Lets see, I guess now its time for Postseason Roster Thread!

[MFS62]

Willie says Lastings may make the post season roster - and some other neat stuff. Looks like Swugger may do the Zephyrs games.

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060924&content_id=1679622&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Maine works both as a second long man and as an emergency starter. All teams carry a five-man starting staff in the post-season --- don't they? --- even if thea fifth guy never goes.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I think so. Though since Trachsel apparently can't pitch in relief, that kind of complicates things.

In 1999 that 5th starter in the bullpen was Orel Hershiser. In 1986 it was Rick Aguilera.

I'm not recalling off the top of my head who the 1988 and 2000 guys were. I did post a listing of the postseason rosters in another thread. I think it was the "how many pitchers" poll.

[Vic Sage]

i think both Maine and Milledge are going, and that the 25th slot will be between Robo and Tucker. With Floyd's fragile status, i think its much more important to have the extra OFer than a RP who'll only pitch in blowouts.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I think so. Though since Trachsel apparently can't pitch in relief, that kind of complicates things.

Only to the extent that it conveniently works to help his case over Maine's as starter number four.

[metirish]

The anti-Pedro waits on pins and needles

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Newsday wrote: But then, Martinez has managed more teams than Willie Randolph, Joe Girardi and Lee Mazzilli combined, having called the shots at all four of his big-league stops. If you think Willie has any say in how Pedro will be used in October, consider his response when asked if Martinez would throw in the bullpen before yesterday's game: "I don't know," Randolph said. "He hasn't told me yet."

I remember a quote from Terry Francona in 2004 in which he hinted at his helplessness in dealing with Pedro. I don't remember the quote, but Francona basically said he had little or no choice about whether to use Pedro in relief in Game 7 of the ALCS that year.

And we all know what happened to Grady Little in 2003. I was watching that game, and I was absolutely shocked when Grady walked back to the dugout and left Pedro on the mound. It seemed like such a no-brainer; Pedro was out of gas. But maybe Grady felt he didn't have the authority to remove Pedro Martinez from a playoff game?

Bizarre if true.

[Guest Edgy DC]

So, pretend (and forfend) that a starter sudenly becomes unavailable. Which Post-Pirate is higher on your depth chart right now... Williams or Perez?

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: So, pretend (and forfend) that a starter sudenly becomes unavailable. Which Post-Pirate is higher on your depth chart right now... Williams or Perez?

We already have williams. His name is Darrin Oliver.
Given that choice as a post season starter (I'd refer Maine to both), I'd pick Perez. His stuff is better.

Later

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'd have to say Williams.

Perez has a chance to be a much better pitcher than Williams will ever be, so if we're talking about our 2008 roster, I'd say Perez. But not for this October. I think you're more likely to get a decent outing out of Williams.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

It looks like in 1988 it was Terry Leach and in 2000 it was Glendon Rusch. (Fifth starters who moved to the bullpen for the postseason.)

If Trachsel can't do it, and it's determined that Maine is the better choice for fourth starter, then you leave Trachsel off the roster. Sorry you're not more flexibile, Steve.

In other words, I wouldn't use Trachsel as a starter if the main reason for that is that he can't be used in the bullpen.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I don't thiink it would be the main reason. Or, at least, I don't think they'd tell themsleves it was the main reason, even if it was.

But if it's Maine, ttaking Trachsel along as an emergency starter and reliever to use oly in a marathon... there are worse ideas.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

One thing that seems to be strange about this current season is the lack of overlap between starters and relievers.

I suspect that most seasons have had more movement between starting assignments and bullpen appearances.

I know Maine pitched one game in relief, and so did Bannister. Other than that, none of the many starters that the Mets have used this season has pitched in relief. It seems that Willie has been reluctant to dip into his pen for spot starters, or to use his starters in relief. (Last year only Zambrano, Heilman, and Ishii appeared in both roles.)

So a guy like Darren Oliver might make a viable emergency starter (if Roberto Hernandez was on the roster instead of Trachsel) but he hasn't done any such thing all year.

In 2004, under Art Howe, Seo, Ginter, Wheeler, and Yates started and relieved.

So is this 2006 rarity a fluke? Or does it say something about Willie Randolph's preferences? Or Omar Minaya's?

[Gwreck]

It might've been different had so many starters not been injured.

Having starting pitchers pitch in the 'pen seems to often be a result of having one too many starters on the roster and an expendable slot in the 'pen (hence Ishii/Zambrano in the pen last year, or Maine's outing from the 'pen this year).

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Willie & Omar seem to have deliberately built the staff backward and smartly, it seems, considering the oldness/health questions about Glavine,Pedro, Trax & Zambrano. Then they maintained its strength by reaching to the taxi squad (Lima, GHonzalez) and the minors when things needed fixing.

That's sort of a luxury that Howe wasn't afforded in 2004, when they hacked the budget and were more or less rebuilding.

Yates in 04 was like Bannister this year: Given some No. 5 starts early before an injury. Ginter and Seo were replacements in that slot, a la Gonzalez, Lima. Wheeler, IIRC, was a freak-injury starter only: He subbed for Erickson when the latter hurt himself while warming up.

[Frayed Knot]

The most obvious reliever-as-temp-starter candidate was Heilman; who they seemed to:
A) view as too important to the pen to yank back and forth
and
quite possibly have doubts about as a starter
In either case, they saw enough between A and B to view taking shots with Lima/Gonzalez as better options when it was going to be just fill-in work

The other was Oliver. Not sure why they didn't see him as a fill-in here or there. I guess they liked the pen's "set-up" too much to screw with it.

[Guest Edgy DC]

My dad had a friend --- I'll call him Casey --- in the NYPD. He was a union rep, and, though he hated bad cops personally --- would do anything he could to stay out of a car with them in it, give them the cold shoulder when their paths crossed on the street --- he'd get the union to defend them when the department came down on them.

Anyhow, the lamest lame thing cops did was the three-quarter payout. If you got an injury in the line of duty that prevented you from continuing your career, you get to retire early with three-quarters pay. Lucky you. Of course, the policy was designed to reward the bravery and protect the families of good cops who took a deblitating bullet. But the definition of deblitating injury slid so much, that, by the end of my dad's career, people who got hurt at home were coming in to work, faking injuries, and getting their buyout. Worse still, guys who were just sick of being cops, or hated the neighborhood they were regularly patrolling, would just fake a back injury --- since back injuries are almost impossible to disprove --- and cash their chips in.

Anyhow, this naturally made both of them sick. When Casey had long retired, both of his sons had proudly succeeded him the department. One Sunday night he gets a call from Number-One Son. Number One has torn his knee up badly playing flag football. Casey looks to Heaven, looks to Hell, closes his eyes, and tells Number-One to pour himself into his uniform the next morning, walk as straight as he could to his car, and take a dive on the first call he got. And that's what he did.

Anyhow, I never really acknowledged it to myself, but I guess I think that's what Erickson did. I don't know why.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Oliver Perez won't be a postseason 2006 Met.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Heath Bell won't be a postseason 2006 Met.

[metirish]

] My dad had a friend --- I'll call him Casey --- in the NYPD. He was a union rep, and, though he hated bad cops personally --- would do anything he could to stay out of a car with them in it, give them the cold shoulder when their paths crossed on the street --- he'd get the union to defend them when the department came down on them. Anyhow, the lamest lame thing cops did was the three-quarter payout. If you got an injury in the line of duty that prevented you from continuing your career, you get to retire early with three-quarters pay. Lucky you. Of course, the policy was designed to reward the bravery and protect the families of good cops who took a deblitating bullet. But the definition of deblitating injury slid so much, that, by the end of my dad's career, people who got hurt at home were coming in to work, faking injuries, and getting their buyout. Worse still, guys who were just sick of being cops, or hated the neighborhood they were regularly patrolling, would just fake a back injury --- since back injuries are almost impossible to disprove --- and cash their chips in. Anyhow, this naturally made both of them sick. When Casey had long retired, both of his sons had proudly succeeded him the department. One Sunday night he gets a call from Number-One Son. Number One has torn his knee up badly playing flag football. Casey looks to Heaven, looks to Hell, closes his eyes, and tells Number-One to pour himself into his uniform the next morning, walk as straight as he could to his car, and take a dive on the first call he got. And that's what he did. Anyhow, I never really acknowledged it to myself, but I guess I think that's what Erickson did. I don't know why. _________________

I work in a Pulmonary Lab and since 9/11 I have seen a lot of guys from the FDNY wanting to have bad pulmonary tests...and you know what,I don't blame them...NYC screwed them.....maybe this should be in a different thread.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Adam Rubin in this morning's Daily News:

]CATCHING ON: Mike DiFelice and Michael Tucker should claim the final two spots among position players on the division series roster over Lastings Milledge and Ricky Ledee. Neither Milledge nor Ledee was on the big-league roster Aug. 31. They would only be eligible if they replaced a position player who was on the roster or DL on that date and is currently injured. The Mets maintained they won't use shenanigans and claim Anderson Hernandez or DiFelice is injured to get Milledge or Ledee on. Milledge might have been useful as a righty pinch-hitter, but Ramon Castro figures to take that role. With DiFelice available, the Mets can freely use Castro to pinch-hit without worrying about being shorthanded behind the plate if Paul Lo Duca is forced to leave a game.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Nuh. I like Milledge as a pinch-runner, and figger he's as likely as Castro and more likely than DiFelice to hit a double. Too bad for Ledee -- wish he coulda made it more interesting.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]The Mets maintained they won't use shenanigans and claim Anderson Hernandez or DiFelice is injured to get Milledge or Ledee on.

No shenanigans. No bally-hoo.