So the Mets along with introducing Johan Santana to the press today updated their 40-man roster so as to provide uni numbers for several players for the first time. From the bottom, it's

9 Marlon Anderson (switching from 23 for Brian Schneider)

16 Angel Pagan

19 Ryan Church

38 Matt Wise (Carlos Muniz is now listed in 32)

39 Jason Vargas (Vargas was 43 last season, we may see a flip with Stokes, below)

43 Brian Stokes

49 Ruddy Lugo (Phillip Humber, we barely miss ye)

61 Steven Register(likely to be the lowest of the high-numbered invitees)

Also worth noting is pitcher Adam Bostick in 72, giving him the highest number among the 40 men invited to camp. Among non-roster invitees, the deck is clear for Jose Valentin to take 22 and Ricardo Rincon to assume his usual 73.

Our post below guessed a few of these correctly at least. Keep in mind as always these numbers don't "count" until the games do, so nothing is official yet.

OK, so now that Johan Santana is in the fold and will presumably slip on a No. 57 jersey at a press event sometime next week, there's still the matter of the other new guys and what they'll turn up in when spring training begins later this month.

What new guys? Well, those indicated by the "--" symbol alongside their names on the mets.com 40-man roster: Pitchers Ruddy Lugo; Steven Register, Brian Stokes and Matt Wise; and outfielders Ryan Church and Angel Pagan. Catcher Brian Schneider is also indicated with a double-en-space, but we're reasonably sure he's headed for the No. 23 jersey photographed below and Marlon Anderson will change into something new.

 

(November 30, 2007 )

After that horrific ankle injury — ever do something like that? It makes a noise — Mets never really adequately replaced Damian Easley.

Props to sharp-eyed Met fan Chris who not only pointed out Friday night that Met reliever Willie Collazo made his Shea Stadium debut in a jersey that spelled his name incorrectly, but thought to take the accompanying photo of it. The goof — one too many Z’s and one too few L’s — appeared on the snow-white jersey Friday.

No sooner had we inquired as to whether Collazo appeared in a misspelled road jersey in his debut Wednesday in Cincinnati than Lundy came through with the other photo illustrating he hadn’t. How did Collazo turn from Puerto Rican to Italian? We”ll try to investigate. So thanksagain to Chris and Lundy, to whom we all owe a cold frosty Rheingold. You will often find those guys at the Crane Pool.

Other than featuring Collazo’s misspelled jersey — and his second consecutive scoreless relief outing — tonight’s convincing victory over Houston featured the return of rookie outfielder Carlos Gomez 27. The Mets have also reactivated Sandy Alomar Jr., who has continued to dress in No. 19.

Jeff Conine’s surprise appearance in No. 28 for his Met debut last night was remarked upon in the TV broadcast by Gary Cohen who said it was unusual to see Conine wearing anything but No. 19. Cohen related that he brought this fact to the attention of the Mets’ current wearer of No. 19, Sandy Alomar Jr., who told Cohen he’d have no objections to surrendering the jersey, only he hadn’t because nobody had asked him to.

I’m highly suspicious of Conine remaining a 28 for much longer.

Back in the 80s, when comedy was funny, the National Lampoon ran a recurring comic called Mr. Vengeance, written and illustrated by Buddy Hickerson, who today illustrates The Quigmans. This comic typically illustrated the title character suffering some minor misfortune in the opening panel, and devoted the rest of the comic to his hilarously violent overreactions to it, i.e.: “Sure enough, there is a blemish on his wax job. He decides to get EVEN!!” This comic was genius in that it made the same joke over and over again — varying only over the question of how mundane the slight, and how creatively violent the reaction, would be each episode. Mr. Vengeance would torture not only those “responsible” for his pain but, feeling rightous, anyone who’d done anything wrong. “Someone MUST pay,” was his credo.

I’m reminded of Mr. Vengeance today — and incredibly frustrated that I cannot locate a comic online* (”someone WILL pay!”) — as Marlon Anderson returns to the Mets tonight to debut against the club that recently released him, the Dodgers. May Marlon find rightousness in his revenge. May David Newhan take it out on AAA pitching: He’s the one DFAed to make room for Anderson. And may his remaining Met teammates take out their frustrations from the recently completed Padres series on the Dodgers.

That was NOT a nice way to lose a series and whatever momentum Tuesday’s win might have provided. And, really, shouldn’t be enough that Heath Bell has a good season in an important role with his new team? Is it necessary that he chase down anyone with a rolling tape recorder to detail all manner of abuses and excuses stemming from his time at Shea? To kick us when we’re down? Who does he think he is, Mr. Vengenance? To paraphrase another National Lampoon product of my childhood. “He can’t say that about us. Only WE can say those things about us!”

Well, as far I’m concerned the time has come to get mad. To take some revenge, even if it’s not on Heath Bell. To get EVEN!

It’s not clear what number Anderson will appear in tonight. Despite the ruminations below, one commenter thinks 23 is likely because 8 is still in mothballs, and it may very well be. Anderson wore 21 with the Dodgers earlier this year (not available here). Twenty-three happens to be available due to the relase of Julio Franco. Yesterday, he since signed with the Braves where he’s doubt planning some revenge.

*-Ironically the best I could do is find a site where a former collaborator of Hickerson’s takes his own revenge. If you can point out Mr. Vengeance online, or send a copy of a scanned comic here, I promise to leave you out of my next rampage.