The return of Darryl Hamilton from the disabled list tonight means a bittersweet reassignment for Matt Franco, expertly described by The Village Voice earlier this year as “even beginning to look like Rusty Staub.” No. 15 hits the road as the Mets’ third all-time leader in pinch hits behind Rusty and Ed Kranepool. We’ll miss him. In case you forgot, Hamilton is still wearing No. 18.
Trade Winds
Wow. The Mets today fleeced Baltimore in a trade for shortstop Mike Bordick. Bordick, whose familiar No. 14 is retired for Gil Hodges, will instead wear No. 17. The Mets parted with good guy Melvin Mora — opening No. 6 for a potential record 26th issue? — as well as No. 33, Mike Kinkade, and two minor leaguers.
The Mets then sent No. 11, Jason Tyner, and Paul Wilson, to Tampa Bay for Rick White and Bubba Trammell. White already has an excellent chance to become the team’s greatest No. 51 of all time — his chief competition being Mel Rojas. Trammell took jersey No. 33. Best of all, this move allowed the Mets to designate Rich Rodriguez and his cursed No. 46, for assignment.
Grant’s Tomb
Grant Roberts today had a Major League debut to forget, coughing up 6 runs in just 1 1/3 innings before a well-deserved return to Norfolk. Roberts became the 18th No. 36 in team histrory, and the first since Greg McMichael last year. The good news: A no-decision to go along with a 40+ ERA.
That Dog Ain’t Larkin
Just when it appeared the Mets would add the 25th No. 11 to the annals, Barry Larkin admitted he’d prefer to stay and underacheive along with Junior Griffey under a cheapskate owner, in that ugly stadium in Cincinnati. Oh well. MBTN will be all over Steve Phillips’ next move, whatever that is.
Handbags and Gladrags
So I underestimated the Mets’ appetite for risk at this point and was mildly surprised to see they let Rod Barajas go to the Dodgers on a waiver deal. Andy Martino’s story in the Daily News this morning suggested the team interpreted this move as white flag waving: They must also be getting their news from the traditional sources which in my opinion have really struggled with the narrative for the 2010 Mets: Take for example Adam Rubin’shodgepodge of unrelated stories disguised as a trend piece on ESPN today, complete with the same tired headline we’ve been reading on these stories since the Alejando Pena Era (no other reason for the photo) and the lack of perspective to note that lots of teams (the Yankees, for example) wind up with a different bullpen than the one they set out to create, and its barely hurt either club a bit.
Yawn.
If you ask me, there’s been little mystery as to the Mets offensive struggles this year: Most has to do with the fact they rolled the dice on a third of the lineup off the bat (right field, catcher and first base) and knew going in that any offense second base had limited upside. That’s half an everyday lineup that might not turn out so well, and it didn’t: That’s not too mysterious. Really, the only real outliers have been Angel Pagan on the upside and Jason Bay on the downside. Barajas, who briefly led the Mets in home runs (and the world in foul home runs) will be remembered for his crazy hot start but a pretty harsh return to career norms. His trade meant a recall for outfielder Jesus Feliciano.