Jon Springer – Page 44 – Mets by the Numbers

Flying Coach

That’s what we did to and from Hawaii and now I’m back. Mets coaches in the meantime are busy flying into new and kinda weird unis, as you guys were astutely noting below.

Hitting coach Dave Hudgens, whose No. 52 went to new reliever Ramon Ramirez, dropped a digit and is now wearing No. 51. First base coach Tom Goodwin has been assigned No. 26 and bullpen coach Ricky Bones takes 25. Tim Teufel, the new third-base coach, is wearing 18 for some reason (an homage to his tormentor and former teammate Darryl Strawberry?) and in a move generating some controversy, new bench coach Bob Geren becomes the first man assigned Jose Reyes’ former No. 7.

Now if were up to me I wouldn’t have given away 7 to just anyone — I was hoping a guy like Reese Havens might be next — but if you want to look for something significant about Geren there’s this: The number with which he has the most equity isn’t 7 but 17: That’s what he wore as as manager of the A’s (and also as a player with the Padres). Considering 17 was also theoretically available for these Mets, its another indication that the organization appears to have turned the corner on Keith Hernandez. That number isn’t going anywhere. No. 8 in the meantime is making a return as a jersey patch honoring Gary Carter, as seen above. Looks nice.

Finally a note on Tom Goodwin. As he explains in this article, Goodwin was one of those players who was wearing 42 as a tribute to Jackie Robinson but was not grandfathered in when Bud Selig made a show of retiring his number leaguewide in 1998. Thanks to EdgyDC for unearthing that.

Meantime, batting practice pitcher Eric Langill and bullpen coach Dave Racianello, previously listed as wearing 53 and 54 respectively, have been reassigned 78 and 79, respectively.

Spring Break

Like the Mets, I’m also flying South this weekend. Only quite a bit West too.

So updates will be infrequent while I take the fam to visit the home of Sid Fernandez, Benny Agbayani, Carlos Diaz, Tyler Yates and the birthplace of Ron Darling. If you happen to see whether my imagined Tim Teufel-Ruben Tejada duel takes place and/or can fill in any other blanks below during the first week of Spring Training, just note so in the comments. Thanks and see you soon!

Gary Carter

I was a freshman in college the night the Mets traded for Gary Carter. The news so excited me that I goaded one of my roommates to stay up all night and celebrate, which for us meant wandering aimlessly around campus all night until stealing a fresh morning newspaper from a bundle left outside a store on Main Street at first light just to read about it. There was never any doubt that his arrival would transform a promising team into an excellent one, and helpme realize a dream I’d harbored all my life until then. That was the power of Gary Carter.

When I presented Gary Carter with a copy of the Mets by the Numbers book at an event in 2008 his thank-you and his handshake were so warm and sincere I could barely believe he meant them. What an impression he made. Marty Noble writing on MLB.com today presents an obituary as forceful and oddly offputting as the Kid himself. What a character.

Mets by the Numbers, 2012

Number	*Player, pos (-NRI)**	Notes
1	Vacant	Available for Tejada if he switches?
2	Justin Turner, inf	Revealed on Twitter he was born at 2:22
3	Josh Satin, inf
4	Mike Nickeas, C	Switches from 13 to accommodate Ronny Cedeno
5	David Wright, 3B
6	Omar Quintanilla*, inf	Wore 6 previously with Colorado
7	vacant	Treading carefully with Reyes’ old number
8	vacant	Maybe this is the year they honor Carter?
9	vacant	Was Ronny Paulino
10	Terry Collins, mgr
11	Ruben Tejada, inf	Could he switch (1, 9) for coach Tim Teufel?
12	Scott Hairston, of
13	Ronny Cedeno, inf
14	retired (Gil Hodges)
15	Val Pascucci*, of
16	Rob Johnson*, C
17	vacant	Would be 2 years straight, something’s up
18	vacant	Just saying: Hard to honor Carter, Hernandez and not Straw
19	Daniel Hererra*, rp
20	Adam Loewen*, of	Ike Davis (29) has asked about acquiring 20 previously
21	Lucas Duda, of
22	vacant	Was Willie Harris
23	Mike Baxter*, of
24	vacant	Limbo for Willie Mays
25	vacant	Was Chin-lung Hu.
26	vacant	Was Fernando Martinez
27	Pedro Beato, rp
28	Daniel Murphy, inf
29	Ike Davis, 1B
30	Josh Thole, C
31	vacant	Limbo for Mike Piazza (and John Franco, kind of)
32	Jenrry Meija	Remember him?
33	Vinny Rottino*, of
34	Mike Pelfrey, sp
35	Dillon Gee, sp
36	Chuck James*, rp
37	retired (Casey Stengel)
38	Garrett Olson*, rp	Was Capuano
39	Bobby Parnell, rp
40	Tim Byrdak, rp
41	retired (Tom Seaver)
42	retired-MLB (Jackie Robinson)
43	R.A. Dickey
44	Jason Bay	He should really change this
45	vacant	Was Isringhausen
46	Manny Acosta, rp
47	Miguel Batista, sp
48	Frank Francisco, rp	Would be first closer in 48 since Randy Myers (or Heilman)
49	Jon Niese, sp
50	vacant	“belongs to the fans” in 50th anniversary season
51	vacant
52	Ramon Ramirez, rp	Mets roster also lists hitting coach Dave Hudgens in 52 (his 2011 uni). Ramirez was 52 for Giants last year
53	Jeremy Heffner, rp	Mets roster also lists bullpen catcher Eric Langill in 53
54	Dave Racianello, bullpen coach
55	vacant	Likely a coach
56	Andres Torres, of	Same number he wore with Giants last year
57	Johan Santana, sp
58	Fernando Cabrera*, rp
59	Dan Warthen, pitching coach
60	Jon Rauch, rp	Same number with Diamondbacks, Twins last year
61	Jordanny Valdespin, inf
62	Lucas May, C
63	Chris Schwinden, sp
64	Josh Stinson, rp
65	Zach Lutz, inf
66	Armando Rodriguez, rp
67	Cesar Puello, of
68	Matt den Decker*, of	Remarked on Twitter he prefers 17 (his college number)
69	vacant
70	Matt Harvey*, sp
71	Wilmer Flores, inf
72	Kirk Niewenhuis, of
73	Robert Carson, rp
74	Reese Havens, inf
75	Juerys Familia, sp
76	Juan Lagares, of
77	DJ Carrasco, rp
78+	vacant

That’s what the current numerical roster looks like, see the notes column for further info.

Numbers Assigned

Just as we suspected, the Mets this morning posted new uni numbers:

73 Robert Carson
75 Juerys Familia
48 Frank Francisco
53 Jeremy Heffner
52 Ramon Ramirez
60 Jon Rauch

Mike Nickeas switches from 13 to 4 and Ronny Cedeno takes 13

71 Wilmer Flores
74 Reese Havens
61 Jordanny Valdespin
76 Juan Lagares
67 Cesar Puello
56 Andres Torres
72 Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Non-roster Invitees with new assignments:
58 Fernando Cabrera
70 Matt Harvey
36 Chuck James
38 Garrett Olson
16 Rob Johnson
62 Lucas May
6 Omar Quintanilla
68 Matt den Decker
20 Adam Loewen
33 Vinny Rottino

Worth noting: Still no 17. 6 back in circulation again, and belonging to a scrub who’s likely to see at least a few innings on the big league roster this year. Top prospects occupying the 70s.

Coaches Tom Goodwin, Tim Teufel, Bob Geren and Ricky Bones still have not received assignments, although its kind of interesting to see Ramirez and Heffner occupying traditional coaching numbers. More on this soon!

Waiting on the Countdown

Still no news on the number front to report, although with just two weeks until pitchers and catchers report you’d expect the Mets begin to fill in the blanks any day now. As previously noted there are 13 players on the current 40-man roster who haven’t received a number assignment. Even following the “buy Andres Torres gear” link from the Mets’ official website doesn’t generate a numbered jersey offer. Is there any doubt this organization is headed for Chapter 11? I’ve really begun to suspect that could be the biggest story of spring training…

In the meantime, I have some projects from friends of MBTN to pass along. Alex Giobbi writes about the Mets, amatuer baseball and other stuff over at Bleacher Report. Alex previously wrote about the Mets on his own “Bleeding Orange and Blue” blog and launched the MBTN Facebook page way back when. One of his recent pieces examines numbers the Mets could retire, in the event you haven’t had enough of that debate yet lately.

There are lists and even more lists in Matthew Silverman’s new book, Best Mets. Matthew worked on the book version of Mets by the Numbers with me and has penned a half-dozen other works on the team including last year’s coffee-table anniversary. Best Mets is unique in that it highlights the lows just as brighly as the highs, so for every recounting of 1986 and 1969 glory, there’s a reminder of 1993 and 1979 torture to accompany it; equal ink is given to the Keith Hernadez trade and the Tom Seaver trade, and so on. It’s non-fiction after all. As with Matt’s other works and his website, its jammed with interesting sidebars and asides that only a fan would know to include. Check it out!

Rooting for Immortality

The troubling news on Gary Carter’s health is raising anew the question of whether — and when — the Mets will get around to retiring No. 8. Thanks to a tip from MBTN commenter “Gored82” in the below story I clicked over to Mike Silva’s Baseball Dige st which was running a poll on fan opinions on the matter. Those readers overwhelmingly approved the idea by a 92% margin, seemingly agreeing with Mike that Carter’s contributions to the 80s success merited the honor even though his tenure was relatively short and his good seasons in a Mets uniform even shorter.

It’s obvious to me the Mets intended to retire No. 8 upon Carter’s enshirement in Cooperstown — they took 8 out of circulation upon his 2003 election — but I suspect they lost their conviction to when Carter went to the Hall “as an Expo” not a Met, and subsequently eschewed an offer to manage the Mets’ farm club in Binghamton. Following that, Carter made remarks in the press that were interpreted as “campaining” for Willie Randolph’s job. Petty squabbles with players? These Mets? In the meantime the re-emergence of Darryl Strawberry and to a lesser extent, Dwight Gooden into the Mets graces, and the ever-growing legend of Keith Hernandez, who becomes a greater Met personality with every broadcast, made the idea of singling out Carter seem unwise. I would guess that the same poll a few years ago would have produced less dramatic results, although still probably favorable, since in my experience, fans just like to see numbers retired. Immortality is something to root for.

I’ve suggested before the Mets “retire” No. 86 as a tribute to the lot of them. I’ve argued long and hard that they re-issue these numbers to appropriate candidates. But what seems more likely right now is they ultimately resolve this by tackling Hernandez and Carter at once.

I discussed this with Mike on his radio show the other night (I follow Steven Travers discussing his Tom Seaver book). Click here to listen to a replay.

Is 17 Retired or Just Taking a Break?

Oftentimes, organizations are best off sticking to their convictions and not giving in to the will of fans, especially when it comes to sensitive stuff like retiring numbers. For the Mets this is an especially vexing dilemma, given that they have so few convictions not to mention so few candidates for number retirement. Fans with opinions, though — they got plenty of those.

I’ve been on record before defending the team’s stinginess when it comes to uni-number retirement. That the Mets are “disrespecting” those players whose numbers aren’t yet retired, or that they lag other teams when it comes to numbers hanging on the walls, are both lousy arguments for taking a jersey out of circulation when the most satisfying remedy lies in the ability to selectively re-issue numbers so as to perpetuate being part of something special. That is, if the Mets were to give No. 17 only to intense, mustachioed, good fielding first basemen; or No. 8 only to charismatic catchers with a flair for the dramatic, there’d be little argument to the notion that Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter are being dissed or forgotten — and maybe there’d be some pressure on the Mets to actually go out and develop one of them now and again.

All that said, the organization may have turned a corner last year when it comes to No. 17. Perhaps giving into fan indignation and recognizing Hernandez’s growing legend for his post-career contributions to the cause of Met-ness, No. 17 was unissued in 2011. It was the first time in 21 years no Met had worn 17.

Ironically the streak that saw 15 different men wear No. 17 over those 21 years — a streak that for many came to symbolize just how ignorant the team could be about these things — began with of all things a tribute to Keith Hernandez: David Cone’s switch from No. 44 early in the 1991 season.

From Cone, who wore 17 until his 1992 trade; 17 went to MBTN hero Jeff McKnight, then onto Bret Saberhagen (1994-95), Brett Mayne (1996) and Luis Lopez (1997-99). This century, 17 has gone almost entirely to bums and scrubeenies who spent a season or less in Met-ville : Mike Bordick (2000); Kevin Appier (2001); Satoru Komiyama (2002); Graeme Lloyd and Jason Anderson (2003); Wilson Delgado (2004); Dae-Sung Koo (2005); Jose Lima (2006); David Newhan (2007) and finally, Fernando Tatis, who on July 4, 2010, in the seventh inning of what was to be a 9-5 Mets win, entered the game as a pinch hitter for Chris Carter — Carter was initally called in to pinch hit for the pitcher before Washington provoked Jerry Manuel by bringing in lefty Sean Burnett — and singled. Following the game the Mets placed Tatis on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder sprain from which he never returned.

That was the last time a 17 appeared for the Mets. Is it permanent? Or just taking a well-deserved break?

Take a Number

With the addition of new reserve shortstop Ronny Cedeno and returning pinch-hitter Scott Hairston — and the subtraction of bungled phenom Fernando Martinez, who will try again with the Astros — the Mets say their 40-man roster is whole again and, they say, unlilkely to undergo any further changes before it all begins again.

It’s not just the weather making it as though like winter never came. The additions to the team were underwhelming enough and the finances bad enough that nobody bothered having a press event beyond conference calls or a caravan which is all well and good but denied us the introduction of new uni numbers until, I suppose, pitchers and catchers report. Following are guys on the 40 who are awaiting a number assignment:

PITCHERS: Robert Carson, Juerys Familia, Frank Francisco, Jeremy Heffner, Ramon Ramirez, Jon Rauch

INFIELDERS: Ronny Cedeno, Wilmer Flores, Reese Havens

OUTFIELDERS: Juan Lagares, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Cesar Puello, Andres Torres

Including the four non-roster invitees who already have number assignments (Miguel Batista, Daniel Hererra, Valentino Pascucci, Mike Baxter) the following numbers (up to 50) are available to issue: 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 31, 33, 38, 45, 48, 50.

That’s 13 guys and 20 numbers if I counted right. If I include additional non-roster invitees (likely to be issued numbers in the 60s or above anyway) it’s 21 guys and 20 numbers. Who will wind up in which?

Santana’s Backup Band

MBTN reader Zach this week sent along the accompanying image of lefty Bob Ojeda warming up in St. Petersburg. They were culled from footage of “A Season to Remember” the 1986 Mets highlight video that I still have on VHS but haven’t watched since having decommissioned my VHS player years ago. Zach pointed out that some angel recently digitized it and that it now resides on YouTube, at least until MLB’s goons get ahold of it.

As you can see in the stills, Ojeda in these shots was wearing No. 43, and not the No. 19 he would wear when the Mets broke camp. The story behind that relates to the Mets’ decision to demote Ron Gardenhire to Tidewater as insurance for starting shortstop Rafael Santana, rather than carry him on the everyday roster — which at the time required the team to carry just 24 players and not 25. (Were that still the case, we wouldn’t now be sweating Ronny Cedeno). Gardenhire, who’d occupied No. 19 for four years but was a regular only in 1982, got the backup nod over another shortstop candidate, Argenis (Angel) Salazar, who was traded to Kansas City the same spring. Salazar had come to the Mets’ system a year earlier in exchange for Jose Oquendo but like Gardenhire in ’86, would be stashed for the season at AAA Tidewater as a backup for Santana.

Gardenhire’s departure — he was demoted just days before the season began and would not return to the Majors until beginning his coaching and managerial tenure with the Twins — gave Ojeda the chance to wear the No. 19 he’d rocked previously in Boston. No. 43 would next alight on the back of John Mitchell that September.

Thanks Zach for the photos and link! Also, be sure to see Matt’s comment below about Gardenhire bequeathing the 19 jersey to Ojeda and making plans for an eventual return. Great stuff!