Author: Jon Springer

Jon Springer is a writer in Brooklyn. Mets by the Numbers began as a goof in 1998, later became a book, then went back to being a goof.

Meet the Most

16I’m only trying to stay out of the way and let the Mets do what they will, but ought to note two new additions to the roster, our old friend Dilson Herrera and pitcher Tim Stauffer. As discussed in comments below, Herrera was issued No. 16, which technically became available upon Danny Muno’s removal from the 40-man roster when Addison Reed climbed aboard.

54Stauffer is a former 1st round pick of the Padres whose journeyman career most recently saw him released by Minnesota this summer and signed to a minor league deal with the Mets. Stauffer, presumably up in case the Mets need a Carlos Torres-type relief appearance while Carlos Torres rests a sore calf, was issued No. 54, last seen on the back of another un-40ed Met, Alex Torres.

These additions are notable in that they’ve brought the Mets active roster to include 38 men, tying the all-time record (with 1967) for Most Guys in the Clubhouse at Once. Amazin’!

 

Two for 2

2Well the moment is upon us and someone’s going to pay the price for the Mets having played fast and loose with uni number assignments.

Dilson Herrera, along with Logan Verrett and Johnny Monell, were recalled following this afternoon’s smashing victory at Washington. While we can expect Verrett to wear 35 and Monell 19 as they had earlier this year, Hererra will be wearing something. That’s because the Mets rather inelegantly issued Juan Uribe Herrera’s No. 2 while Herrera was away rehabbing and playing for AAA Las Vegas.

The Mets roster as of late last Monday night, still lists the two of them wearing No. 2.

As noted previously, I’ve given this matter some thought and suggested
0 could be a solution. Other swipes from the uncalled-for, like Vic Black’s 38 or Danny Muno’s 16, are also possibilities. Then I realized poor Dilson also wore 2 in Las Vegas this season and wondered if he wouldn’t pull a Benito Santiago and alight in 02. Santiago, for you youngins, was a catcher with San Diego who famously rocked No. 09 — he wanted space between the digits for the strap holding his chest protector.

Great win today!

 

To Be Young Again

1As accurately predicted by alert MBTN readers, Eric Young Jr.‘s surprise return to the Mets organization accompanied a new uniform number for the erstwhile No. 22. Young took over the No. 1 formerly — and technically, currently — belonging to reserve outfielder Darrell Ceciliani, who is spending September on the disabled list for AAA Las Vegas. 22 in Young’s absence was issued to catcher Kevin Plawecki, who also returned to the Mets this week.

This business of assigning the same number to multiple members of the current 40-man roster is something of a unique occurrence but we’ve seen it three times already this year: First when Juan Uribe took Dilson Herrerra‘s No. 2, and again this week with Young/Ceciliani; and also with new reliever Addison Reed, whose 43 technically belongs to Buddy Carlyle. Remember Buddy?

0With Carlyle (injured) and perhaps Ceciliani soon to be goners, it should be interesting to see what if anything transpires when the AAA season is complete (even with playoffs, Vegas should be done by a week from Monday) and Hererra needs a new assignment. Could Daniel Murphy’s apparent injury last night speed up the process? I’ve suggested a few times already this year that the Mets issue 0 before doubling-up 40-man assignments; perhaps that’s the right destination for those whose numerical identities have been stolen.

This week’s callups and additions (Reed, Young, Plawecki plus the intact returns of Erik Goeddel, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Steven Matz, Bobby Parnell and Eric Campbell) put the Mets at 47 players this season. The record in case you’re wondering is 54, set in 1967.

 

68 Guns

68Hi, I don’t want to interfere with the pennant race so I’ll be quick here and acknowledge the return of Dario Alvarez to the big club. Alvarez maintains the same No. 68 he wore last time around and the distinction of being the only man ever to wear that number for the Mets (he’s also the only Dario, and the only Alvarez, in club history. What a trailblazer!). Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Lucas Duda whom I suspect must have been hurting all year and for all I know may have contracted spinal stenosis while sharing a weight-lifting bench with David Wright.

22Also this weekend came word the Mets had dealt for our old friend Eric Young Jr., presumably in anticipation of requiring a Dave Roberts kinda stolen base sometime in September or October. You figure that’ll invite a controversy come September when Kevin Plawecki presumably returns, he inherited Young’s old No. 22 once EYJ was nontendered last season by the Mets.

We hope some additional visibility into this explosive issue in the days to come but would suggest not for the first time this season that the sheer volume of issued jerseys out there increases the likelihood a guy like Young, should he get the call, is looking at the possibility of wearing 0 — or 71.

 

 

 

 

Standing O

44Newly arriving reliever Eric O’Flaherty is reportedly suiting up in No. 44 and as my pal Greg says, let’s hope he’s tougher on lefties than his predecessor in that jersey, the late John Mayberry Jr.

To make room for Flaherty, who was acquired last night for a Player To Be Named Later, the Mets designated Alex Torres and his gigantic hat for assignment, a move freeing up No. 54 for the next guy who wants it.

35In the meantime, keep your eye on the Mets’ starting rotation, which is expected at this time to slot in a 6th starter next time around. Speculation in the radio booth last night said it could be minor league teammates Dillon Gee and Logan Verrett competing for that — and next issue of No. 35. I’d guess at this point that Gee has the inside the inside track to the start, while Verrett, as a member of the 40-man roister, has a rightful claim on 35. But still it would weird to see Gee wearing 54. Baseball’s a funny game.

52 Pickup


Well. How great was that?

52This had to have been the wildest and most stressful Mets Trade Deadline ever (yes, and I was there in ’77!) and these guys are still hanging in there. The latest as you know is that fake-traded emotional erstwhile utility infielder Wilmer Flores just made the Nationals cry, and they’re about to face a Met lineup bolstered by newly acquired slugger Yoenis Cespedes. 

Cespedes is expected to take his customary No. 52 — his digits in all three of his first stops so far in a whirlwind tour of the Majors — while Carlos Torres, Friday’s deserving winning pitcher, is set to become the first ever wearer of the 72 jersey.

72Torres departs as the third and by far most distinguished member of the 52 Club: His predecessors are Tony Clark (following his switch from 00 in 2003) and forgettable reliever Ramon Ramirez, who was acquired in Sandy Alderson’s worst trade. Tonight, that seems like a long time ago.

 

Goggle Up

Don’t look now but the Mets are trying to make the playoffs.

36On Monday they dealt with Oakland for veteran reliever Tyler Clippard, who I’ve hated ever since he Subway Seriesed us as a punk Yankee rookie way back when, and on through several excellent years with the Nationals. Now that he’s on our side I’m naturally terrified he’ll continue to screw us only in a different way but I get that he’d be a good addition to the team, particularly seeing Parnell, Alex Torres and Familia struggle in recent games and Jenrry Mejia be unavailable for the playoffs. He came at the cost of Casey Meisner, a minor league project who might one day make us look bad but is no concern at the present.

The concern as always is what uni number Clippard will wear with his geeky goggles, seeing as his customary 36 is occupied by Sean Gilmartin and his previous No. 19 belonging to recently demoted catcher Johnny Monell.

44But as we’ve seen twice this year already, there’s little they won’t do. There was the Logan Verrett 35 thing, then more recently they simply gave No. 2 to Juan Uribe without even notifying Dilson Hererra (that we know of). So the prediction here, suggested by a reader below actually, is that Clippard gets 36 and Gilmartin takes the vacant 44. Playoffs is serious business!

Woke up this morning to the stunning Tulowitzski news and allowed visions of a Jose Reyes reunion to colonize my mind for a bit but I don’t think it can, or necessarily should, happen. How about Lagares and a pitching prospect to Milwaukee for Carlos Gomez?

Later afternoon update — Clippard’s been issued No. 46. So much for more vicious speculation.

 

Take a Number

55No sooner had I suspected Sandy would deal than he dealt: Two longshot minor league pitchers to the Braves for veteran journeymen Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson. While the pundits figure out what that means to a lineup desperate to corral them (bench Flores? Duda?! Trade Murphy? … yes to all three?!?) a still larger challenge could be figuring out where they’ll fit within the confines of a decreasing supply of viable uni numbers.

44Assuming every man on the 40-man roster retains their assignment, and coaches and existing players don’t switch, and the mothballed numbers (8, 17, 24) remain in limbo the available choices are 0, 00, 44, 46, 55-57, 60-61, 63, 65, and 67-99. That’s not a whole lot of variety!  (44 by the way was just torn from the back of disappointing alleged lefty-masher John Mayberry Jr., who was released to make roster space for the incoming duo).

The histories of Uribe and Johnson give us little to go on: I associate Uribe with No. 5 from his time with the Giants; and Johnson, I have no idea. The Mets will be his 9th team in a 10-year career. If it’s up to me I outfit them in 0 and 00, though I don’t know if that will fly with Mr. Met. More like, I predict one of then (Uribe) takes the No. 6 currently belonging to assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler, Johnson takes 44, and Roessler moves to something like 55. Or maybe Uribe takes 55? What’s your prediction?

Kelly Johnson, by the way, will be the 8th Johnson (and 3rd Kelly) in Mets history, tying the Jones boys (Barry, Bobby J, Bobby M, Chris, Cleon, Randy, Ross and Roadblock) for the all-time Mets surname record. The Johnsons now include Kelly, Ben, Bob L, Bob W, Howard, Lance, Mark and Rob, not to mention the manager Davey.

Los Siete Hernandezes (Anderson, Keith, Livan, Luis, Manny, Orlando and Roberto) are third.

 

30 is the new 1,000

30Congratulations, Michael Conforto! You’re not only the savior of the franchise, you’re also in line to be the club’s 1,000th overall player when you make your debut tonight at Citifield.

To anguished fans beating themselves up over the state of the offense, this promotion will never have come soon enough but if you ask me more changes are likely on the way in the next week or so. Given his remarkable deliberateness in the face of so much (real and manufactured) fan and media outrage, not my admiration for Sandy Alderson is actually growing. Everyone forgets how easy it used to be to either push the Mets into stupid decisions or simply witness the club with its priorities all wrong when they did make a move. This is kind of exciting.

Conforto as been well-reported has been issued No. 30, which is actually one of the rarest numbers under 50 in team history. He’ll be just the 19th player to wear 30, thanks largely to Mel Stottlemyre‘s nine-year occupation in the 80s and 90s.

It’s a number that most recently belonged to Andrew Brown, and most famously represented by Cliff Floyd, but at the risk of dating myself I tend to associate it with Mike Torrez, a bit of a poor man’s Bartolo Colon in the 1980s. It’s also appeared on the backs of a handful of reserve catchers like Brown (he was an emergency catcher, anyway), Alberto Castillo, Raul Casanova and Josh Thole, who eventually became a disappointing starting catcher.

Thirty of course was also retired, by the Angels, in honor of ex-Met and former 30, Nolan Ryan.

30guys