Benjamin Grimm

My daughter has a printout of the Mets roster hanging on the wall, and she was looking it over this morning and noted that the Mets had only two catchers. What happens, she asked, if they both got hurt? I explained that teams usually designate a player as the "emergency catcher" and hope that it never comes to that. But I realized I have no idea who the Mets current emergency catcher is. (I assume it's no longer Joe McEwing.) My guesses, in order, were Mike Baxter, Justin Turner, and Scott Hairston. I suppose Ronny Cedeno might be in that mix too. Least likely would be David Wright (natch) and Daniel Murphy. Does anyone know if Terry has officially designated an emergency catcher this year, and who it might be?

Bay 1.5 Byrdak 1 Murphy 0.3 Niese 2.3 Nieuwenhuis 1.5 Ramirez 1 Rauch 1 Thole 1 Wright 0.4

Seeing Pagan's name makes me feel apathetic.

And... this is the last one I'm gonna do. Expos/Nationals 1970: 56 1980: 189 1990: 354 2000: 550 2010: 789

San Diego Padres (first player alphabetically: Shawn Abner!) 1970: 55 1980: 196 1990: 329 2000: 528 2010: 807

Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim, California 1970: 197 1980: 372 1990: 515 2000: 715 2010: 862

Kansas City Royals 1970: 51 1980: 158 1990: 299 2000: 496 2010: 735

Pilots/Brewers 1970: 78 1980: 220 1990: 334 2000: 514 2010: 728

For the Astros (using the data from this page) 1970: 178 1980: 296 1990: 414 2000: 582 2010: 754 Both teams saw an acceleration starting in the 1990's, but the Mets put more pedal to the metal than the Astros did.

Mets player counts at the end of "round-numbered" years: 1970: 185 1980: 311 1990: 439 2000: 651 2010: 895

I'm similarly curious. I wonder what the respective counts were, say, in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. The Mets did accelerate the player count, as Johnny said, some time in the 1990's, but I don't have any idea if the Mets were any different from the other teams. Was there overall change that made most teams start churning through players much more quickly, or is it just a Mets thing?

Voting for Wednesday afternoon's ugly loss in Atlanta will close sometime over the weekend, possibly as early as Saturday morning. If you intend to vote on this game and haven't yet done so, it would be best to get your numbers posted today. Schaefer POTG 4/18/12 - Braves 14, Mets 6

I'm rooting for Hamilton Bennett because I'm only one Kevin Bacon unit away from him. He's my brother-in-law's neighbor in South Carolina.

Ashie disqualifies himself from the Golf Hall of Fame.

Who is that? I'm pretty sure it's not Barry Zito.

The thing is, it Baxter were to go to Buffalo and Nieuwenhuis were to stay with the Mets, I'd want to see Kirk getting more playing time than Baxter has. If he's to stay, he'll have to steal playing time from somebody, otherwise he's better off in Buffalo.

Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger weighs in on this topic. Mets ponder rookie outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis' options after strong start Published: Thursday, April 19, 2012, 9:00 AM Updated: Thursday, April 19, 2012, 10:01 AM Andy McCullough/The Star-Ledger ATLANTA -- The best person to provide the necessary context on Mets rookie Kirk Nieuwenhuis� high-flying start would be, of course, Kirk Nieuwenhuis. "It�s been a week and a half, two weeks," he said after cracking three hits and scoring three runs in Wednesday's 14-6 loss to Atlanta. "It�s pretty early. You�ve got to put it all in perspective, keep your head down." Through 11 games, Nieuwenhuis is batting an eye-popping .375/.444/.531. He contributed a highlight-reel catch in Philadelphia over the weekend. He�s 24, a well-regarded prospect in the Mets system, and a player considered a potential cog in the team�s future. Of course, Nieuwenhuis does not profile as a future superstar. Two years ago, he hit .225/.295/.358 in 30 games at Triple-A Buffalo. He played in just 53 games last season due to shoulder surgery (though he did punch up a .908 OPS for the Bisons with a career-best .403 OBP). So what, then, do the Mets do with him when Andres Torres� strained calf heals? One sensible option: Use Torres as a fourth outfielder. One popular option with the fanbase: Use Nieuwenhuis as platoon player with Jason Bay in left field. The most likely option: Torres reclaims his job. Bay�s playing time stays the same. And Nieuwenhuis goes back to the International League for the time being. To address these scenarios in order: Torres would have value as a bench batter. His speed is an asset as a pinch-runner. But he plays an excellent center field, and manager Terry Collins would like more speed in the lineup. Plus, he�s played one game. One. Collins, one figures, would be unlikely to take a veteran�s job away after such a brief stint. Unless, of course, Nieuwenhuis keeps getting on base 44 percent of the time. The next option: Taking away Bay�s playing time would help defuse his $17 million option for 2014, which vests if he receives either 500 plate appearances in both 2012 and 2013 or 600 PA in 2013. Because there is so much time between now and the end of 2013, the team isn�t confronted with a ticking vesting-option-time-bomb � as they were last summer with closer Francisco Rodriguez. When I spoke with one team insider on the eve of the season, the official laughed off any immediate plans to take playing time away from Bay. Bay has a .717 OPS through 11 games. That�s nothing to write home about � but it is 18 points higher than his career-low OPS in 2011. Bay walked twice and went 1-for-3 on Sunday. He�s homered twice. This is progress, albeit in small steps. Of course, making sweeping statements about Jason Bay based on 11 games is as foolish as . . . making sweeping statements about Kirk Nieuwenhuis based on 11 games. That�s why the most likely option is the last one, in which the team upholds the status quo, and sends Nieuwenhuis down. Don�t worry. If he departs, he�ll come back. Of course, the sweeping statements about Jason Bay cover much more than 11 games.

Guys like Bonds, McGwire, and Clemens caused a high-profile embarrassment to the game. If any or all of them fail to make the Hall, it will be easy to see that that's the reason why. Bagwell and Piazza are in a different category. They've just been whispered about, but never failed a test (that we know of), were never subpoenaed, and never formally charged with anything. If the whispers and suspicions are enough to keep someone out of the Hall of Fame, then Jeff Bagwell is in trouble. And so is Mike Piazza.

Edgy DC wrote: So, I don't want to jump to conclusions, but should we at least consider that maybe Dickey's knuckleball doesn't dance too much in the rain, and maybe think about swapping him out of future rainy-day starts? That makes sense, but last-minute changes to the rotation can bring their own havoc. What could they have done? Given Batista the start? Let Niese start on short rest?

Voting for Tuesday night's loss in Atlanta will close on Friday morning. Only five voters so far. If you want to chime in on this game, please do so today. Schaefer POTG 4/17/12 - Braves 9, Mets 3

Batista 0.5 Davis 1 Murphy 1 Nieuwenhuis 3 Wright 3

Oops, no more delay. Ike has grounded out.