Through 13 minor league seasons, all Jesus Feliciano did was hit, hit, and hit some more, posting a career .285 batting average while playing solid outfield defense.

However, he didn’t do much else. For example, he didn’t get on base very often until fairly recently, he didn’t do anything extraordinary on the bases, and he didn’t hit for much power. In many ways, he was the minor league, outfield version of Luis Castillo: a singles hitter with above-average speed and solid defensive skills. Unfortunately for Feliciano, there isn’t much demand for an outfielder with Luis Castillo‘s offensive skill set.

Thanks to a rash of injuries, Feliciano finally made it to the bigs in 2010, and showed a ton of hustle, strong fundamentals, and the ability to put the bat on the ball. He didn’t get the ball to fall safely often enough to turn heads (.231 AVG / .276 OBP / .563 OPS in 119 plate appearances), but he did provide entertainment with his occasional RBI singles, strong defense, and passion for the game. His MLB debut at age 31 was an inspiration and one of the feel-good stories of 2010.

2011 Projection

Unless something awful happens in 2011, there likely isn’t room in the Mets outfield for Jesus Feliciano. I imagine he’ll either move on to another organization or return to Buffalo next season, and keep grinding it out. He knows how to play the game, respects it, and should have a career as a coach or manager some day if he chooses to go that route.

A few days ago, Fernando Martinez was inexplicably promoted to MLB after hitting .255 in AAA Buffalo.

I say “inexplicably” because

So there isn’t any big-time trade coming after all. Instead, the Mets have released Alex Cora and demoted Jesus Feliciano.

Per the Mets’ PR department:

METS RECALL OUTFIELDER FERNANDO MARTINEZ AND INFIELDER RUBEN TEJADA FROM BUFFALO (AAA);
OPTION OUTFIELDER JESUS FELICIANO TO BUFFALO (AAA) AND RELEASE INFIELDER ALEX CORA

FLUSHING, N.Y., August 7, 2010 – The New York Mets today announced that they have recalled outfielder Fernando Martinez and infielder Ruben Tejada from Buffalo (AAA) of the International League. Martinez will wear uniform #26 while Tejada will wear uniform #11. Both players will be available for tonight’s game at Philadelphia. In order to make room on New York’s 25-man roster, outfielder Jesus Feliciano was optioned to Buffalo and infielder Alex Cora was released.

Martinez, 21, was hitting .255 (63-247) with 38 runs scored, 16 doubles, 12 home runs, 33 RBI, 17 walks and 60 strikeouts in 68 games with the Bisons. Over his last 10 games at Buffalo, the 6-1, 200-pounder was batting .324 (11-34) with three doubles, two home runs and three RBI.

Martinez hit .176 (16-91) with 11 runs scored, one home run and eight RBI in 29 games with New York in 2009 before undergoing season-ending surgery on July 15 to repair a tear of the medial meniscus of the right knee.

Tejada, 20, was with the Mets from April 5-10 and June 4-July 19 this year. He batted .212 (22-104) with 17 runs scored, four doubles, five RBI, seven walks and 19 strikeouts in 35 games with the Mets. The 5-11, 162-pounder was hitting .280 (61-218) with 25 runs scored, 11 doubles, one home run, 16 RBI, 14 walks and 36 strikeouts in 65 games with the Bisons.

Feliciano, 31, hit .292 (19-65) with eight runs scored, four doubles, one triple and two RBI in 27 contests with the Mets this season.

Cora, 34, was batting .207 (35-169) with six doubles, three triples, 20 RBI, 10 walks and 16 strikeouts in 62 games with the Mets this year.

By cutting Cora now, the Mets have lost some grit and a future manager but they also are absconded of the $2M guaranteed to Cora if he had appeared in 18 more games this season. The move is similar to the dumping of Livan Hernandez around this time last year — who was let go before attaining numbers that would’ve netted about half a million in incentives.

From a financial perspective, the Cora move makes obvious sense.

As for Feliciano, I’m not sure what he did to deserve getting demoted. He seemed to do everything the Mets asked, and added a bit of a spark when he found his way into games. I’m guessing this means that F-Mart will be used at minimum in a platoon in LF with Jeff Francoeur while Jason Bay’s head mends — or perhaps he will be given the job full-time. It certainly makes more sense from a development standpoint for Martinez to play every day.

As for Tejada, I don’t get it. Is he going to play 2B over Luis Castillo? Why not bring Justin Turner back up, who is on a tear in AAA — his OPS over the past ten games is 1.300. In contrast, Tejada is hitting .229 over his last ten games.

In order to free up room for the recently promoted Fernando Martinez and Ruben Tejada, the Mets have demoted Jesus Feliciano and released a light-hitting second baseman.

No, not Luis Castillo! Castillo is still owed $12 million over the next two years. Cutting ties with Castillo would be like cutting ties with Oliver Perez! Ridiculous!

Think again… Here’s a hint, the Mets are trying to save money.

The answer is Alex Cora! The de facto leader of the team was only 18 games away from reaching a vested option, so the Mets will save $2 million by sending him packing. Sweet!

So to recap… F-Mart and Tejada are likely to sit on the bench behind Francoeur and Castillo. Ollie Perez is still here. And the light-hitting second baseman who was the only semblance of a leader on this team is gone.

To be fair, the Mets may be working on a deal to ship Castillo and Francoeur out of town (possibly to Seattle?), and that would actually make this a good move because it would free up playing time for F-Mart. Let’s hope so, because as it stands now, it seems like the Wilpons are pinching pennies with no clear direction. Again.

Mets 6 Marlins 5

Crazy things can happen in San Juan.

Strange things occurred before the game even started — Jose Reyes was held out of the game after experiencing “back stiffness” during batting practice. The blame was placed on the hard astroturf surface at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. This would be the same hard astrotuf surface that the other 49 players have been playing on for the last three days. But hey, everyone is different.

Then, rainfall delayed the start of the game. OK, that’s not necessarily crazy, but it added to the plot.

When the game finally began, Jesus Feliciano was in the leadoff spot and Ruben Tejada in the two-hole. Somehow, however, the Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, things did not go well with almost-ace Mike Pelfrey, who left the contest before finishing the fifth. Elmer Dessens finished it for him — recording one out on the evening yet winding up with the victory.

A lot of stuff happened in between, including 17 hits by the Fish. When the dust settled, however, it was the Mets who gained the win — their 44th of the season.

Game Notes

Mike Pelfrey allowed 12 hits, a walk, and 4 runs in 4 2/3. He did strike out 3, though, so there was that.

Although Dessens was given the win, the trio of Ryota Igarashi, Bobby Parnell, and Frankie Rodriguez combined to allow one run over four frames. So really, the entire bullpen should’ve been credited with the victory.

Despite scoring 6 runs on 10 hits, no one really stood out on the Mets offense — it was more or less a full team effort, as 8 Mets collected at least one hit. David Wright and Jesus Feliciano had two apiece. Both of Wright’s hits were doubles, and Feliciano hit a double of his own.

Josh Thole drove in a run with a pinch-hit single for the second time in the series. He keeps this up and he could carve himself a niche in the big leagues. Remember Matt Franco?

Next Mets Game

Thankfully, the Mets return to the continental United States on Thursday to begin a four-game set with the Nationals in DC. Game one begins at 7:05 PM and pits Johan Santana vs. 2009 Met Livan Hernandez.

Mets 6 Twins 0

The Mets complete interleague play in dominant fashion.

By shutting out the Twins, the Mets finish the season with a 13-5 record in interleague play. Let’s hope they play one more series against an American League team before the end of 2010.

Game Notes

Jon Niese shut out the Twins through 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 5 in a 104-pitch effort. As is usually the case, he had the slider / slurve / cutter working but wasn’t getting the really sharp bite and command of the curve. It’s generally one or the other, rarely both, and that’s because of his arm angle. When he comes more over the top, the curve has the bite and he can keep it in the strike zone, but the cutter / slider stays flat. When he uses more of a three-quarter angle, he gets better bite on the slider but the curve isn’t quite as sharp as usual. The good news is, his curve didn’t look bad — it was just a little lacking in bite. That’s good news because it appears as though he’s getting close to finding an arm angle that will work for both pitches.

David Wright, Jeff Francoeur, and Ike Davis were the stars of the game — each hit a homer and together they combined for 5 RBI and 4 runs scored.

Jesus Feliciano also scored a run and had 3 hits in 5 ABs. No one has missed Angel Pagan while Feliciano has filled in — much like, no one has missed Carlos Beltran while Pagan has filled in.

Ruben Tejada extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He is only 34 games short of the single-season NL record of 44 held by Pete Rose and Wee Willie Keeler.

Next Mets Game

The Mets go back to playing the National League on Monday in Puerto Rico, as R.A. “Mr. Perfect” Dickey faces Ricky “Mr. .500” Nolasco. Game time is 7:10 PM.

As previously noted, Jesus Feliciano and Josh Thole will be in tonight’s starting lineup, via ESPN NY’s Adam Rubin:

Jose Reyes, SS
Jesus Feliciano, CF
David Wright, 3B
Ike Davis, 1B
Jason Bay, LF
Josh Thole, C
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Ruben Tejada, 2B
Mike Pelfrey, RHP