Ricky Ledee and Dave Newhan have traded places.

Newhan has been struggling while being used the least of the bench players.  He's made a few nice moves out in the field, a couple key hits, but just a couple.  Overall he's hitting just .200 in 50 at bats.

Ledee has been down in AAA NO, and has played 55 games. The injuries at both Shea and NO have resulted in increased time for him, between Gomez and Johnson being up here and Lastings and Johnson having been on the minor league DL, he's been playing everyday. He's hitting .287 down there, with 18 walks and 38 RBI's.  Hopefully he'll be an improvement.

Apparantly I also owe an apology to my brother, who I promised that he'd never see Ledee in a Mets uniform this season. My bad.

Mark Hale at the Post reports than an MLB executive said the Mets would be interested if the Cubs were looking to shop Carlos Zambrano to a location that isn't Wrigley. Zambrano is 5-5 with a 5.62 ERA, and most recently got into fisticuffs in the dugout.

I tend to question the accuracy of this rumor.  The Omar regime at Shea tends to be very hush hush keeping it on the downlow. The vast majority of trades and such that have happened seemed to have come out of nowhere, and most of the things that were rumored (Zito) never ended up happening. So when I see that its coming from an MLB executive, I assume its coming from a Cubs executive. So perhaps its true, or perhaps someone in the Cubs wants Zambrano gone and dropping a team name is a ploy to make someone out there make an offer. Its the Cubs way of saying 'please someone, anyone, take Zambrano off our hands. Our budget is out of control, nobody wants to own us, our manager is crazy, and even the other NL Central teams think we're a joke.”  Of course, I could be drawing too much out of this.

Regardless, as much as there was some Zambrano to NY buzz in the offseason, I don't see this as something happening. I think Omar if anything waits till the offseason before going after any top of the rotation guys, and sticks with Maine and Ollie in the middle, and probably a series of interchangable fifth starters. Sosa has proven more than effective, and we still have a stockpile of other guys we haven't seen (Williams, Humber) or seen just a peak at (Vargas) and even guys who still have another chance coming their way (Pelf).  So short of El Duque or Glav going down with a season ending injury, I can't see a Zambrano level move going down.  And all this, isn't taking into account any personality factors. Would Omar bring a guy who gets in dugout scuffles with teammates to a team he seems to have molded into a more 'team first, everyone has their part' group?

Carlos Gomez credits help from El Duque towards what let him snap his streak of at bats without a hit.  The Post reports that Gomez has been taking pitches from El Duque to better learn how to judge timing of MLB level pitching, and strikes from balls.

Hearing these stories of the vets teaching the rookies just makes you feel all warm inside. Now if El Duque can just do the same thing with Julio Franco, we'll be all good.

Chan Ho Park has been released by the Mets, according to Roto World.

Park was 4-4 with a 5.57 ERA with AAA Zephyrs, and 0-1 with a 15.75 ERA with the Mets. He won his last minor league start, yesterday, against Salt Lake City.

I'm going to miss Chan Ho Park. The way he err…you know…and…yeah. I would assume that his release is a sign that newer acquisition Brian Lawrence has shown signs of better potential. And that any potential deal with Baltimore didn't pan out.  Lets face it, after his performance in his sole time up here, we weren't seeing Park again anyway. Especially considering how well Perez, El Duque and Sosa are doing. Pelf has been looking decent, Vargas is…well, better than Park, by a little. At times. Either way, Park never seemed comfortable on the mound, or with his role in the organization.

thanks to Gary for the link

Anthony DiComa over at mlb.com asks the question: with some of the injured Mets likely to return soon, who will be sent down?  DiComa feels Carlos Gomez will go first, then Ben Johnson.

I'm not entirely sold on Alou being the first one back, but as DiComa points out Gotay is doing well, which makes him being sent down when Stache returns less likely. I think regardless of who returns first of Stache, Green and Alou, Gomez will go down first.  As the young guy who got called up more because the guys ahead of him was hurt, he needs to be playing more.  He's got good speed, and shows signs of potential, but its hard to argue that he's ready.  I doubt they'd send Newhan down, but it'd be nice for him to go before Johnson, or at the very least before Gotay.  Assuming shipping Newhan to AAA isn't an option I think the ideal order of sending down would be Gomez first, then Johnson, then Gotay, regardless of order of returning Mets.

Speaking of which, I think we'll see Stache first, then Green, and Alou last. Just a gut feeling, I have no medical background (short of some shoulder injuries), inside information, or justification. I could very well be wrong. In which case, I'll pretend this post never happened.

Alou's return will most likely be pushed back. He felt some soreness after running in the outfield yesterday and will be getting another exam from his doctor.

Just because you replaced Cliff Floyd, doesn't mean you need to be hurt as much as Cliff Floyd.

There's still no time table on Beltran's return.  He's day to day and will be back whenever he tells Willie he feels good enough to play. 

I feel comfortable with the defense of an Endy, Gomez, Johnson outfield. Even with the lesser experience (I think any one of our normal outfielders has more years than the three of them combined), they have the speed to make up for it, though we'll still see the occasional bad idea play from Gomez. Its more the offense. Gomez is almost 1 for 20 after his successful pinch hit yesterday.  Endy is doing alright, but seemed to be cold for a bit there. And considering they're replacing the three guys who were the most consistent this year.


That all being said,  for the most part they've proved able to come through when needed. Plus we still have the bats of  Wright, Reyes, Delgado , LoDuca.   Beltran's also shown that he only sits when he has to.  He seems to be a pretty stoic guy.  If he's doing well, he's quiet. And if he's a little sore, he's quiet then too,  and seems to play through it. So if Beltran says he needs another day, I think thats the sort of thing  we can trust. This isn't one of those Met teams from the  Bad Times,  these guys  seem willing to do  whats best for the team. So if Beltran is out again today its probably safe to assume he really needs one more to get back into playing shape.

Johnny Maine looks to win one at home toniight, and improve on his 6-2 record.  His strikeouts were back, but he's still walking more than he should, and will have it a little tougher tonight with Beltran and Wright both added to the list of Mets not playing.  But it was a win, and he can hopefully add another against a team he beat last time he saw them, in their own stadium. He faces Brandon Webb (4-3, 3.74 ERA). Webb has been good, though also has had walk related problems this year. Webb has just one victory in eight starts against the Mets, including giving up all six Met runs in his start during the series there.

the Lineup:
SS Reyes
CF Chavez
2B Easley
1B Delgado
C Lo  Duca
3B Franco
LF Newhan
RF Johnson
P Maine

Its all over the place. Paulie is in Wrights spot in the lienup, with a BA thats risen to .319, almost catching up to the cooling Endy who's  still over 300 with a .323. Johnson and Newhan both get the nod over Gomez, who started decently but has struggled while trying to adjust to the MLB level.  We have two guys starting tonight with sub .200 averages (Franco and Newhan. Though not starting, its almost gauranteed that we'll still see Gomez.  With Wright and Beltran both out tonight, our bench is down to Gomez, Castro and Gotay, and Willie doesn't like to use Castro unless he's staying in as the catcher.  Chances are we'll need at least one pinch hitter, short of Maine going 8 or more innings.  So I guess then the ball is in your court John Maine, do you want to burn up our bench, or can you just toughen up, and throw the mets first complete game no hitter? No pressure though.

Game time is 7:10 and can be caught on WFAN or SNY. As always, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers to talk the game, Mets baseball, and what made the Marlins think Benetiz would be a good pick up.

Pedro Martinez is scheduled to throw off the mound for the first time early next week. He's been doing long toss but hasn't thrown from the mound since last season.

By law, there must be at least four Pedro updates a month.

Jose Valentin went 0 for 4 in a make beleive extended spring training game yesterday.

I assume it takes more than one game to shake off the cobwebs of not swinging the that for a few weeks. Though how long exactly can we call it extended spring training? It is June afterall. Its already beach season.

Carlos Beltran is scheduled for an MRI on his knee today.

If we have to throw one of our bloggers into a volcano or something to appease the Injury Gods, then I'm willing to make that sacrafice.  There's like 10 of us here at the Foot, they can have anyone but Sidd. What were teh odds though, Green, Alou and Beltran all at once? Did someone break a mirror by dropping it on a black cat? Or drink Jobu's rum? You think Omar feels like Llyod Bridges in Airplane getting all these injury reports.  Sitting at his desk, gets the call that Beltran's down now too…feeling like he picked the wrong week to quit sniffling glue.

Armando Benetiz has been traded from the Giants to the Marlins. Benetiz had two balks to score Reyes and tie the game, then gave up a homerun to Delgado for the loss in his last outing. The Giants will get Randy Messenger, who in 23 appearances has a 2.66 ERA.

I can only assume that the fine folks who run the Florida Marlins have lost their minds. I can see it from the Giants point of view. If I was the Giants, I'd accept a pitching machine from the local minigolf course and a small bucket of those oversized baseballs if it meant dumping Benetiz. From the Marlins point of view…well, can we drug test GMs and owners?  Hey, Omar, if you're reading this, see if they'll trade Chan Ho Park for the D-Train, because clearly the Marlins are either insane or throwing the season.