Cancel

The Mets add a third catcher to the roster as Moises Alou heads back to the DL. Robinson Cancel was hitting .333/.368/.667 in AAA, so this move makes se... oh, that was in only 20 plate appearances. Cancel is a career .260/.319/.369 minor league hitter.

Val Pascucci is a career .277/.391/.491 hitter in the minor leagues.

Before, the Mets floated the idea that with Raul Casanova on the roster, Ramon Castro could be used as a pinch-hitter. However, that never happened and Casanova was the one who got the plate appearances. Meanwhile, Brian Schneider and his career .253/.324/.374 line continues to get regular duty, while Ramon Castro, who slugged .556 in 2007, gets so little playing time that he forgets what time the game starts.

I don't know if Casanova is injured or what his contract status is, but he better be unavailable, because his career .287/.347/.468 line in the minors puts Cancel to shame. I don't know if it's just an intern in charge of roster moves, or what.

Having a third catcher means that Ramon Castro can DH in American League parks, but the Mets won't do this (Marlon Anderson, anyone?) and even if they did, why wouldn't they just use the better-hitting Castro at catcher in the first place and use someone like, I don't know, Valentino Pascucci at DH? Oh, right. Because they're stupid.

Seriously. Let's go around the diamond and see what Omar Minaya did the solidify the Mets' position players for 2008:

First Base: Hoped that Delgado wouldn't crash and burn, even though he made it obvious in 2007 that he was going to do that. Insurance: Nothing. Delgado crashes and burns.

Second Base: Locked up the fast-declining Luis Castillo for four years, thus ensuring a .358 slugging percentage at the top of the lineup for years to come. Castillo begins his slow and hideous decline, as expected.

Shortstop/Third Base: Reyes and Wright, pre-Minaya era players. Nothing to do here.

Catcher: Tried to sign Yorvit Torrealba and his career .249/.309/.387 line to a three-year deal, then backed out. Briefly considered Johnny Estrada. Finally paid dearly for the right to stick Brian Schneider's career .374 slugging percentage into the lineup with Castillo for years to come. Oh, but his glove! Schneider hits terribly and is merely average with the glove, as expected.

Left Field: Hoped that Moises Alou didn't spend most of the year on the Disabled List. Insurance: Nothing. Moises Alou spends most of the year on the Disabled List.

Center Field: Minaya's best work. Nothing to do here.

Right Field: Acquired a nice player in Ryan Church. Unfortunately, it cost the organization's premier young player. Minaya goes on to seriously jeopardize Church's career by failing to put him on the DL after his second concussion of the young season.

At every spot where Minaya had a move to make, he messed things up. He ensured that two very weak bats would be in the lineup for years to come, and provided no viable insurance at all for two positions that were sure to see frequent injury and declining production.

So who's supposed to get fired again?

Tonight, the Mets' lineup features Marlon Anderson in left field, Endy Chavez in right, Luis Castillo at second, Brian Schneider behind the plate and the shell of Carlos Delgado's former self at first base. The Mets are 12th in the league in home runs, 13th in slugging, and 13th in OPS. The only thing keeping this offense afloat is its ability to get on base.

Omar Minaya should hire Paul DePodesta as Assistant GM and then immediately fire himself.