chicago White Sox for right handed pitcher Lance Broadway.

The Mets also kicked in some cash to sweeten the pot, with one source reporting that it was $1.4 million dollars, the amount that was left on his $2.5 million dollar contract.

Broadway, 25, will report immediately to Triple-A Buffalo after going 0-1 with a 5.65 ERA in eight games with the White Sox this year. Broadway also made three starts for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte, recording a 0-2 record and 5.63 ERA.

Brian Schneider is due to be activated on Saturday and apparently the Mets had no intentions of carrying three catchers on the roster.

Omar Minaya, spoke with reporters after the game,

“On a night like tonight when Omir Santos plays the way he has, it makes the decision easy for us to be able to keep him.”

This was a solid move for the Mets, and I’m glad to see that they didn’t let money stand in the way of doing what was best for the team. Any move that would have led to the demotion of Omir Santos would have drawn the ire of many Mets fans including me.

Now the trick will be making Santos the starting catcher, and Brian Schneider his backup and defensive replacement.

Lets Go Mets!

He said, “Brian Schneider isn’t even close to a return and in fact he hasn’t even done any running”.

Schneider, was placed on the disabled list with a strained back on April 17, and was eligible to return on May 2nd. However, he is now experiencing problems with his calf muscle. It’s not know when he is expected to be ready for game action.

Meanwhile, Ramon Castro left Saturday’s 10-1 win over the Pirates after six innings with tightness in his right quadriceps muscle. Castro described the trouble as cramps. He says he could play if they really need him. Here we go again…

No worries though, because Omir Santos continues to excel during his extended playing time. He has shown a remarkable ability to come through in the clutch and has really impressed defensively as well.

Santos came into today’s game with a .289 batting average.

Maybe it was sheer genius when Jerry Manuel pinch hit for Ramon Castro last week much to the dismay of many…

When Alex Cora stepped in for Luis Castillo while he was out and looked like Rogers Hornsby maybe something clicked…

When Manuel threatened John Maine and Mike Pelfrey with the possibility of losing their spots in the rotation if they didn’t start pitching better, maybe it was more than just an idle threat…

In the last ten or so days the Mets look a lot different.

Carlos Beltran is playing with a vengeance since being called out for failing to slide a week ago. He’s angrier and meaner.

Ramon Castro is a completely different player lately. Quality at-bats, stepped up defense, hustling on the basepaths, it’s quite a transformation. All of it manifesting itself since being benched in favor of Omir Santos.

Seeing Luis Castillo slam his glove to the ground after last nights error may have ticked off Keith Hernandez, but I actually liked what I saw. That’s what this team lacked.

When David Wright slammed his helmet into the dugout after being called out on strikes, I was like “Yeah! Let’s see that raw emotion!”

I don’t know if this going to last, but I love what I’m seeing lately and I hope it sticks around for the rest of the season.

When the Phillies take on the Mets tomorrow, I hope to see more anger and intensity.

Maybe even a good old fashioned bench clearing brawl with Carlos Beltran getting all crazy eyed like Paul Lo Duca.

Gimme some of that and I’ll guarantee the Mets will be in first place with a nice cushion by July 1st.

Omir Santos and Ramon Castro are getting a reprieve this weekend when it comes to worrying about their roster spots after regular catcher Brian SchneiderBrian Schneider (pictured) developed a sore right calf this week.Schneider was eligible to come off the 15-day DL on Sunday in Philadelphia, but the team is saying his return is now pushed back indefinitely due to the calf issue. Schneider had gone on the DL April 17 with a strained muscle in his back.

The catcher situation is under the microscope after Jerry Manuel opted to pinch-hit Santos for Castro in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the Marlins, even though Santos was coming in cold from the bullpen and Castro already had two hits and an RBI on the day.

While Santos popped out weakly to end the game, he remains a favorite of Manuel for both his bat and defense. Manuel also is obviously not a big fan of Castro’s, but the Mets would have to swallow the rest of Castro’s $2.5 million contract to get rid of him.

In other words, Castro is probably staying once Schneider returns. That would mean a trip back to the minors for Santos because Manuel said this week the Mets are highly unlikely to keep three catchers.

The Mets (9-12) lost to the Florida Marlins (13-8)  4-3 who won the series and and got back to their winning ways. The Mets squandered another solid start, this time by Johan Santana who didn’t figure into the decision. The bullpen had another classic meltdown, this time by J.J. Putz who along with Sean Green have blown back to back saves.

Mets Pitching

Johan Santana deserved a win today, but instead he got another no-decision as the Mets bats and the revamped bullpen let him down. The Marlins got to Santana early when they scored two runs in the first inning, which included another homerun by Jorge Cantu that barely went over the leftfield wall. Santana went into shutdown mode after that and held the Marlins scoreless through the seventh inning. Overall, Santana allowed just the 2 runs on 5 hits and he struck out 7 batters. Tough, tough loss. 

What should have been a hard fought win for Johan Santana ended in utter disappointment thanks to another bad job by the bullpen. Today’s goat was J.J. Putz who immediately got himself into trouble by walking the first two batters he faced. Then, after a sacrifice bunt moved the runners over, Cody Ross singled through the middle scoring both runners. Terrible job by Putz… simply awful…

Frankie Rodriguez pitched the ninth without incident and I must say I am surprised at how many non save situations he has pitched in already, Billy Wagner would have never tolerated such a thing.

Mets Hitting

Fernando Tatis was the hitting star of the day going 3-4 with 2 RBI’s and and homerun that had put the Mets in front for the first time in the game. He is making the most of his opportunities and much like last year, he continues to hit in the clutch. Tatis also stole his second base of the season.

Ramon Castro also had a couple of hits, but was pulled for a pinch hitter in the ninth. You can read my thoughts on that in the segment below. The Mets did have 16 baserunners so getting on base was not an issue.

However, you’re not going to have too many hitting highlights when you leave 14 runners stranded on base the way the Mets did today. It was just another pathetic effort by the offense which continues to struggle despite all the daily lineup changes.

Random Thoughts

As much as I have grown to like Omir Santos and dislike Ramon Castro, I thought pulling Castro in favor of Santos in the ninth inning with two outs was a terrible call by Jerry Manuel. Castro was having a good game, while Santos had to haul ass from the bullpen to face a pitcher who throwing 99 MPH fastballs. It was just a bad case of over-managing by Manuel.

I also thought that the decision not to let Jose Reyes steal second in the eight inning was another bad call by Manuel. Having Reyes at second would have changed the entire complexion of the Alex Cora at-bat and his liner up the middle may have broken through for a base hit.

David Wright has officially become a liability right now. He should have been rested today so that he could have had two days off to get it together before the Phillies series. Another two strikeouts, a double play, and his fourth error of the season was kind of tough to take.

The Mets wasted another fabulous start by Johan Santana who could very well be 5-0 right now.

Game Ball

A game ball each to Fernando Tatis and Johan Santana.

Up Next

A very shaken up Mets team now head to Philadelphia to play the defending World Champion Phillies for a critical three game series. Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine will all start in the big weekend series. LGM

Should Omir Santos replace Ramon Castro as the primary backup when Brian Schneider is activated from the DL on Friday?

mattstedjan@metsmerized Yes!… and give him the chance at first string.

CRSLINY@MetsMerized I LIKE THIS KID, AND I THINK HE MAY BE IN OUR FUTURE, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM TAKE SCHNEIDER’S SPOT.

rainiedazze@MetsMerized say no to Darth Vader!

TIBlockhead@MetsMerized Yes! Go Santos woo hoooo we need someone to spark this team up!

maggie162@MetsMerized I’d give Castro 1-2 more starts before then, just to see if he’ll bust out. If he doesn’t, keep Omir.

SheckyXero@MetsMerized Heck yah, Castro has been probably one of the most suckish backup catchers I’ve ever seen, at least through my eyes.

Section518@MetsMerized Don’t you have to say yes? He’s outplayed Castro to date and is half the price.

Carlos Delgado who was originally scheduled for a day off on Wednesday, will sit this one out due to a sore hip. For Tatis, it will be his first start of the season at first base.

Delgado won’t be the only regular player  riding the bench for the game, as left fielder Daniel Murphy will be keeping him company. Jerry Manuel will go with Gary Sheffield instead as he seeks to add some more right handed pop to the lineup.

Finally, Omir Santos may have unseated Ramon Castro as the backup catcher to Brian Schneider. Santos will be making his third start in a row going back to the game when Ramon Castro one handed a foul popup and dropped the ball.

This isn’t official, but it certainly looks like it. Santos is batting .294, almost 100 points higher than Castro who is struggling with a .197 batting average.

The Mets purchased the contract of catcher Omir Santos, who is expected to be arrive in time for Friday’s game and to be available if needed.

Ramon Castro is behind the plate for the Mets on Friday, starting for back-to-back games in place of Schneider.

“We are somewhat concerned,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said of Schneider, who is batting just .143 (3-for-21).

Schneider said he has been experiencing tightness in his lower back since last week’s series in Miami. After struggling to play with the ongoing discomfort, Schneider opted to try to rest his back before it got “out of control.”

But Friday afternoon — before the club announced Schneider was going on the DL — Manuel didn’t sound quite as encouraged.

“If this thing doesn’t clear up, then we will have to make a decision based on him being available or not,” Manuel said. “Or trying to get somebody else in here to help us out.”

One person who has responded well is Castro, who hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning on Thursday night.

“I feel good at the plate,” Castro said. “I’ll do whatever it takes for the team — we’re here to win.”

Santos spent the majority of the 2008 season with Triple-A Norfolk of the International League, making his Major League debut on Sept. 5. In 11 games in the Majors, he is 1-for-11.

This will be quite a test for Ramon Castro. I’m not worried about his offense because he’s better than Schneider, or his defense which isn’t bad. I’m more concerned with Castro’s durability which has never been very good.

 Ramon Castro is getting the start in Schneider’s place.