Waiting

This is what's exciting to me: waiting to see what the Mets will do when they activate Matt Wise from the Disabled List. Will they designate Jorge Sosa for assignment? Or will they demote Joe Smith or some other player who has options but is better than Sosa? It may seem minor, of course, but with every little move like this the Mets have a chance to start down the right path again. Teams everywhere have been cutting veterans this year, and lots of veterans who would in the past have found places on major league rosters have been unable to land a job. Matt Morris, Jacque Jones and Jim Edmonds are a few such established veterans who have been simply released, allowing any team to acquire them. There are many others this year, many more than in years past. When Edmonds was released, Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors remarked, "Cutting veteran dead weight seems in vogue this year." The Mets should do this with Sosa. Adam Rubin agrees:

While [Joe] Smith can be optioned to the minors without being exposed to waivers, Sosa can declare himself a free agent and still collect his salary if the Mets try to demote him. But Smith has far superior numbers: a 3.07 ERA and 12 of 13 inherited runners stranded - and performance presumably should bear more weight than major-league service time.

Exactly. I feel beat writers are wising up as well. I don't remember hearing such weighty considerations of minor roster moves from Rubin in the past, but I'm glad to have him on board.

Minaya botched the handling of Sosa's contract this winter with another example of overzealous spending on veterans, which is why the Mets face a difficult decision now about how to create room for Matt Wise...

In the I-told-you-so of the week, I'd like to point out this post from February, in which I wrote:

But Jorge Sosa is eminently replaceable, if not by Mike Pelfrey then by countless other pitchers with similar skills who can be signed to minor league contracts. Official BT opinion: they should have non-tendered his ass.

I don't recall too many others being criticial of the contract.

In other news, the Willie Watch is on in Chez Wilpon, according to "a person familiar with the Mets' thinking, who requested anonymity because he was relaying details of private conversations" quoted by Dan Graziano of the New Jersey Star-Ledger. He writes, "...if the team hasn't found a way to assert itself in the division by June, the Wilpons will look seriously at whether a change is necessary in the manager's office."

That anonymous source was quick to add that Randolph will probably not be fired unless the team seriously falters.

Basically, everything is the same.

Update: Oh for the love of all that is good and holy! Just bat Ryan Church second already! I promise you Willie, if you never hit Castillo second again, I will never say another bad word about you for as long as I live. I'm a man of my word, I think.