Bart Hubbuch of the NY Post’s Mets Blog is reporting that Jose Valentin has called it quits for the remainder of the season.

The 38-year-old infielder called the team Friday night from Triple-A New Orleans and said he plans to take the rest of the season off.

Valentin, cited chronic pain from elbow and neck injuries for his decision to depart the Zephyrs.

In other injury news Adam Rubin of the Daily News is reporting that Angel Pagan may need shoulder surgery and Fernando Martinez is scheduled to return from his hamstring injury tomorrow.

After so many cries for a clubhouse presence, one begins to get sick of hearing about it. Wax poetic all you want about team chemistry and whatnot. The object of the general manager’s position is to put the best players on the field — a task Omar Minaya has not done very well in 2008.

Team chemistry is as immeasurable as clubhouse presence. So why does it feel like media outlets blame the organization when they perceive the team doesn’t gel? And for that matter, why do media and fans alike assume how the team acts behind closed doors? Why do post-game interview soundbytes become the microcosm of the Mets’ clubhouse atmosphere?

On Mets Blog today, a story was linked from The Huffington Post where Dave Hollander talks about “The Cliff Floyd Factor.” Hollander states towards the end of the article that statistics are necessary for baseball, but the headline and discussion of Bill James seems to write them off as silly and secondary to immeasurable core team values.

Hopefully, this idea of a “Cliff Floyd Factor” is simply tongue-in-cheek because the entire notion is ridiculously tunnel-visioned. In the article, there is no mention of any other elements of the teams Floyd played on; it is simply assumed that his undefinable leadership and inspiration drove the team to victories.

Hollander even betrays his own premise in a way. He says when Floyd joined the Marlins, they immediately became that 1997 World Series team. (Obviously, that 1997 team had a huge payroll full of star players, but let’s move on.) Anyway, he then ignores the fact that Floyd remained on the team as Florida headed into the doldrums after their first infamous “fire sale.” He remained a Marlin until 2002.

And of course, the offseason spending of the 2005-2006 New York Mets and the 2007 Chicago Cubs is not mentioned, nor are all the young talent of the Tampa Bay Rays. Hollander admits Floyd is “typically not the best player” on the teams, but I’d say he’s far from the best in his last three seasons.

Look, I’m a fan of Floyd. For whatever reason, he’s a likable player, even if he’s oft injured. But no Mets fan should wonder if he should have remained a Met for his leadership and inspiration. Just because signing Moises Alou (another oft-injured, aging outfielder) was a bad idea doesn’t mean letting Floyd go was a bad idea two years ago.

Moving on to others, there’s obviously been talk of Jose Valentin returning to the Mets this year. If he provides anything more than Damion Easley would, that’ll be surprising. Pretty much the only reason Valentin is even in the cards, it seems, is because of this notion that he’s a good clubhouse presence, particularly to Jose Reyes.

Why is the New York media conditioned to treat Reyes like a toddler? Writers and commentators don’t do this to David Wright. Even when his good friend Floyd left the team and Wright went through that tough April 2007, there wasn’t much talk of Floyd’s departure being the reason. (And for God’s sake, I’m definitely not suggesting it was.)

But with Reyes, it’s always some psychological problem. Well, he’s dancing too much. Well, he’s sulking. Well, he misses Valentin. Well, he needs Rickey Henderson mentoring him. Well, Henderson is hurting him. It goes on and on. As the case with many things, good performance quiets such nonsense, and Reyes seems to be playing well the last few weeks.

Hollander says for successful teams, motivation must come outside of money, the goal of winning and sheer chance. This might seem harsh, but why? This makes it sound like million-dollar athletes on high-payroll teams are only motivated to play well when they feel like it. Or only when their teammates are their best friends. To make a crude analogy, this probably wouldn’t be reasonable in the average workplace.

Fans complaining about roster moves is nothing new. Generally, fans are cautioned to take a “wait and see” approach and not assume to know more than those in administrative positions. But one has to wonder about the recent roster moves the Mets have made.

SNY’s Ted Berg wrote a fantastic column about this issue earlier in the week. He argued that it didn’t make sense to bring up Abraham Nunez to the Mets because the Mets already have a utility infielder (Damion Easley), third base is a position the Mets don’t need backed up (David Wright has played in every game), and “everybody” was hitting better than Nunez in Triple-A New Orleans. These are all fantastic arguments and sentiments that should be echoed to end the lunacy of the Mets’ front office.

Not only all that, but the move is made worse by the fact that Ryan Church has been once again out of action. One could argue that playing Nick Evans was a bad move, but at least he’s an outfielder. Now the Mets are actually down one outfielder, unless the Nunez move was made to accommodate Easley starting more in the outfield. But why would you do that when there are multiple Triple-A outfielders within the organization that would contribute more than Nunez? Again, this all makes no sense.

I wrote an article earlier this week about how Raul Casanova has inexplicably gotten all the pinch-hitting opportunities, while Ramon Castro has gotten none. That made no sense. It got worse when Casanova went on the bereavement list earlier this week after the passing of his father. Desperately not wanting to lose that third catcher, the Mets brought up catcher Robinson Cancel.

Now, one might think, why do the Mets want these three catchers? But at least its temporary. And after all, there’s no way Cancel will actually see action. He’ll just be an emergency 3rd catcher, like Casanova should have been, until Casanova comes back.

But wait, Cancel did get an at-bat. There was a pinch-hitting opportunity in Friday’s Mets vs. Padres game. Not that it would make it acceptable, but this wasn’t a lead-off at-bat. Mets killer Randy Wolf had baffled the Mets all night. In a situation with two men on and one out in the 7th, Castro sat on the bench while Cancel took a bat. The journeyman catcher who has only 45 at-bats in his entire career grounded out.

This is where one starts to think that Mets fans could (possibly) make better decisions than this.

Cancel was on the roster for multiple games this week. He’s gone now, but Casanova is back. That’s the same dumb situation. It doesn’t make sense to have three catchers when Castro isn’t getting pinch-hit at-bats, and quite frankly, it wouldn’t be worth it even if he was. Brian Schneider has fallen to earth. Just have Schneider and Castro swap out starts as situations and match-ups warrant it. Keep only two catchers on the roster and use the other freed up spots for people who actually earn playing time.

I thought the Mets really progressed when they let Jorge Sosa go, despite his major league service, and kept the more effective Joe Smith, who has earned a roster spot. But with this bench mess, maybe the organization has regressed. After all, another bad roster move can be easily seen on the horizon. Hello, Jose Valentin. He brings just what the Mets need — more utility infielders.

For those who haven’t heard the news, Jose Valentin , The Stache, has been moved to AAA. Valentin, who said he would retire rather than waste a half season rehabbing, has spent the season to date rehabbing in St Lucie. One would assume if he was moved up, it’d be at the expense of Nunez .

Its a tough call here. I like the Stache. Who doesn’t. He’s one of those tough guy old school players. He seems like he’ll play through most anything, hustle, and enjoys a good laugh. He’s a guy that could probably bring in some of the mentality the Mets need, the get out there, bust your ass, kick butt, take no prisoners type of deal. No offense to the Carloses, well, no offense to Beltran, but they just don’t bring it. Beltran too will generally quietly play through sprains, pulls, pain, etc, but he doesn’t bring the ability to push other, younger players. Plus, there’s the Stache. Its pretty sweet.

On the other hand, lets face it, he won’t be contributing much offense. Sure, he’ll have no problem sacrificing himself to get men over. But I wouldn’t expect much more than a low to mid 200 average. If he could muster up some hits while starting the one or two times a week Castillo needs to rest his knees it would be worth the consideration. But for a team thats showing signs of struggling in part due to an aging hurting roster, is bringing back an aged hurting utility man worth it for the leadership he’ll bring?

Overall, a Stache return could be good in the short run. If his words and example can help motivate what often seems like an aimless offense, then I’d say sure, let Stache join the club. But temporarily. That roster spot needs for the long term go to a younger, less likely to break in two player.

Jayson Stark writes in his recent article assessing the first third of the season that the Mets are missing a key clubhouse leader in Jose Valentin.

“Not having Jose Valentin might be the biggest difference between this team and the 2006 team,” said one baseball man. “He not only played well. He’s a tough guy. He kept other players in line. And he added to the toughness and the winning attitude of that team. You look around that clubhouse now, and there’s not one guy like that.”

Two different NL scouts told Stark that its time for the Mets to give up on Carlos Delgado, one describing watching him these days as “sad.” The other said the following

“He can’t field. And he can only hit [mistakes]. Anybody who can throw the ball with any

velocity at all throws it right by him.”

The Stache was a big influence on Jose Reyes and I would love to see him return soon. Word is he could be back with the club shortly, and has already begun rehabbing in minor league games.

Remember Jose Valentin?

According to Adam Rubin, Stache has been cleared to resume partaking in baseball related activities. According to his blog, he’ll be limited to long toss and hitting off a tee for now.

This actually surprises me. I kind of assumed Stache gave up and retired. We really haven’t heard that much from him, which is why I jumped to the conclusion. Last I recall, he was saying that he’d retire before spending a half season rehabbing, especially since even post rehab he might not be able to get a roster spot.

Appearing before tonight’s game, SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt reported that Willie Randolph told him that Brian Schneider is about “60 percent and will not catch tonight”.

On Jose Valentin, Burkhardt said that Valentin has no problem swinging from the right side, but the pinched nerve gives him problems from the left side.

Jose Valentin will be headed to NY to get some tests done on a pinched nerve. According to John Delcos, if Stache requires surgery he will retire rather than go through the process of rehabbing and trying to find a new contract.

Valentin on the situation, courtesy of Adam Rubin:

“Give a chance to a young kid. … My career has been good enough. Move on. Plan B. Coaching, taking care of my kids, living ‘la vida loca.’”

Stache seems like a good guy, but he seems to have become a little too injury prone and I think he’s placed his last step on the field as a player. Maybe he can have a word with Keith, get a endorsement from Just for Men. I bet they need a guy for their commercials on the Spanish network. Apenas Para Los Hombres con Jose Valentin.

Jose Valentin tells Newsday today that despite having signed a minor league contract, he will not play in AAA this season. The Great Mustached One will either retire or pursue work elsewhere should he be healthy and still not have a space on the Mets 25 man roster.

“I mean, I’m not going down there because they say I don’t make it. I don’t have to prove something in Triple-A. Money-wise, it’s not a big deal. I think that if I just shut it down right now and retire, I’ve still got enough money to live the rest of my life.”

Stache joined the team originally as a bench player, and due to injuries to Kaz and the inability of Anderson Hernandez to hit, became the everyday second basemen. He proved to be quite the player defensively as well as proving some hitting as well. Stache lost his spot in the lineup after breaking a bone on a foultip, resulting in the Mets acquiring Castillo.

Dave Lennon of Newsday adds more to our ever growing list of injury updates.  Jose Valentin is expected to participate in Sundays game, on top of which his Stache is rumored to allready be in July form.

Carlos Delgado is fielding and hitting, with still no date in sight for return.  Quote from Delgado via Lennon:

“I don’t want to do anything stupid too early in spring training”

Slowly but surely we might finally have a baseball team.

From Rubin’s blog, Stache on the injured WFAN broadcaster Ed Coleman:

“You’re not hurt, you’re just making fun of us.”

Mark Hale of the Post reports that Jose Valentin has agreed to terms with the Mets. As mentioned previously, his new contract is for the minors, but with a spring training invite. He would receive a bonus if he made the Mets roster.

Hale reports that Valentine will most likely not resume baseball activities till mid-March.

No such thing as too many backups, as we learned last year. And while I don’t see Jose returning as the full time secondbasemen, should Gotay or Castillo hit the DL it will provide us with a decent defensive second basemen, one with some more offensive possibilities than Anderson Hernandez, who most likely will never be able to hit on a major league level.

If it turns out Castillo and Gotay stay healthy and productive all year, well its a minor league deal that didn’t really cost the team anything. Plus, we’ll at least catch him on a few of those televised spring training games and his rocking Stache.

According to El Nueva Dia via MetsBlog, the Mets are close to re-signing Jose Valentin.

According to Matt Cerrone at MetsBlog, the deal will probably not be guaranteed.

I can’t see him making the team as of now, behind Luis Castillo and Ruben Gotay but anything non-guaranteed is fine by me. Plus, if he ever gets to play 2B again, him and Jose Reyes up the middle: The Flash and The Stache, is just so catchy.

According to rotoworld, the Mets declined arbitration on Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green, Mike DiFelice, Aaron Sele, Jeff Conine, Sandy Alomar Jr, and Jose Valentin. Reports from last month indicated that Jeff Conine was planning on retiring.

No surprises here. With the acquisition of Church and Schneider, that left no room for Lo Duca, Green and our pair of minor league catchers. Likewise, the Castillo deal combined with Stache’s heath problems pretty much sealed his fate. Of the list, chances are only Green and Lo Duca end up on a MLB 25 man roster next season.