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May 13, 2008 Mets 2008 Games Joe Janish

Roster Moves: Official

wise potato chipsIt’s official:

  • Claudio Vargas has been promoted and will start on Wednesday;
  • Matt Wise has finally been activated;
  • Fernando Tatis has been added to the 40-man and 25-man rosters;
  • Angel Pagan has been place on the 15-day DL (hopefully his 15 days are shorter than Wise’s);
  • Nelson Figueroa has been DFA’d;
  • the love affair with Jorge Sosa is over.

Rumors that Omar Minaya reads MetsToday for guidance are completely unfounded, btw.

While I like the idea of sending down Figgy to bring up a spot starter, I’m not 100% behind the Vargas promotion. He hasn’t been completely stretched yet, and for him, stretched out is only five innings. He also hasn’t been exactly lights out, posting a 4.91 ERA in two starts. I’d like to know the braintrust’s reasoning behind the decision — in other words, why Vargas and not Adam Bostick or Tony Armas, Jr. Bostick would be a good choice because he has options and could be sent right back down on Thursday, to make room for another fresh arm for the bullpen. Armas deserves a shot based on his svelte 3.02 ERA in eight starts — an impressive number in the hitter-friendly PCL. My best guess is the Mets were looking at two things: the readings on the radar gun and Vargas’ 11 strikeouts in 11 innings. Their decisions tend to follow that thinking, which makes the sabremetricians happy.

As far as Wise is concerned, it’s about time … that was the longest fifteen days in history. There’s no guarantee he’s going to come in and be a lights-out reliever, but someone had to push Sosa out. At least Wise has proven consistency in his history, whereas Sosa has always been an enigma — showing just enough talent to delude evaluators into thinking he has value.

Tatis is hitting a homerun every ten at-bats in AAA, and can play nearly every position on the field. Who knows, he might just stay hot and be a pleasant surprise off the bench.

As for Figgy, I’ll miss him, and hope he finds his way back, eventually. He’d probably fit nicely into a long relief role — the old “Darren Oliver role” we keep talking about.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. murph May 14, 2008 at 12:24 am
    Welcome to the Mets, Fernando. Nice first at-bat.

    To me, Claudio Vargas is the next in the long line of re-treads trying to fill the number 5 slot over the past 3 years:
    Jose Lima, Geremi Gonzalez, Dave Williams, Brian Lawrence,
    Chan Ho Park, Jorge Sosa, Nelson Figueroa.
    All because
    a. Pelfrey is still not ready
    b. They refuse to offer it to Heilman.
    c. they have nobody else to turn to.

    Kudos to Omar for continuing the search, though.

  2. Micalpalyn May 14, 2008 at 10:31 am
    I think wwe need to give him a chance. claudio vargas would still be with the brews if they had been patient with Yovanni. I think the Mets have a genuine 5th starter here ala Steve Trachsel. The names you mention were not ML pitchers (at the time).
    2. In fairness El Duque SHOULD be filling that role. But age seems to have gotten the better of him.