Mets Sign Fernando Tatis
The Mets have signed Fernando Tatis to a one-year contract.
According to various sources, Tatis agreed to less than the $1.7M salary he received in 2009. So, you could say he gave the Mets a “hometown discount”.
As mentioned a few days ago, I very much enjoy watching Fernando Tatis. However I don’t really believe he is worth a guaranteed MLB deal on a club that already has Alex Cora cemented on the roster.
It has been reported that Omar Minaya sees Tatis as more of a possible platoon partner to Daniel Murphy at first base than a super utilityman. Ironic, isn’t it, considering that Murphy / Tatis was the platoon plan for left field this time last year?
With this signing, three of the four open, non-catching bench spots are guaranteed (barring injury), consisting of Fernando Tatis, Alex Cora, and Gary Mathews. That said, there is one open spot on the 25-man roster for a position player / hitter.
About the Author
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.
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In typical Minaya fashion, Omar chooses to go to the re-tread, aging Hispanic (also see: Alou, Valentin, Cora, Mota, Livan, Freddy Garcia, Blanco) over a younger, more diverse alternative. Not even a peep of interest in Ryan Garko, who I bet signs for less and has a better season than Tatis in 2010. The Mets should have thought of themselves as lucky enough to squeeze 2 somewhat productive years out of Tatis in the twilight years of his career. This is just more of the same ineptness that has plagued this campaign for the past 3 seasons. Nothing’s changed, and this team will be an even bigger utter failure this year than in 2009.
And while the Mets botched up securing anybody from the Garland, Sheets, Wolf, Padilla, Marquis, Piniero crew, they did sign Josh Fogg yesterday, who I’m sure will get at least 20 starts this year spelling for the injured John Maine and/or Oliver Perez. Yes, this is defintely what championship caliber teams are consisted of: a starting rotation as deep as a kiddy pool, as fragile as a tower of toothpicks, and names like Fogg, Dickey, and Misch as the top options for fill-in starts. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m buying my postseason tickets TODAY because there’s no way the Mets miss the playoffs this year with all this talent.