I could pick an older player just for the lack of a future, but the older guys on the Dodgers are all filling important roles. And that includes Mota, who’s been great. So, in the interest of the exercise, I’ll go with Will Ohman (12.1 total innings in 21 relief appearances, 5.84 ERA). At 31 he is what he is, there’s no reason to think he’s going to get any better, and with Kuroda back a left-handed arm is going to move into the pen. So Ohman it is.”

You just called Mota “great”.

Now I know you’re trolling.

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What? His peripherals are terrible, and it’s hard to blow games when you enter in the lowest leverage situations possible. He’s a mop-up guy that the Dodgers are forced to keep because Colletti guaranteed him a contract. Simple as that.

If he had a minor league deal, Mota would have been gone long ago.

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In his many, many, many years in the minor leagues, he has never been “clutch”, has never been the guy who gets the big hits. Hell, he’s never hit, period. And now that he’s wearing a big league uniform, something changed magically? Of course not. He’s just been fortunate enough that a good chunk of the hits he’s gotten have come with runners on.

I’ve been happy with what Santos has provided the Mets so far. I’m also not delusional enough to think that the 33 games he’s played in a Mets uniform gives me a better idea about who he is and what he can do than the 664 games he played (and sucked) in the minors.

I miss Ramon Castro.

P.S. As I’ve mentioned, I watch many games. And yet, I learn far more about the Mets through stats than I do watching them. You know why? Numbers (if used properly) don’t lie. My eyes do. Because I’m not a major league scout. And neither are you.
“”

Bravo

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I am a huge Met fan, and have watched every game since 2005. The beauty of Tivo. Omir Santos hasn’t even played well, and people think he is on some hot streak. Well, if he is hitting .260/.290 when he is hot, what is that going to look like when he cools off? Omir Santos is probably the exact kind of player Buster Olney would bust a nut over. Stop being homers and try evaluating the data. Santos’ whole value is based on like 3 big hits that he got. Are walk off hits sustainable? Somehow I think not. I like him, and hope he does well, but if I think with my head and not my heart, Omir Santos is just Brian Schneider without the OBP, and Castro was the far better offensive player.

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Yes, it means that most Met fans are total idiots. Omir Santos seems like a nice guy, and he has been a cool story, but he isn’t good, and the Mets traded Ramon Castro, a far superior player, based on 80 at bats from Omir Santos, where he was OPSing about 100 points higher then his minor league averages. Santos will end up like Argenis Reyes, he will be hitting below the Mendoza line and people will start calling for his head, wondering why the Mets ever traded Castro in the first place.

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Naming the last guy on the roster would be cheating, so I’ll only do that if he’s clearly useless and could be replaced by a street free agent or minor-leaguer at a benefit to the club, and without hindering the minor-leaguer. I’m looking at guys getting regular play. And money counts.

Dodgers- This, especially, is absolutely just an intellectual exercise. On the best team in baseball who do you cut? There’s not one player who hasn’t given yeoman service in his assigned role. The starters, the bench, the rotation, the pen, they’re all outstanding.

I could pick an older player just for the lack of a future, but the older guys on the Dodgers are all filling important roles. And that includes Mota, who’s been great. So, in the interest of the exercise, I’ll go with Will Ohman (12.1 total innings in 21 relief appearances, 5.84 ERA). At 31 he is what he is, there’s no reason to think he’s going to get any better, and with Kuroda back a left-handed arm is going to move into the pen. So Ohman it is.

Giants- Rich Aurilia. The Giants need to be playing the young guys.

Diamondbacks- The D’backs couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat, so it has to be a position player. Byrnes is the easy choice by the numbers, but they’re paying him $11 million next year whether they play him or not. And he was great just two years ago. Chad Tracy is a candidate, but who’d play first?

I guess Tracy has to be the choice. He is what he is at this point, and what he is ain’t a lot. Hand him the 2010 buyout money right now and wish him well.

Rockies- Matt Belisle. Not really fair to pick on a Colorado reliever, but Matt’s had an ERA of 9.00 or (much) worse in about half his appearances. And not just in Colorado, he’s bad on the road too. Embree’s their lefty out of the pen, it can’t be him. Only two of their bench guys have more than 70 PAs, kind of limits my options here since none of the starters is a candidate.

Padres- How about Brian Giles? It’s possible he’ll still heat up, but that won’t help the team win this year. He’s 38, no upside, little to no trade value.

Now I’m making waves, got a big name into this thing.

Cardinals- Khalil Greene. Hasn’t put it together, isn’t going to put it together. This is another spot where I don’t know who’d play the position, but Khalil’s the obvious choice.

Brewers- My buddy rants about Bill Hall all the time, so with a nod to Chris in Milwaukee, Bill it is.

Cubs- Milton Bradley, in two seconds flat.*

*This flagrantly biased entry brought to you by a lifelong Dodgers fan.

Reds- Look at all these quality young guys. Gotta go to the end of the bullpen to find someone to cut. It’s sure as hell not Gonzalez, fresh off losing a season to injury. Since I wouldn’t cut anyone from the position players with reasonable ABs, the starters, or the first five in the pen, I’ll leave it alone.

Astros- With Geoff Geary pitching the way he is we don’t even have to delve into Matsui or Blum’s numbers. Geary it is.

Pirates- Delwyn Young. Seriously, Delwyn, you’re 27. You’re not a prospect anymore, you can’t still be striking out a third of the time.

Marlins- I could pick on Helms or Amezega for being in their 30s on a young team, or on Ross for having now reached his fairly mediocre potential, but why? This team is exactly what it’s supposed to be, and we won’t know about most of these guys for a couple years yet.

Mets- Gary Sheffield. See my note about Bradley and the Cubs.

Braves- Some Braves fans seem ready to give up on Francoeur, but he’s only 25. Does Buddy Carlyle have enough appearances for me to pick him? Yes? Okay then.

Phillies- I’m surprised you didn’t pick Rollins or Lidge, Nick. I’m not going to pick anyone, I don’t know their roster well enough to do what I did with the Dodgers and this is a champion team, they don’t have much dead weight.

-Again, I’m not actually advocating cutting most of these guys. But as an intellectual exercise, there it is.

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And Santos currently sports a .287 OBP. Meaning, he makes outs 71.3 percent of the time. That’s beyond terrible.

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