The Mets announced Friday that they’d signed veteran outfielder Brady Clark to a minor league deal and invited him to Spring Training. This would be the second Met go-round for Clark who arrived from the Reds in September 2002 as the fourth and final piece in the Shawn Estes trade.
Now, Shawn Estes may have been a rotten Met himself, but his trade brought a few decent talents to the organization: In addition to Clark, who stuck around only long enough to participate in the horrid month of September 2002 (but went on to have better success elsewhere), the Mets gathered in outfield reserve Raul Gonzalez, and a skinny lefty, Pedro Feliciano, who, depending upon how you count these things, is the Met with longest tenure heading to the 2008 season. To be technical, Jose Reyes is the longest with continuous service. Feliciano since 2002 was cut and reacquired not once but twice: He was claimed on waivers by the Tigers following that season but released and re-signed by the Mets the following spring. Feliciano would later be sold to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and re-signed again prior to the 2006 season. That trade also produced a minor league pitched, Elvin Andujar, who went nowhere.
But about Clark. Righthanded hitter with a decent glove and a chance to be the guy who replaces Damian Easley or pressures Olmedo Saenz for a reserve role. Wore No. 15 for his first go-round, so will be shopping for new digits now. Saenz by the way is listed as suiting up in No. 91, as indicated by the comment section in the below post.
Dave Racaniello
Submitted by Bob F. (not verified) on Sat, 02/16/2008 – 9:36am.
It would be great if someone could verify the number of Dave Racaniello, the bullpen catcher. Last spring he wore #57 and I’m guessing he may be wearing #54 this year, thus filling an empty slot on the roster.
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Yeah, I’ll be keeping an eye
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 02/16/2008 – 3:08pm.
Yeah, I’ll be keeping an eye out. Apparently they added Sandy Alomar, Jr. to the staff too as a catching instructor/second bullpen catcher (Tom Nieto’s role last year). Also, I am really curious as to why they keep passing over 20 and 47 and to assign the new guys numbers in the 90s.
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Jon, Correct me if I’m
Submitted by Scott (not verified) on Sat, 02/16/2008 – 10:30pm.
Jon, Correct me if I’m wrong (and I know you will), but wasn’t Estes the Met hurler who finally threw at Clemens (and I know, missed)? He has to get some credit for that, doesn’t he? Your thoughts on Nannygate? Keep up the good work.
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My bet is that Howard
Submitted by Matt (not verified) on Sun, 02/17/2008 – 7:17am.
My bet is that Howard Johnson is back in his old #20, and that is why is seems to be unassigned. As far as #47, they are probably “resting” it for a year for Glavine (which of course they should NOT)!
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If it means anything
Submitted by metirish on Mon, 02/18/2008 – 10:27pm.
If it means anything Mets.com has HoJo wearing # 52 although as you noted #20 isavailable.
All the Mets coaching staff except Wilie and Sandy are wearing numbers in the 50’s, Peterson #51, Nieto #55, Conti #56, and Manuel #53.
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I give credit to Estes not
Submitted by Jon Springer on Mon, 02/18/2008 – 10:54pm.
I give credit to Estes not for missing Roger when he threw at him, but for hitting a HR off him in that same game. While Clemens should have been disciplined in the first inning of Game 2, and the other time he threw at Piazza by the time the Estes confrontation finally came along it was all a show for the columnists and fans.
I also give Estes credit for having a good breaking ball, but it wasn’t enough. He got thumped pretty often as a Met.