Decisions, Decisions
It’s going to be an interesting next week or so for the Mets brass as they have alot of decisions to make. A couple of roster moves were made yesterday but they cloud the picture more than they clear it up. Kazuhisa Ishii was activated off of the 15-day disabled list to start tonight’s game against the Reds. Ishii will start in VÃctor Zambrano‘s slot in the rotation. Zambrano will be available for relief work in case Ishii falters and will start either Saturday or Sunday against the Yankees depending on if he gets into tonight’s game.
Also yesterday, Scott Strickland agreed to extend his roster deadline by one week. Strickland’s contract states that he could opt for free agency if he wasn’t on the major league roster by May 15. By agreeing to extend that deadline he throws another ingredient into the mix of options the team must consider.
Willie Randolph has said he will not go with a 6 man rotation (a move I support) so the team will be forced to make a decision on the starting rotation by early next week. Here’s a list of some of the possibilities:
- Aaron Heilman, currently one of the 6 starters, or Zambrano could go to the bullpen.
- Strickland could be added to the major league roster with either Manny Aybar, Heath Bell or Dae-Sung Koo being sent to Norfolk. Koo is the longshot here because he’s the only lefty in the pen.
- Strickland could be added to the major league roster with either Heilman or Zambrano being sent to Norfolk.
There are more variations here that include the possibility of a trade going down between now and Monday but those are far more speculative so I won’t get into them now.
It should also be noted that Strickland does not automatically become a free agent if he’s not promoted. He merely has that option. He could, for reasons I can’t think of, decide to stick it out at Norfolk in the hopes getting a call up later. If I were him I’d go the free agent route. I think he’s proven that he is fully recovered and could contribute to any teams major league bullpen.
To make room for Ishii on the roster the Mets optioned VÃctor DÃaz to Norfolk. DÃaz had a good run filling in for Mike Cameron in right field when Cameron was on the DL. Since Cameron has returned Randolph has struggled to find the young outfielder playing time.
The Mets also placed Ramon Castro on the DL yesterday and purchased the contract of Mike DiFelice from Norfolk.
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I think trade, although speculative is the most likely scenario. I don’t know what will be resolved internally in a week that could not be resolved now. The Mets paid Strickland an undisclosed amount to agree to extend the deadline a week, so I have to think that they have some kind of deal set up that is not quite ironed out yet or is contingent on something like Ishii’s performance tonight. You know Freddy does not liketo spend money for nothing, at least intentionally.
To me the two most likely candidates are Heilman and Ishii. Heilman may be an attempt to sell high before Omar projects he reverts to old form and for Ishii, the trade partner may be waiting to see how far along Ishii’s recovery is.
I just hope they get equal or better value in return and are not making a panic move just to clear up room for a reliever who has not thrown in the majors in two years.