Jon Springer – Page 88 – Mets by the Numbers

New Roster Posted

Thanks to Matt for the tip — Mets.com has posted a new roster page, assigning numerals to the 40 men on the 40-man. Though these lists have proven unreliable in the past, they’re usually fun and sometimes surprising. Right off the bat, we’re surprised to see Damion Easley be assigned No. 3 when he’s more often associated with No. 2 (even though the latter belongs to Sandy Alomar); and Scott Schoeneweis listed in 36 rather than his customary 60. We wouldn’t be surprised to see either change before the bell rings on the new season.

Other new guys and their alleged numbers:

Jon Adkins 39
Adam Bostick 72
Ambiorix Burgos 40
Jorge Sosa 29 (goodbye, Steve Trachsel)
Jason Vargas 43
Ruben Gotay 6 (poifict!)
Carlos Gomez 61
Ben Johnson 4
David Newhan 17

Points of interest in Nonroster Inviteeland:
Aaron Sele 35
Mike DiFelice 30 (this would be his 3rd number in 3 calls for the Mets)
Ruben Sierra 19 (yes, Ruben Sierra)

Catching Up

With Cliff Floyd’s departure to Chicago, it may be interesting to see whether Willie Randolph alights in the now-vacant No. 30 or stays with the 12 he’s worn as a Met player and manager (in his playing days, 30 belonged to Mel Stottlemeyer; Willie was 30 with the MF Yankees most of his career).

Alert MBTN reader Richard informs us that Mets.com is offering the Jose Valentin jersey in No. 22 — the switch from 18 we expected following the Moises Alou signing earlier this off-season.

Hello to new arrivals and/or spring auditionees Scott Schoeneweis, Aaron Sele, Jorge Sosa and David Newhan.

While Schoeneweis falls one letter short of the all-time Met record for characters on a name plate (ISRINGHAUSEN, with 12 still leads the pack), if his form holds true the veteran loogy would become the first player in Met history to wear No. 60. We’re kind of shocked to see him get a three-year contract.

The well traveled Sele, who signed a minor-league deal, has worn 30, 34, and last year with Los Angeles, 41. Sosa, who was pretty good for the Braves in ’05 and horrendous with them last year, is yet another former No. 34. We last saw the 34 jersey on Mike Pelfrey, who just might make the starting rotation.

Newhan, often described as a Joe McEwing type, wore No. 11 with the Orioles, as McEwing had in his last years as a Met. Eleven currently belongs to reserve catcher Ramon Castro, who was re-signed recently along with Endy Chavez 10; Duaner Sanchez 50; and, to another minor-league deal, the immortal Mike DiFelice.

Hojo Returns, Bannister Traded

For the second winter in a row, the Mets traded a soft-tossing starter who wore No. 40 for a hard-throwing young reliever who wears No. 50. While last year it was Jae Seo to Los Angeles for Duaner Sanchez, this time it’s Brian Bannister to Kansas City in exchange for Ambiorix Burgos.(Yes, we know Seo’s turn in No. 40 was a few changes ago, but we couldn’t resist all the spooky parallels). We’ll wish good luck to Bannister, who showed a lot of heart in an unexpected rookie campaign with the Mets, and hope that Burgos can cut down on those home runs allowed and wild pitches.

The Winter Meetings also brought word that ex-Met Howard Johnson would serve as the first-base coach next season, with Sandy Alomar crossing the diamond to third base to take the place of the departed Manny Acta. We’ll be watching to see which jersey Hojo turns up in, noting that his former No. 20 belongs today to outfielder Shawn Green.

More Numbers Confirmed: Thanks again to Gordon, who mailed along a scan of a scorecard from the opening series of the 1977 season including the listing of Ray Sadecki wearing No. 33. While this number wasn’t especially difficult to remember (that Sadecki wore 33 is in fact about the only thing we can recall of the guy) finding independent confirmation was a bit ornery and so we’re thankful to have it.

Bob L. Miller Returns

Thanks to eBay fiends Gordon, Pete and Jason who all shot us a copy of a Cubs scorecard up for bid on E-bay from the final series of the 1973 season, confirming long-held suspicions that Bob L. Miller wore No. 30 in his second go-round with the Mets. Miller was an original 1962 Met and the team’s first wearer of the No. 24 jersey but was cashiered after a 1-12 season for what one writer cracked was “half an infield” — Tim Harkness and Larry Burright — only to go on to a pretty fair career as a reliever for eight more teams and 11 more years before returning to the Mets in a waiver deal for the final two weeks of the 1973 season. By then, his No. 24 belonged to Willie Mays.

As the Winter Meetings begin and the possibility of seing the Mets’ first-ever No. 75 are high, the Mets welcomed back Tom Glavine 47 and bid farewell to free agent Chris Woodward 4, Cliff Floyd 30, Steve Trachsel 29, Chad Bradford 53 and Roberto Hernandez 39. Of these men, we’ll obviously miss Floyd most of all, whom we wouldn’t have guessed would grow so Metly when he arrived in the Winter Meetings four years ago. The Mets are also expected to name a third-base coach shortly, seeing as Manny Acta 3 a few weeks back was named manager of the Washington Nationals. The Mets reportedly are considering Howard Johnson and Gary Carter, among others, to take Acta’s role.

Skip to Alou

Quick update on the first Met Uni Controversy of the 06 offseason: Veteran outfielder Moises Alousigned a 1-year deal today and was presented with the No. 18 jersey. That number belonged last season to Jose Valentin, who was also re-signed recently. Newsday relates that Valentin willingly surrendered the digits after learning who asked for them: “You tell him he’s got the number.”

The guess here is that Valentin resurfaces in No. 22, a number that last season belonged to Xavier Nady then to Michael Tucker.

In other news the Mets dealt Nov. 15 for outfielder Ben Johnson (No. 4) and pitcher Jon Adkins (No. 57) of the Padres: Going to Petco are relievers Heath Bell 19 and Royce Ring 43. Should Johnson make the roster, he could remain in No. 4 since it doesn’t appear Chris Woodward is coming back. The Mets further cleared their roster of homegrown relief prospects by sending a pair of hard-throwers, Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom, to Florida for two lefty projects: Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick. Owens made a brief appearance for the Mets last season wearing No. 36; we might have smelled a deal cooking in back in September when the Mets issued that number to a backup catcher, Kelly Stinnett. Vargas, who wore No. 56 for the Marlins last season is the guy with the best chance to make something of himself though he hasn’t done so yet. Bostick has yet to crack the majors.

Also: Vetejourneyutilityman Damion Easley was added as a free agent. Easley’s been everywhere, man, but most recently in Arizona and Florida, he was wearing No. 2. That number currently belongs to coach Sandy Alomar.

Updates

By now everyone knows the Mets will be Pedro-less for the playoffs but let’s be honest: That doesn’t surprise us. He hasn’t been healthy for a long while, and though it would be nice if the Real Pedro was with us, we’ve been more concerned about the lineup than the pitching all year long, even while they made it look easy and now, especially, as they make it look difficult.

Stuff we neglected to mention recently: Ramon Castro 11 returned from the disabled list Sept. 12; Kelly Stinnett 36 was designated for assigment Sept. 27 and Phillip Humber 49 made his big-league debut Sept. 24. Along with the return of Mike Pelfrey 34 to the (nominally) active roster, the ’06 Mets have 36 active players on their roster at once, which ties them with three other Met clubs for the second-most ever, according to Met roster historian Jason:

The only time they’ve had more was in 1967 (38 active). Too bad they didn’t recall Henry Owens & Alay Soler, they could have tied their franchise record! The only other players left on the 40-man are Matt Lindstrom & Ruben Gotay.

Active Players on September Rosters:

38…………..1967
37
36…………..1974, 1985, 2002, 2006
35…………..1965, 1980, 1984, 1987, 1998, 1999
34…………..1966, 1969, 1971, 1982, 1983, 2001
33…………..1970, 1972, 1981, 1989, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003
32…………..1963, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2004, 2005
31…………..1962, 1991
30…………..1968, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1995
29…………..1976
28
27
26…………..1964
25…………..1994 (strike)

The Answer is ño

Only a matter of hours after posing the question MBTN readers came through with the definitive proof: Willie Montañez went tilde-less during 1979, as shown in this screen capture sent in by on-the-spot reader Paul C. Interestingly, this cap came from the same ’79 opening-day footage that Paul provided earlier to solve the Jesse Orosco 61 controversy: It’s also first day the Mets (except for young Orosco) ever wore their names above their numbers. That font by the way looks a lot chunkier than that which we’ve become accustomed to, and we needen’t get into the icky use of a separate nameplate. That’s a lot of mileage from a single game.

Greg (you should read his blog) in the meantime confirmed Rory’s earlier contention that Alex Treviño in 1980 was the first Met to sport a tilde. Others, according to Rory: Roger Cedeño, Rey Ordoñez, Alejandro Peña, Edwin Nuñez and Fernando Viña.

If the above interests you then by all means you should be reading the Uni Watch Blog, where recent discussion involves nameplates bearing the æ and ø characters.

Thanks also to Stephen (and Steve) for the updates to the Uni-Controversies list: Both guys wrote recently to remind that Rusty Staub waited patiently (three years!) for the Mets to finally trade Duffy Dyer and assume the No. 10 jersey he wore. Stephen also recounts that Jeff Reardon requested No. 41 when he arrived as a Met and couldn’t understand that if it hadn’t been retired yet why equipment manager Herb Norman wouldn’t issue it to him. “So he settled for 45. Apparently, Norman didn’t feel the same way about Tug McGraw.”

Final Update: Reports this morning say Mike Pelfrey 34 was in fact not recalled but is attending to a sore back in St. Lucie.

Humber’s Number (and Willie Montanez)

As threatened, the Mets recalled the six men below in time for yesterday’s rainout. New arrivals Kelly Stinnett and Phillip Humber were dressed in Nos 36 and 49, respectively. (Thanks to readers Lou and Michael for the updates). Both numbers have been issued previously this season: Henry Owens wore 36 during his brief callup and 49 belonged briefly to Roberto Hernandez before he could pry 39 from Pedro Feliciano. In addition to being the digits favored by knuckleballers, 49 tends to be a relief pitcher’s number for the Mets — you have to go back until 1984 and Walt Terrellto find a regular starter who wore it, though Humber for the short term looks destined for spot-starts and relief work anyway.

Stinnett, who wore 33 for the Mets in 1995, becomes the latest member of the two-time Met club.

The following is excerpted from a note from reader Rory:

Willie Montañez — I know the ñ is definitely part of his family name, but I’m not entirely sure whether the team sewed the tilde on too. Somebody told me that the Mets only started sewing names on their uniforms in 1979, and so that left only part of that season where Willie could have sported a tilde as a Met. Are there any pictures to prove it one way or the other?

Though we doubt we’d find a tilde if we found a picture (the ’79 Mets, like this site, were lazy with that kinda thing), we haven’t found a picture. Can anyone help?

Meaningful Games in September

Now that September has arrived, the Mets are reportedly looking to promote several minor leaguers, in addition to Heath Bell 19 and Royce Ring 43, who were activated Friday.

Considering Sunday’s performance by Mike DiFelice 6, there’s little doubt catcher Kelly Stinnett will be among them: Stinnett is a returning Met who was last seen wearing No. 33 in 1995 (that number currently belongs to John Maine). Also slated to return, reports say, are Lastings Milledge 44, Mike Pelfrey 34, Brian Bannister 40, Ricky Ledee 9, and newly arriving prospect Phillip Humber.Humber, should he see action, would become the 799th man to play in a Met uniform: Barring any additional shenanigans, that means we’re likely to see the 800th Met on opening day next year.

Postseason Positioning

The Mets yesterday made the Anderson Hernandez promotion official, temporarily sending down lefty Dave Williams 32 to make room for him. Williams is expected to return in time for his next start. The recall comes in time to make Hernandez, who was dressed in No. 1, eligible for the postseason roster, along with the 12 other current position players and disablees Cliff Floyd 30 and Ramon Castro 11.

Having not called up recent signee Kelly Stinnett suggests the team is confident in Castro’s return, though reports this morning say Stinnett’s likely to be recalled now that rosters are exandable and Norfolk’s season is winding to a close.