Boyer In, Acosta Out, Bay To DL?
Contrary to reports from last night, Manny Acosta will NOT make the Mets’ Opening Day roster — he has been designated for assignment — and Blaine Boyer WILL be the final piece to the bullpen puzzle.
Personally, I agree with Matt Himelfarb, in that there isn’t all that much difference between Acosta and Boyer. Though, Boyer is “new” and “different” so maybe that makes him better in our minds.
To me, Acosta was similar to Jorge Sosa: someone who could throw really hard and get swings and misses, be effective for a short term, but inevitably get pounded and give up the long ball because he throws one speed and tends to get too much of the plate at too high a location. Acosta could change leagues and look awesome for a month, but eventually go back to being the guy he is — but because he looked lights out for a little while, the team might kid itself into believing he can do it again, and thus be continually put into situations to fail.
In other news, Adam Rubin is reporting that Jason Bay is injured and could be headed for the DL. Before you say “hooray, Nick Evans makes the team!”, you must understand that because Evans is already on waivers, he can’t be added to the 25-man roster. Thus, Lucas Duda (who has options remaining) is likely to make the team instead.
Is it me or does this roster mismanagement remind you of a previous regime?
Also, as Matt Cerrone points out,
… this could mean that, on days when Carlos Beltran gets a day off, the outfield will be Duda, Angel Pagan and Willie Harris. What just happened?
Though, Andy McCullough reports (via Twitter) that there’s a possibility Evans clears waivers this afternoon, in which case he could be added back to the roster to take Bay’s place.
Is your head spinning yet?
Ahh……it’s Baseball Season!
As for Boyer and Acosta, does it matter, but do we give Alderson credit fro having two guys from the 2010 D-Back bullpen on our pen? Afterall it was one of the worst pens in history and we took two of them in?????
Either way, I agree — replacing Duda with Evans doesn’t make much of a difference in that outfield scenario. So I grant you the break you request, enjoy it.
Boyer looked good, fwiw, in the Spring, and has potential to give you an inning or two. Don’t know how he has been over the long haul, as compared to “good for a bit” Acosta.
I’m unsure why a team wouldn’t claim Evans. Enough are mediocre that someone like him (cheap too) would be useful.
Acosta has consistently struck out a good number of batters, with too many walks and homers. Boyer has been all over the map, but his K rate the last 2 years has been awful (4.8!). If Boyer’s newly recovered from some injury, I like the move; if not, I’d have preferred Acosta.
As for familiar mismanagement, how about putting a gimpy Beltran on the field prematurely? Did no one look at his .238/.328/.371 line in his first 53 games back last year? Do we really want that out of our cleanup spot?
Not that you expect it by now, but the smart thing is to ease him back with the hope he shows enough that in the Summer the team can trade him for some contender in return for something of value. Or, they can rush him back, he relapses and the OF is Duda-Pagan-Hairston.
/sarcasm
Where’s the Terry Collins conference call? I saw it on mets blog