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September 23, 2009 Pitching Staff Joe Janish

Where Is Adam Bostick?

adam-bostickBack in August — long after the Mets exited the Wild Card race — the one thing we had to look forward to were the September call-ups. Sure, the games played would be meaningless, but we’d get a chance to see the best the Mets’ minors had to offer, a month-long audition. It would be kind of like spring training, only colder, and the games would count.

One of the pitchers we were eager to see in September was Adam Bostick.

Bostick, after all, was the last shred of evidence that the Mets once owned minor league pitchers who touched triple digits. To refresh your memory, Bostick came to the organization along with lefty starter Jason Vargas in a trade that sent Matt Lindstrom and Henry Owens to the Florida Marlins. At the time, it was a move to give the Mets roster flexibility and more youth, since Lindstrom and Owens were ready to be on an MLB roster but the Mets didn’t believe they were ready to contribute at a championship level. Also at the time, the Mets had several hard-throwing righties over the age of 25 in their organization, and felt it would be a good idea to deal from strength to get two young lefthanders — in essence, it bought the team some time.

That time has since come and gone, and Bostick remains a minor leaguer. Once a starter, he’s been converted to the bullpen, and put up fairly decent numbers. Splitting the season between AA Binghamton and AAA Buffalo, Bostick struck out 63 in 56 innings and posted a 3.05 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. Not eye-popping numbers, but interesting enough for a team that could use another LOOGY in the ‘pen and has no other pitching prospects close to big league-ready. Really now, would you rather see what Bostick can do, or would you prefer to continue seeing the aging Elmer Dessens and Ken Takahashi take the hill?

Why wasn’t Bostick promoted? Many conspiracy theories abound. As far as we know, he’s not injured. He’s not on the 40-man roster so there is speculation that the Mets didn’t want to add him to it — because then they’d have to keep him there or possibly lose him. But that doesn’t hold water, because as an 8-year veteran of the minors, he’s a free agent after this season no matter what. Though the 40-man is currently full, room could have been made — in addition to the two old men mentioned previously, the Mets are also carrying Robinson Cancel, Arturo Lopez, and Andy Green on the roster for reasons unknown to mere mortals (not to mention the fact that Johan Santana and Oliver Perez are on the 15-day DL, rather than the 60-day). We can only guess that Bostick ticked someone off — perhaps this is a situation similar to Wily Mo Pena’s earlier in the year.

We do know he’ll be playing winter ball in Venezuela, but don’t know much else.

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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. isuzudude September 23, 2009 at 12:54 pm
    In my book, if Bostick latches on with another organization next season and posts solid numbers, this will be thr last straw for the Omar administration. I’ve been a strong supporter/defender of Omar as the 2009 season crumbled around him, and believe he should be part of the solution to get 2010 back on track. But, as we keep concluding, there simply is no good reason why Adam Bostick is not being given an audition this September, and it’ll be more egg on the face of Omar if Bostick resurfaces with another team next season and performs as well as we witnessed with Buffalo this year.

    Unfortunately in the baseball world, it’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of business. If the Bostick mishandling comes back to bite Omar, coupled with the Adam Rubin fiasco, the failed Murphy experiment in LF, the mishandling of injuries to Reyes/Church/Beltran/Putz/etc, the missed chances to obtain Julio Lugo/Ryan Garko/Matt Murton for little to nothing, and the rampant failures of the minor league system, then it’s time for Omar to be relieved of his duties, regardless of what he helped construct in 2006.

  2. Walnutz15 September 23, 2009 at 2:01 pm
    Must’ve really pissed someone off good, provided murderers like Burgos have been brought up to blow games for us in the past….LOL

    To me this speaks more toward the money they’d owe him with a call-up, than it does anything else.

    Little do they realize that they could’ve actually saved themselves some money, provided Bostick proved himself capable — not to mention, acquired a prospect or two in trading Feliciano before he commanded a raise/extension.

  3. mic September 23, 2009 at 3:27 pm
    Or adam is ALREADY in the mix for 2010. So they just shut him down, will let him out for some winter innings and then hope he looks like Pedro Feliciano in Spr ball.
  4. joejanish September 23, 2009 at 3:47 pm
    Mic – I don’t know about that. Again, Bostick will be a free agent this winter. There may be other teams interested in his services after his intriguing AAA showing. After being passed over in September, why would Bostick return to the Mets if there’s an opportunity elsewhere?

    A part of me wonders if Minaya wants to let Bostick go as a means of washing away that ill-advised trade. Because if Bostick WAS promoted, everyone would again be reminded that the Marlins have Lindstrom (and Owens) and that Vargas threw a few decent games with Seattle (the result of another trade gone bad).

  5. edfever September 23, 2009 at 4:41 pm
    Bostick was in Tony B.’s doghouse while injured in 2008 let himself get out of shape- not sure if he ever regained his status regardless of the numbers. When he was removed from the 40 man he resigned with the org. and there’s a report he’s heading to winter ball under the mets – maybe this is just a rest period..
    http://metsfever.blogspot.com/2009/09/adam-bostick-to-play-in-vwl.html
  6. mic September 23, 2009 at 7:06 pm
    So as you point out, maybe the Mets re-add Bostick when the drop Andy Green, Pat Misch and Wilson Valdez.
  7. joejanish September 23, 2009 at 9:05 pm
    Mic – If that’s the case, then why not now? I don’t see Andy Green in uniform.
  8. edfever September 23, 2009 at 10:33 pm
    Joe – this is a rhetorical question could they be actually so broke they wont even add league min. contracts unless needed but are reserving the contracts in case of injury- Maybe they’re resting Bostick prior to winter ball or dont want to start his arbitration clock which is seperate of his minor league clock. Or maybe it’s just another ropster blunder by Omar…
  9. mic September 24, 2009 at 12:06 am
    Why not Kunz?
  10. joejanish September 24, 2009 at 9:31 am
    Kunz? Who’s that? Hmm …. jogging the memory …. OH YEAH! the next Joe Smith, right?

    Why in the world would we want to see a 23-year-old, former top draft pick when Elmer Dessens can regale us with his ancient wisdom and fluttering fastballs?

    Just because Kunz is on the 40-man doesn’t mean he HAS TO come up. Like Ed suggested above, the Mets would then have to pay the kid a few more pennies and allow his arbitration clock to keep running. Better to see what he can do against inferior hitters in the winter leagues or spring training, then MLB hitters. Mystery creates suspense which creates drama which creates a sellable product!