Marlon Anderson DFA'd

The Mets have designated Marlon Anderson for assignment to make room for Livan Hernandez.

So long, Anderson. Just don't sign with the Phillies, please.

Report: Mets likely to cut Marlon Anderson

The Mets need to clear a roster spot to make room for Livan Hernandez, who will be activated on Saturday.  The battle seems to come down to Marlon Anderson, the pinch-hitter / backup first baseman, or Darren O’Day, the sidearming righthander.

As it stands now, it looks like it’s going to be Anderson and his $1.15 million contract that gets cut, according to Adam Rubin.

"Sometimes that guy never gets in a game, but at least you have that protection," Manuel said about carrying the extra reliever as a hedge against a starter getting knocked out early.

Mets officials insist they need OF Jeremy Reed, who can be optioned to the minors, as a defensive replacement for Daniel Murphy, leaving no apparent alternative to Anderson as the roster casualty. After hitting .210 last season, Anderson went 0-for-3 as a pinch-hitter against the Reds. He is owed $1.15 million this season.

It’s the most logical move for the Mets.  I’m more than certain Anderson will catch on somewhere and be just fine.

(Five bucks says he lands with the Phillies and kills the Mets all season long…)

Sheffield's implications on the roster

With Gary Sheffield joining the Mets, someone who spent all of spring training with the team is going to be the odd man out. Nick Evans likely will not make the Opening Day roster.

Here are two other the possibilities for Sheffield's effect on the roster: Marlon Anderson and his $1.5 million guaranteed contract land elsewhere or Jeremy Reed gets sent down to Triple-A Buffalo. He still has options.

From a fans standpoint, the Mets should hold on to Reed. He's a much better defender and with the expanse of Citi Field's outfield, the team is going to need all the defensive skills they can get.

The guaranteed money for Anderson is the main factor standing in the way here. If they do send him elsewhere, they'll still have to pay his contract, essentially making the Sheffield deal worth $1.9 million ($1.5 million from Anderson's contract plus the $400,000 from Sheffield's deal).

Sheffield will likely see most of his playing time in right field, which worries me considering that part of the field isn't fielder friendly (for photos, click here). Ryan Church started taking fly balls in left field, as he will probably see some time there with Sheffield on the roster.

Church has a great outlook on the situation, telling the Associated Press, "Early on in the big leagues I showed I could play all of the outfield spots, and I feel pretty good there. I'll do whatever. Whatever gets me in the lineup, I don't care."

Sheffield adds a right handed power bat off the bench, and possibly into a starting position. It's the model "low risk / high reward" move for the Mets. If it works, they look like geniuses. If it doesn't, they can jettison him with little to no harm done.

Expanding on: Is Marlon Anderson obsolete?

Marlon Anderson had a miserable 2008 season. Due to injuries, he only tallied 151 plate appearances and came away with a .210 batting average.

He showed up to spring training 17 pounds lighter in an attempt to show his dedication to the team and help improve his play. In 34 at bats so far this spring, Anderson has hit .265 with three RBIs and one run scored.

Anderson, in regards to time in the field, will likely only serve as a backup first baseman. At the plate, he'll be the Mets go-to guy for pinch hitting duties. That is, if he makes the team.

With Nick Evans and Fernando Tatis, flashing the glove at first base, along with Jeremy Reed, it seems Anderson has more competition than he anticipated. Is it worth it to the Mets to keep on a second string backup purely for pinch hitting duties?

Year	As Starter (H/PA)	As Sub/PH	Total
2008	.221 (17/82)	.197 (12/69)	.210 (29/151)
2007	.304 (14/53)	.286 (14/53)	.295 (28/106)
2006	.317 (64/224)	.247 (19/88)	.287 (83/312)
2005	.251 (42/180)	.294 (20/80)	.264 (62/260)

As his playing time diminishes, due to either ability or injuries, Anderson's batting average drops.

I asked the Twitter-audience a simple question: Is Marlon Anderson obsolete? Here's what I got...

• @letsgoduke: let me put it this way: yes. nick evans instead!
• @fscker: i hate to say, yes
• @samtpage: Marlon Anderson sucks, if that's what you mean.

Pretty telling answer from the fans.

With players able to fill his role on the field, the Mets may be able to sacrifice his "pinch hitting abilities" in favor of someone else.

Game Recap: Cardinals 15 -- Mets 4

It seems no one wants that fifth spot of the rotation.

On The Mound

Freddy Garcia made the start for the Mets trying to rebound from a poor outing the first time around. It did not go well. Two innings, three hits and two home runs later, the Cardinals had the lead 4-0. Garcia did strike out three batters and walked one, but the two homers really looked bad. Chris Duncan's three-run shot was crushed.

Following Garcia, Jon Switzer took the mound for one inning. He allowed two earned runs on two hits, paired with a walk and a strikeout.

Dillon Gee fared the worst of the pitchers, but was hurt by a pair of errors. Gee allowed seven runs (two earned) in one inning on five hits.

Rocky Cherry and Victor De Los Santos each pitched one inning of no-hit baseball, with Cherry tallying one strike out.

Carlos Muniz and Kyle Snyder each allowed one run in their inning of work, sandwiched around a hitless inning from Tom Martin.

At The Plate

Robinson Cancel and Marlon Anderson were the only Mets with multiple hits. Cancel had a single, double and one RBI. Anderson doubled twice and picked up a RBI.

Angel Pagan continued his hot spring, going 1-1 with a walk and driving in two runs with his single in the seventh inning.

In The Field

Jose Coronado and Gee each committed one error. Luis Castillo, Coronado and Marlon Anderson also completed one double play.

Next Up

The Mets will take on their NL East rivals Washington Nationals tomorrow, but won't grace your television screens again until Saturday.

Happy Birthday, Marlon Anderson

Today is Marlon Anderson's 34th birthday. Happy Birthday!

Let's all hope you get back your pinch hitting prowess as a gift.

Announcing: The 2008 Met of the Year Award [Voting has begun!]

The 2008 Met of the Year Award will be

awarded to the winner of the tourney.For a printable bracket, click here.
For an large updated bracket, click here.

Here at The 'Ropolitans, I thought it would be both entertaining and interesting to see who the 2008 Met of the Year (MotY) is, as voted on by you, the readers. I have the bracket and polls lined up and over the next two weeks, you will be able to vote in a head-to-head match to determine this years MotY.

Voting can be based on whatever you choose. Stats at the plate, play in the field, a game-winning hit at a game you attended, the fact that he signed your hat at the stadium, how cute he is, VORP -- whatever you choose!

The winner will be awarded a "trophy" and will be entered into The 'Ropolitans MotY Hall of Fame.

The first round of voting begins today, beginning with the Orange Bracket. The White Bracket will be tomorrow, followed by the Black and then the Blue Bracket.

There will be four polls for the first four days, after that it will go down to two polls a day for Round 2 and 3. Round 4 will be held over two days, as will the championship round. The winner will be announced Jan. 1, 2009.

Here are the results [Updated Daily]:

12/19: Orange Bracket Round 1 results.
12/20: White Bracket Round 1 results.
12/21: Black Bracket Round 1 results.
12/22: Blue Bracket Round 1 results.
12/23: VOTING IS OPEN. Polls close at midnight.

Have fun voting and good luck to whichever player you're pulling for.

Let the 2008 Met of the Year tournament...BEGIN!

Sherman: Don't look past K-Rod moving to NL

Just as projected (and projected correctly, mind you), Johan Santana flourished in the "weaker" National League, Francisco Rodriguez would have the chance to do the same if he signs with the Mets.

Joel Sherman brings it up in his latest Hardball column, and even gives us a little interleague action stats.

My colleague Mark Hale dug up these numbers for me about Rodriguez in interleague games: Rodriguez has faced an NL team in 45 games covering 50 innings and he has a 1.07 ERA, with just 23 hits allowed (two homers), 20 walks and 67 strikeouts.

Well then. Those are some excellent numbers.

In four games pitched against the Mets, K-Rod has earned one save in five innings of work. He's surrendered three hits (one of those two home runs allowed against NL teams -- the Marlon Anderson inside the park home run on June 11, 2005) and two runs allowed for a 3.60 ERA.

This is starting to sound better and better. Now Omar just has to sign him.

September call-ups

Joe Janish beat me to it. Check out Mets Today for a complete rundown of the call-ups and who can and can't be added.

I'm not going to put a lot of stock into Jon Niese or Bobby Parnell. There seems to be too much hype behind them, and I don't think they're going to come up and have a huge impact on the team.

Guys like Al Reyes and Ricardo Rincon should help, simply because another arm in the bullpen cannot hurt at this time. It's a crap shoot in the pen right now, and Luis Ayala worked for a few games. Lightning in a bottle could be found anywhere. Hopefully one of these guys can be a lightning rod.

Marlon Anderson will be nice to have back, as long as he can recapture his pinch hitting prowess.

Don't look for a huge help from the September call-ups, but Niese will get the start on Tuesday against the Brewers. Maybe he could do something special against the streaking Brew-crew. Wouldn't that be nice?

Movin' on up: Daniel Murphy is going to the show

With the Mets finally putting Marlon Anderson on the DL (about two months too late), the Mets will call up the best hitter in the minor leagues, Daniel Murphy.

Murphy had just been moved to AAA, where he played only one game.

I'm looking for Murphy to get the call tonight. I'd love to see this kid get to shine on the big stage at such a young age.

I was down on Fernando Tatis

From a post of mine, published March 30:

Again, I don't get why Fernando Tatis is so wonderful. Sure, he can play pretty much any position besides center field if need be, but he doesn't play any of them especially well. We already have two guys in Marlon Anderson and Damion Easley who can play the entire infield and two guys in Endy Chavez and Angel Pagan who can play the entire outfield. So why do we need a guy who can do all of those, but none well? Brady Clark will be much more lasting and consistent, I feel, and that's why I want him to make the team.

Boy, was I wrong.

Tatis came through for the Mets again, in the 12th inning, again. He hasn't been dominant, but he's been more than capable in his fill in position.

I love his hustle. Tatis always seems to leg everything out, even the routine ground ball. He never takes anything for granted. As Gary Cohen said on the broadcast on Saturday, "It seems as though Tatis got a second lease on life and is going to make the best of it."

The bench has been invaluable in the last few games, helping the Mets really from behind and rally for wins late in games. 2006 saw the bench come through in the clutch time and time again, and now we're seeing a sample of that in 2008, spearheaded by Tatis & Co.

Fix the Mets

We're having a pretty nice discussion over at Mets Lounge about what everyone would do if they were the GM of the Mets.

Pretty simple, I think, but I have a few moves I would make now or in the very immediate future. All moves are in-house.

• Bring up Mike Carp. Send Robinson Cancel back to AAA. This would immediately put pressure on Carlos Delgado.
• Bring up Dan Murphy. Send Trot Nixon back to AAA. This would immediately put pressure on Luis Castillo.
• Look into trading Oliver Perez. If possible, pull the trigger, attempt to get at least two decent minor leaguers in return. Promote Tony Armas Jr.
• If Murphy/Castillo/Damion Easley doesn't work out, call Cincinnati or Baltimore about their second baseman. (via Wrighteous.)
• Don't hurry Ryan Church. Wait until Sunday to bring him back. Make sure he's 110 percent. The Mets need that bat.
• Platoon Endy Chavez, Marlon Anderson, Fernando Tatis in right field.

Anything I missed? Hit the comments for your suggestions.

Tossed

Both Jerry Manuel and Carlos Beltran were tossed in the fourth inning of the game.

Arguing balls and strikes, Manuel came out to talk to the umpire. After seeing the video, it looked as if home plate umpire Brian Runge bumped Manuel, which caused Manuel to flare up and take it to another level.

After Manuel was tossed, Beltran argued his own balls and strikes, and shrugged his shoulders at a pitch he did not think was a strike. Runge started yelling, to which Beltran responded. Runge quickly tossed Beltran, who got up in Runge's face and got his moneys worth.

While I love to see the fire and attitude of the team, it needs to parlay into runs and eventually wins, otherwise it's pretty worthless.

Sandy Alomar Sr. has taken over the managerial duties, while Marlon Anderson picked up where Beltran left off.

Anderson will man left field, Endy Chavez will move to center, and Trot Nixon will shift from left to right.

Early Morning Madness: First day on the job

In the first minute of Jerry Manuel's coaching tenure with the Mets, he ran into a problem. Jose Reyes led off the game with a single, and while standing on first, began grabbing the back of his knee.

Manuel, along with the trainer came out to check on Reyes. Manuel did the right thing, and pulled Reyes from the game, replacing him with Damion Easley.

Reyes was none too pleased, huffing and puffing like a little kid and throwing his helmet to the ground as he entered the dugout, and eventually into the clubhouse.

Manuel handled it beautifully, following Reyes into the clubhouse to talk about the little incident that just occured. One can only speculate what was said, but Bart Hubbuch in the POST relays the post game quotes:

"Really, the behavior is pretty much unacceptable," Manuel said of Reyes' tantrum. "But the attitude is something that can help us win ballgames."

Reyes, who is expected back in the lineup tonight, apologized to Manuel in the next inning and said he understood his new manager's thinking.

"I want to play, but Jerry was just trying to take care of me," Reyes said. "He made the right decision, because it's a long season and I need to stay healthy the whole season."

Perfectly handled by Manuel, and a good reaction from Reyes. Manuel has to play with a heavy hand these first few games, to let the players know what he's going to be like the rest of the year. He cannot have players walking all over him, and he's doing his best to make sure that never happens.

Oh, and Reyes should be back in the lineup tonight. The injury was just a little tweak of the hamstring.

*****

Manuel's first day was excellent. He handled himself very well at the press conference, joking around and showing emotion. A novel idea.

His one drawback, if I must have one (and I do), is that Trot Nixon was not in the starting lineup. John Lackey is a righty, and Nixon is more capable in the outfield than Marlon Anderson. Nixon should have been in right field, with Endy Chavez in left.

It's not like Nixon has bad numbers against Lackey. He's a career .250 hitter (4-16), with a double, RBI, walk and strikeout.

Hopefully, Nixon is in the lineup tonight against Jon Garland, a pitcher he is also batting .250 lifetime against.

*****

I must say, I've never seen the media dish out such negative remarks towards one team in a one day period.

I've only seen a handful of articles from the mainstream that actually spell out that this might have been the right thing to do, and the time was unavoidable.

The best article of the day came from longtime Star-Ledger writer, Moss Klein: Mets GM Minaya has nothing on George Steinbrenner.

Finally, someone is talking some sense.

More roster moves

Raul Casanova, it's been nice knowing you.

Casanova has been designated for assignment as both Marlon Anderson and Moises Alou have been activated from the disabled list.

One roster spot was opened when Ryan Church was finally put on the DL.

Almost back to normal. Alou, please stay healthy, the team needs you. It's about time they dropped that third catcher.

And if anyone can figure out why the Mets still have Abraham Nunez, please fill me in. I'd love to know the reasoning behind that move.

Early Morning Madness: Medical edition

I'll be out for the majority of the day today, but I'll be back some time in the mid-afternoon. I have to get a ton of medical tests done, but everything should be all right.

*****

One of Marlon Anderson or Moises Alou should return from the DL, if not both. Someone has to come back to replace Ryan Church, or a minor league promotion will be made.

They'll both work out at the stadium, and whom ever the team feels is further along will be activated. Again, it's possible they're both activated and Abraham Nunez finally goes away.

*****

My father keeps muttering to me that he thinks Church's career is over. I don't think he's right, but it would be a terrible reality if he never really recovers from these head injuries.

Concussions are tough. I've had a few in my time, and it just feels like you're in a fog and you just can't shake it. The headaches and nausea don't really help either. I think Church will be just fine with a bit of R&R, but it's a sobering thought to think his now blossoming career might be over.

Evans reportedly called up

According to reports, Nick Evans was pulled from the 9th inning of his game in AA and will be called up, presumably to take the spot of Marlon Anderson, who came up lame early in the game.

Thank you! It's about time this team brought up some young talent and let him loose on the majors. Maybe he stinks it up, but who cares. He could bring some fire to this squad.

As usual, I have high hopes for Evans. He might be the shot in the arm this team needs. That might just me talking crazy at 1:30 a.m.

Probably.

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse

The teams pinch hitting master and current starting left fielder just came up lame while running out a ground ball. Marlon Anderson had to be escorted off the field after the injury.

It looked terrible. Just a scary and painful sight.

Paging Valentino Pascucci...Pascucci...

Anderson will without a doubt hit the DL for an extended period of time.

Ding dong! Church has his bell rung

I had to.

The Mets are in bad shape. After looking so hopeful after sweeping the Subway Series in the Bronx, the Mets offense turned about-face on Tuesday, managing only three runs through 18 innings.

To cap it all off, the Mets MVP so far, Ryan Church, took a knee to the head on the final play of game two, capping off a terrible day for the Mets in Atlanta.

Church slammed into Yunel Escobar's knee as he slid into second and Escobar turned the game ending double play. Church stayed on the ground a while, bloodied and dazed. He is reported to have suffered a mild concussion, very reminiscent of his collision with Marlon Anderson back on March 1.

Hopefully Church will only miss a few days, but the way this team's luck has fared this season, I'm sure he will be out for longer.

Just out luck, right?

Delgado sits

Carlos Delgado was not in the starting lineup for the Mets tonight.

He was replaced by Marlon Anderson, batting seventh.

It's. About. Time.