Robinson Cancel has once again rejoined the Mets, he’ll replace Chris Aguila on the roster. Aguila has been DFA’d. A career .280 hitter, Aguila has two hits in twelve at bats so far this season.

One would assume that the team wishes to use Castro as a pinch hitter more, with Schneider behind the plate. Especially since Castro has done well as of late, with three multihit games so far in July. Castro is hitting .333 for the month, .348 in day games, and .379 against lefties.

ESPN is reporting that the Brewers and Indians have reached an agreement that will send CC Sabathia to the Brewers. In a deal similar to the one that brought Santana to the Mets, the Indians will receive prospects including AA outfielder LaPorta. The other players involved have either not been named or merely not released at this time.

If I’m the Chicago Cubs, this is when I get nervous. Considering they’re a club with a long history of falling apart, the Brewers acquisition of what was considered the top free agent pitcher of the upcoming off season has to be a bit worrisome. The Brewers always have the possibility of making a decent run, through their standard use of small ball, sacrifice bunts, and other nonexciting ways to victory. Which is probably better than the Mets way of big names and spectacular implosions.  The only big question now is should Sabathia lead them to their first post season since the Reagan administration, will they lock him into an extension?

Since the Mets aren’t the only team with rumors and speculation following them around:

ESPN reports the Mariners have fired their GM, Bill Bavasi, with VP Lee Pelekoudas taking over. Seattle currently has the worst record in baseball. Bavasi was stuck with an aging team and a depleted farm system, which he was unable to turn around.

Hmm…aging roster, depleted farm system, looks like Omar has a pen pal.

The Rangers released Sidney Ponson, who was DFA’d back on the 6th. According to the AP, Ponson was cut for his poor attitude. He was 4-1 with a 3.88 ERA in 9 starts, much better than his performance last year with the Twins. Ponson had been signed to a minor league contract by Texas.

The Mets made some roster moves today…

Courtesy of Metsblog.

The Demoted:

• P Nelson Figueroa
• P Jorge Sosa

The Promoted/Activated:

• P Claudio Vargas
• P Matt Wise
• IF Fernando Tatis

The DLed:

• OF Angel Pagan

Vargas, not Adam Bostick, will start tomorrow’s game…

Brady Clark has been DFA’d, to make room for Gustavo Molina who joins the team as a backup catcher.

This seems like an odd choice, I assume they are avoiding placing Schneider on the DL, which I guess indicates there are preliminary test results of a nature that indicate he’ll be healthy very soon. In which case, sure. Clark was probably gone in a few days anyway, if the Alou rumors are true. Then we get a few days of Molina warming the bench and probably not getting any at bats at all, but if Schneider does go on the DL, then I’m lost.

Rosters for everyone!

Mike Pelfrey will be your fifth starter. Brady Clark is your bench guy. Joe Smith is in the bullpen. We’ll keep updating you as more news roles in, most of which while just be the likely DL moves and corresponding roster awards (ie Castro and Casanova). Info courtesy of John Delcos at LoHud.

After all the speculation that Fernando Tatis had edged ahead, it goes back to the expected, and Clark gets the nod. Its a good move, Tatis is a one trick pony, Gotay’s waivel was a bad idea, and Tatis will never live up the almost decade old hype and expectations. 

Joe Smith is no real surprise either, having done well at least in the first half last year. Now lets see if he can stay on his game for a full season instead of a half one, if he’s lost that dead arm problem. Though it could be pointless since Dirty Sanchez will in theory be ready in a few weeks. From the first half last year though, Smith looked good, and he seemed to work well in a role where he’s paired with Feliciano. Though one two Smith Pedro punch seemed quite effective.

 Lastly, Big Pelf. Its safe to assume Duq will hit the DL within the hour. Even Pelf admits he faltered at springs end and that Duq healthy goes to play. But here’s your chance Mike. Stop tipping your pitches, start getting some outs, and this spot could be yours. Duq is a stubbed toe away from retirement, especially since a stubbed toe with his delivery will probably cause his entire leg to fall off. 

Gustavo Molina, of the non famous Molina family, has been reassigned to minor league camp. We are contractually obligated to remind you he is not related to any of the 100 famed Molina catchers, not even Benji.

Reed Johnson will not be a Met. Why you ask? Because he’s a Cub. According to the MLB website, the Chicago Cubs have signed him to a one year deal.

No terrible surprise here, since Omar seemed pretty happy giving the shot to Angel Pagan, who has been doing pretty good so far in the spring. At least now we know he’ll definately make the roster.

The Mets reassigned four more players to minor league camp yesterday, none of whom were realistic shots to start the season with the Mets anyway. Fernando Martinez was the only big name given his traveling papers and a hug goodbye from Omar. He will be reassigned to AA Binghamton, home of the only Mets with Bees on their uniform.

Tony Armas, having joined the team this week due to visa issues (the legal residence kind, not the plastic charge card), Nate Field and Joselo Diaz round out the group that was reassigned as well. Neither was believed to have received a hug goodbye from Omar.

Former Met reliever Armando Benitez has signed a minor league contract with the Blue Jays. Benetiz had a 2.70 ERA with the Mets before being traded for…well, no one really. A bunch of guys who combined appeared in six Met games.

Benitez is best known for choking in big games, and for that time he was with the Giants and balked Jose Reyes twice.

Good look, and remember: they call ham bacon there, and maple syrup goes on everything. Who are we kidding, I’ll see you in Syracuse when the Jays realize thats the highest level you deserve to play at.

Adam Rubin reports that the first group of guys not making the roster have been sent over to the minor league camp. According to Rubin the players cut are Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Brant Rustich, Ivan Maldonado, Adam Bostick and Mike Nickeas.

First round of cuts means…nothing. Absolutely nothing. These were guys who weren’t going to be making the active (or the 40 man) roster anyway, short of the 50 or so people ahead of them all boarding a flight for that Lost island or something. But its good to see Ivan Malonado is off in the system, should they need to fill the ‘name no one call spell’ roster spot that has been shared by Show and Amburglar.

Deadspin reports that former Met Super Joe McEwing has retired.

Super Joe was traded to the Mets from the Cards, for 86 Met Jesse Orosco. Super Joe went 277 consecutive games without commiting an error, and was the Met most hit by a pitch in 2001. Never hitting more than .283 (he had a .243 average as a Met), he was released in the spring of 2005 after five seasons as a Met. He has since played with the Royals and Red Sox.

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.

Catching instructor Tom Nieto has been officially named the new first base coach, as reported by Anthony DiComo at mlb.com.  Nieto has been the catching instructor for three years and had also worked with Willie Randolph on the Yankees. He has been brought to the Mets by Randolph when he was named Mets manager.

Seems like a good move, Nieto will help the team with its D, has done well with the catchers in the past, and more importantly is a Willie guy. Giving Randolph a coach of his choosing should help him get things done.