Hat tips all around to those who posted and sent emails regarding the Mets’ placing Steven Register and Ruben Gotay on waivers.

We could all see Gotay going on, since his injury makes him less palatable for other teams. I believe the recent availability of Marcus Giles — who had a good spring but will not be part of the Rockies’ plans — may have had something to do with the timing.

However, there is still the chance a team could claim Gotay and put him on the DL to start the season. I wouldn’t put it past Billy Beane, for example — it would allow Oakland to more easily deal away Mark Ellis.

The Register move is a little surprising, because it appeared he was ahead of both Joe Smith — who has options — and Brian Stokes. Stokes has put up poor numbers this spring, and his stuff isn’t exactly awe-inspiring. He also sported a hefty 7.07 ERA over 59 games last year. A bit puzzling, from this point of view.

My guess is that the Mets and Rockies already have a deal in place, whereby the Mets will send a minor leaguer to Colorado in return for the right to keep Register in the organization. First, he’ll have to clear waivers — which is no guarantee with teams such as the Marlins, Rays, Royals, and others desperate for talented youngsters.

The Gotay move would suggest that Fernando Tatis has a fair chance of taking the 25th spot on the roster.

In case you’re interested, Carlos Gomez has won the starting centerfield job for the Minnesota Twins.

Gomez hit .278 with 10 stolen bases in 16 spring training games.

Said manager Ron Gardenhire:

“Overall, it’s the excitement that he brings. I know there will be some moments where we all scratch our heads and all those things. He brings that extra little flare right now. He’s kind of the unknown. We watch him run around and he can ignite a baseball team. Right now, that’s what we are looking for — people who can ignite us and maybe get us to a level everyone says we can’t get to.”

Meanwhile, Philip Humber was one of the last cuts of camp, and will begin the season in AAA — despite a sparkling 1.29 ERA over 14 innings.

“This is the best I’ve felt in pro ball by far,” Humber said. “I feel like I’m in control of all my pitches. I feel like I’ve got life on my fastball, and I can really attack hitters with three good pitches. I’m excited. If I keep throwing the way I’m throwing, I don’t have any doubt I’ll be back here soon.”

Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra were not expected to compete for Major League jobs, and were reassigned to minor league camp earlier this month.

With the end of March — and the end of spring training — arriving soon, optimism is not running as high as it was a month ago.

In a matter of weeks, the excitement surrounding Johan Santana has been dulled by the breakdowns of key cogs Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez, Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider, and Ramon Castro. The Mets find themselves scrambling for a catcher, a righthanded-hitting outfielder, and now, a fifth starter.

Yesterday, both El Duque or Mike Pelfrey pitched in the same game, with assumption that one or both would show he was ready to take the #5 spot in the rotation. If Hernandez looked healthy, he’d likely be the winner. If not, and Pelfrey continued his string of impressive appearances, then big Mike would be a fine backup plan. In other words, the game against the Cardinals would presumably give the Mets enough information to lean toward keeping one pitcher over the other.

Instead of providing answers, however, the game brought more questions.

El Duque, sporting a new, briefer leg kick, looked uncomfortable … and then he looked awful. He was tentative, his accuracy was off, and his velocity nonexistent. Hernandez resembled a batting practice pitcher tossing on his first day of work — and without a protective screen. He looked foolish even when he wasn’t embarrassing himself in his deliveries to the plate — at one point, he balked because he began a pickoff throw to first, only to find Carlos Delgado playing behind the runner. You can’t blame Delgado, though — it was opposing pitcher Todd Wellemeyer on base. At this point, it is crystal clear that El Duque is nowhere near ready for the regular season.

Unfortunately, Mike Pelfrey didn’t look any better — though he did have his health.

Pelfrey allowed 13 hits, one walk, and 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings of work. On the one hand, he had to throw a lot of strikes to give up that many hits. And while it’s true many of the Cardinals’ hits were ground balls that found holes, overall the Cards were simply comfortable in the batter’s box, hacking away without fear. That’s what happens when a pitcher throws one speed — the hitters relax, sit back, time the fastball, and tee off on it.

As usual, Pelfrey’s first two innings were strong — but once the batters got used to seeing his fastball, it was all over for Mike. He quickly lost his confidence, started picking at the corners, and eventually got hammered. This routine is all-too-familiar. There’s no doubt that Pelfrey has a Major League fastball, but he doesn’t have anything else. Until he develops either a change-up or a curve — or advances that rinky dink slider — success in MLB will be difficult.

On a positive note, Fernando Tatis smells a roster spot … and might just steal one. He had two doubles in three times at bat, while stationed in left field. FYI, Tatis was originally signed by Omar Minaya while Minaya was a scout with the Texas Rangers in the early 1990s.

According to the Dallas Morning News:

“DH/1B Jason Botts may have ensured his spot on the roster by going 2-for-5 with three two-out RBIs in the Rangers’ first win in six games against Seattle or Los Angeles. Botts had a two-run double in the fifth and a run-scoring single in the seventh. With Seattle lefty Ryan Feierabend on the mound, Botts started. If he is on the team, Botts probably will get most of his starts vs. lefties.”

I didn’t think the Mets were seriously looking to make a trade for Botts, but it’s OK to dream, isn’t it?

On the other hand, if Botts makes the team, that means Nelson Cruz will not. Cruz — who began his career in the Mets organization — has been a serious slugger in the minors but has yet to reproduce that success in the bigs. He’s 27, and out of options. Personally, I think he’s worth picking up as a free agent. Would I drop, say, Brady Clark, to make room for him? Not sure … probably not.

Speaking of the Rangers, they are about to sign recently released John Patterson.

A quick stat pointed out by Gary Cohen during the Mets broadcast yesterday had to do with batters and 2-0 counts.

In 2007, Barry Bonds led the NL in 2-0 counts with 146. Albert Pujols was second. In sixth place, surprisingly enough, was Jose Reyes — a testament to his increased patience and improved strike zone judgment.

By the way, David Wright was seventh. The total numbers weren’t announced on air, and I’m not sure how to find them without an Elias Sports membership.

The Chicago Cubs are the preseason favorites to take the NL Central, but they have a number of roster spots up in the air.

First, they still haven’t acquired Brian Roberts, though a deal seems imminent — and Mark DeRosa’s status hangs in the balance. They’ve also been in the hunt for an extra outfielder — specifically, one who can play centerfield (which makes one wonder why they gave up Angel Pagan). Their biggest competition has been for the #4 and #5 spots in the rotation, which are being fought among Jason Marquis, Jon Lieber, Ryan Dempster, and Sean Marshall. Most recently, they found out their only lefty in the bullpen, Scott Eyre, would start the season on the DL with an elbow injury. All these question marks have led manager Lou Piniella to say

“odds increased a little bit today that something could happen [with the roster].”

Despite some bratty comments at the beginning of the spring, it appears that Marquis will win one of the rotation spots — Piniella likes his “spunk” and his skillset. Marshall is all but out of the competition and may be part of the package that eventually goes to Baltimore for Roberts. That leaves Dempster and Lieber fighting it out for the last spot in the rotation, and a team in dire need of a veteran lefty for the ‘pen.

Might the Cubs be interested in Scott Schoeneweis? How about Endy Chavez? Would you trade The Show and Chavez in return for sweet-swinging fourth outfielder Matt Murton, who presumably is available? Believe me, I’m not looking to give away Chavez, but if a righthanded hitter such as Murton was coming back, I’d at least consider it.

Thoughts?

As spring training winds down, more and more players will become available. A few somewhat interesting players have already hit the waiver wire, and can be had for a song.

First, Javy Lopez has retired, rather than take a demotion to AAA. He looked OK, not great, when I saw him, and one must question whether his career highs were the benefit of “something extra”. It’s sort of too bad he’s retired, as the Mets *might* have considered him as a backup catcher, first baseman, and RH hitter off the bench — particularly with the hamstring problems hampering Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro. It’s probably just as well, as Lopez wouldn’t be any better than, say, Mike Piazza, and I think we’d all rather see Piazza return for a swan song at Shea than Lopez.

Here at MetsToday we briefly considered Morgan Ensberg; however he has just been added to the Yankees’ 40-man roster so we’ll presume he’ll either break camp with the Bombers or accept a minor league assignment. That could mean OF-1B Jason Lane will soon be available — not a terrible option.

The Padres have released OF Jeff DaVanon and C / 1B / OF Robert Fick. DaVanon was a borderline slugger before PED testing began. Fick would be an absolutely PERFECT fit for the Mets if he batted righthanded instead of left. I doubt either player are of interest at this point.

The Cubs sent LHP Neal Cotts to the minors. Cotts had a marvelous 2005 (1.94 ERA in 70 games) but has been awful ever since. He’s only 28 and could still bounce back … but it likely makes more sense for the Cubbies to keep him stashed in AAA than trade him away.

The Astros reassigned both Victor Diaz and J.R. House, and neither fit into Houston’s plans. My guess is the Mets have no interest in bringing back Diaz, though I always liked his bat. House is a RH-hitting catcher / first baseman who has hit well at every level but the bigs — he hit .298 last season in AAA and .345 in 2006. The Astros do not have a lefthander in their bullpen, so could use a guy like, say, Scott Schoeneweis. How about The Show for Diaz and House?

BTW, the Toronto Blue Jays have NOT placed OF Reed Johnson on waivers (yet), according to the Globe and Mail. I’m still trying to figure out the fascination with this guy, who is a slightly younger version of Brady Clark — except that he gets injured and strikes out a lot more often. The Jays likely will cut either Johnson or Shannon Stewart, and everyone is still wondering why Stewart was signed in the first place. While I don’t condone the addition of Stewart, I have this funny feeling that the Mets will jump on him if he’s available, for no other reason than he is a “name” veteran. Time will tell.

Interestingly, the Dodgers are “scrambling for infield help“, with the injuries to Jeff Kent and Nomar Garciaparra. The Mets may not have a spot for Ruben Gotay — sadly — so he could be a good fit for LA. Some readers here have mentioned Jason Repko as someone who might help the Mets, but he missed all of 2007 with a torn hamstring and is playing through a quad injury this spring. He’s only 27 and is a decent hitter, but like the aforementioned Reed Johnson, Repko’s skillset and value doesn’t project to be any better than Brady Clark’s. Repko still has options, which is an attractive trait — though teammate Delwyn Young does not. Young looks like he could be a fine hitter but again, is he an upgrade over Clark? IMHO, Young has more pop than Repko so he projects to be more valuable — but the fact he can’t be optioned down is a negative. Still, I could easily see a Gotay-Young deal go down (much as I’d prefer to see Ruben stay with the Mets).

Happy Easter !