Ike Davis To Save The Day?
Following Saturday’s 20-inning odyssey the Mets DFAed Mike Jacobs in order to open a roster spot for an additional pitcher, Tobi Stoner, on the roster.
My first reaction to this move was to realize how much the game has changed. The Mets used 8 pitchers in relief on Saturday. Only 3 of them were pitching for the second consecutive day. Another, Mike Pelfrey, clearly is not an answer should the team have needed another reliever on Sunday. That still left 4 relief pitcher for Sunday’s contest should they be needed, two lefties and two righties. Not that Jacobs performance has him deserving to play in the major leagues but when a team is afraid to pitch relievers on consecutive days the times have indeed changed.
Another aspect of this move is desperation. Mets management is clearly feeling the heat and are doing things that they might not ordinarily do. Saying goodbye to Jacobs opens the door for first baseman of the future Ike Davis who has been tearing it up at AAA. In the past the Mets have said that Davis would spend the year at AAA. That’s where he belongs to continue developing so I didn’t expect to see him until the September call ups. But with Daniel Murphy injured, Jacobs failure to produce and no other natural first basemen in site it’s looking like Davis is Citi bound at least until Murphy is ready to return. Omar Minaya, Jerry Manuel and their staffs are grasping at every straw to turn this start around and attempt to save their jobs.
Indeed this has been a rough start so far. Though at 4-8 there are still 150 games left in the season there is still significant pressure to turn things around quickly. When you enter the season already on the hot seat it doesn’t take much to hit the boiling point. We’re not quite at that point yet but we’re quickly getting there. Minaya and Manuel are hoping that Davis can help reverse things and appear to be ready to take that chance.
As of now Davis is in Buffalo’s lineup today. This doesn’t mean he can’t be at CitiField tonight but it would seem to indicate that he will not be called up today.
It’s been reported that Davis has been removed from the Boson’s lineup and will be at CitiField tonight.
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It looks like Ike is here to stay. He’s been playing pretty well and if he can start hitting some breaking balls, the NL pitchers will have to start throwing him more fastballs.