Ruben Tejada: From postseason inspiration to victim of Mets' cheapness

We'll always have Ruben Tejada walking onto the field on a broken leg with his Mets-themed cane to help inspire the Mets to the World Series. But we won't have infield depth with Asdrubal Cabrera on the DL and David Wright not having played in a game yet because the Mets apparently think that shedding Tejada's $3M salary is more important, now that the Mets have placed Tejada on waivers. If he is not claimed, the Mets are expected to release Tejada 15 days before the start of the season to get out of paying him all but 30 days worth of his salary (about half a million).
(Update: Tejada went unclaimed and was just released.)

While Wilmer Flores can fill in for Cabrera, the backup for Wright could be none other than Eric Campbell, who started 39 games for the Mets at third last year. For the year, Campbell hit .197 and helped the Mets to the worst hitting attack in the league in the first half of the season. He also made eight errors at third.
 
I had hoped that the days of the Eric Campbells and John Mayberry Jrs. were over. That the Mets would no longer have such a pathetic bench that last season's deadline trades for backups Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson were hailed as game-changers because they were actually major league-caliber.

Maybe Matt Reynolds or someone else from the farm system is ready to step up. Maybe Wright is going to be fine and Cabrera will not be out long. But even if the Mets genuinely feel they do not need Tejada, they need to get some value out of him. The Cardinals apparently do not want to take on that contract. But did the Mets offer to pay some or all of Tejada's salary? I assume not.

Dumping players with some value for nothing is bad business. The Mets did not need Jon Niese and wanted to shed his salary, but they were able to turn Niese into Neil Walker.

But when Dillon Gee fell out of favor, he ended up getting released. Now Gee could make the Kansas City bullpen, which last year was only the best in baseball.

Tejada may not seem that valuable now, but Justin Turner seemed like no great loss when the Mets parted ways with him, and wouldn't it be nice to have him shoring up the infield right about now, or at least to have gotten something back for him.

Now the Cardinals can pick Tejada up on the cheap if they are so inclined to help fill the void left by Jhonny Peralta's injury.  I just hope St. Louis does not end up edging the Mets out of the postseason by a couple of games as a result.

Contest: Win a Ruben Tejada autographed baseball gift package, courtesy of Verizon

Thanks to our friends at Verizon, one of our lucky readers can win a Ruben Tejada autographed baseball prize package! Here's what you'll get in the gift package if you win:

• Ruben Tejada autographed baseball 
• Mets cap (official MLB World Series edition)
• Lipstick-sized phone charger 
• Big League Chew gum
• Black Verizon tote

Here is what you need to do if you want to win this: send an email to subwaysquawkers@gmail.com with the subject line "LGM" and your name and mailing address info in the body of the email.

This contest is only open to readers in the continental U.S. Please enter between now and tomorrow (Friday, October 30) at 5:00 p.m. We will pick a winner at random before Game 3 of the World Series Friday.

You may remember that Verizon got me into a sweet Citi Field suite on Opening Day, and lent me a Verizion Ellipsis 8 tablet to take pictures with (my shocking shot with Mr. Met came from the camera in the tablet!) Incidentally, if you are in the market for a tablet, I highly recommend the Ellipsis 8. And don't forget the Verizon charging station at Citi Field: I have used it more than once to charge my iPhone at!

Verizon also has some tips at this link and below for baseball fans to offer a seamless mobile experience for the World Series games at Citi Field this Friday, Saturday and Sunday:.

 • Keep your selfie game on point. Lose the selfie sticks out of respect for your fellow fans, but gain more “likes” with selfies that don’t just highlight your face, but include the field green and scoreboard in the background. If you’re taking the subway, snap a shot getting off the 7 train to capture the energy of the crowd before the first pitch.

 • Share updates in real time with your family and friends. Love what you just saw? Tweet it, upload a picture of it and tell your friends. There is no such thing as oversharing when it comes to the championship.

• Ensure your connection is strong. Verizon has increased capacity at Citi Field by adding more sites and allocating more spectrum to LTE so customers should experience a fast and reliable connection during the series. Fans can also leverage Verizon’s free Wi-Fi in the stadium.

• Stay fully charged in the stands. Don’t let the fear of your battery running low limit your game time data usage. Pick up a Mophie Powerstation to extend the power of your device and stay in the game.

A Yankee fan's thoughts on the Mets-Dodgers series, and why Chase Utley is a monster and Don Mattingly a bad manager

I agree!

First of all, I'd like to congratulate Squawker Jon and my other Mets fan friends on their team having their first-ever postseason game at Citi Field last night -- and their first postseason victory in nine years!

Citi Field is a beautiful ballpark, and now it finally has a team worthy of it. The house was rocking last night, for sure! (I would have liked to have seen the pregame intros live -- and to have heard the boos Chase Utley received -- though. Here's a clip of the Utley boos.)

These are pretty funny. My fave one is
the Bababooey sign. (Photos courtesy of
New York Daily News.)

Anyhow, I watched most of the game, but it was on past my bedtime, So I went to bed before it was over. Was excited to see that ex-Yankee, and all-around good guy, Curtis Granderson got one of the game's big hits!

Speaking of a Yankee fan's perspective, John S., a fellow Yankee fan and longtime Squawkers reader, left an interesting comment on my Facebook page about the Chase Utley/Ruben Tejada contretemps, Don Mattingly's mismanagement, and Joe Torre's involvement:

"Don Mattingly wimped out. Instead of recognizing that the Dodgers were at a severe disadvantage not pitching one of their aces against the Mets ace, he should have started Utley defiantly, daring the Mets to start something. He may have still lost but the Dodgers would have been furious and united had Utley been drilled. Whereas Utley hits Harvey very well, Kendrick has done nothing at all over his career against the Dark Knight - so why play him? I suspect that Pope Joe made a deal with Donnie here - Utley can play pending appeal which won't be heard until next season (when he probably won't be a Dodger anyway) - just don't play him tonight. It fits very well with the same strategy of NOT bunting on a subpar Curt Schilling. Mattingly learned his lessons well............."

You know, I wish I had thought of this analysis! And yes, I do think Torre and Mattingly made some sort of gentleman's agreement here. (Also, if Utley retires after this year, they'll never have to deal with the appeal.)

But yeah, that bad-guy stance would have been the only thing for Donnie Baseball to do. I don't think very much of Mattingly as a manager, though. (I never wanted him to manage the Yankees.) So I'm not surprised.

And any chance I get to bash Joe Torre is one I will take!

NLDS Mets-Dodgers Game 2 wrapup/Game 3 preview: Chase the Disgrace

Chase Utley's rolling block that broke Ruben Tejada's leg has me thinking of Roger Clemens. Both players did something during a postseason Game 2 that should have gotten them ejected (Clemens threw part of a broken bat at Mike Piazza in Game 2 of the 2000 World Series). Both players' reckless play seriously injured a Met (Clemens beaned Piazza in July 2000). What remains to be seen is if the parallels between the Mets and the two dirty players continue in the aftermath of the respective incidents, or if this time the Mets show the other team they will not stand for dirty play.

The Mets did not respond to Clemens after he threw the broken bat piece at Piazza, and the Yankees went on to win that game and the Series. It took until June 2002 for the Mets to respond, and Shawn Estes throwing behind Clemens' back was a tepid response at best. Yes, Estes homered off Clemens in that game and the Mets went on to beat Clemens. But maybe it's not a coincidence that, after 2000, the Mets would fall out of contention until 2006.

When I heard that Utley had been suspended, I thought the situation had been largely resolved. Utley did something wrong and he and his team were being punished for it. It was still a good deal for the Dodgers - winning Game 2 with the help of a bad call and costing the Mets their starting shortstop at the small price of losing a backup infielder for a couple of games. Then Utley wanted to appeal, which is his right, and MLB said they could not do the appeal today, which is ridiculous. What, are they waiting for Roger Goodell to be available? If the suspension is upheld, but is not in effect until next season, that does not do the Mets any good now, not to mention that Utley could be retired by then. Dragging it out only exacerbates the situation.

As bad as this situation is, the umpires and MLB made it much worse. After reviewing the play, the umpires should have ruled that Utley interfered with Tejada and he and the batter were out. Or, if that's too bold for a postseason play, uphold the original out call. Instead, the umpires used tortured logic to rule Utley safe, giving the Dodgers an extra out and enabling them to rally for four two-out runs.

Joe Torre then made matters worse by fumbling through a postgame news conference, seeming unsure of the rules and constantly turning to an umpire representative for clarification.  As happy as I was to hear Torre's ruling of a suspension the following day, I would be annoyed if I were a Dodger fan, since Torre's initial reaction left him open to charges of overreacting to angry New Yorkers. On Saturday night, Torre should have just released a statement saying that MLB was looking into it.

I don't want to see the Mets deliberately try to injure Utley. Utley and some misguided older players have tried to muddle the issue by saying that baseball must have room for hard-nosed play, and there I agree. I don't want to see runners barred from trying to break up a double play. But it's not too much to ask for a runner to be required to slide toward the base. Or to start your slide before you are on top of the bag.

I'm also not excited about the prospect of throwing at someone like Dodger shortstop Corey Seager, who had nothing to do with the initial play.

But I'm still angry about Utley's play and hope the Mets find some way to retaliate. And this brings us to Matt Harvey, whose recent actions have made him seem more like a 24-and-1 player than someone who puts his team first. The first priority is for Harvey to pitch the Mets to within one game of the NLCS. But I'm also hoping he finds a non-dirty way to retaliate for Utley's dirty play.

If Utley is in the starting lineup, well, I know what I would like to see. But I have to concede it should not be in the second inning or whenever Utley first comes up. I can just hear Scott Boras whispering in Harvey's ear: "Hit him right away and get yourself ejected - you'll win back the Met fans and local media and still manage to keep your innings count down!

Playoffs look premature for Mets

I enjoyed the Mets' first half, but let's keep it in perspective. The 2010 team had a better record at the All-Star break. The 2010 Mets were 48-40 and the 2012 Mets are 46-40. The 2010 Mets were in second place, four games behind the Braves. The 2012 Mets are in third place, 4 1/2 games behind the Nationals and half a game behind the Braves.

The 2010 Mets were one of six teams within two games of each other for the wild card lead, while the 2012 Mets are one of five teams within a half-game of each other for the wild card lead.

The main thing the 2012 Mets have over the 2010 team is that there are now two wild cards.

The current Met team has more overachievers than underachievers. R.A. Dickey went 12-1 with a 2.40 ERA in the first half.  Johan Santana has been healthy and productive. Even Chris Young has made it through six starts, after only making it through four in each of the last two seasons.
David Wright is hitting .351 with a 1.004 OPS. Scott Hairston has 12 homers in 185 at bats. Is it reasonable to assume that all five players will continue to produce at this level?

Ike Davis leads the underachievers, and more was expected of Jon Niese as well. Ruben Tejada missed several weeks. Andres Torres is hitting .201.The  bullpen has been mostly a nightmare.  Davis has started turning it around and Tejada has been great since returning, so there's hope for more from this group.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis was overachieving for awhile, but now he's underachieving. Daniel Murphy has also been up and down, but is now about where you'd expect at .295.  I no longer qualify Jason Bay as an underachiever. I hope he is healthy for his sake, but don't see him helping the Mets.

This team looked likely to regress even before Dillon Gee got hurt. But now there's no way around it. The Mets only won 7 of Gee's 17 starts, so the regression might not be so bad, but it's hard to imagine them improving in the fifth rotation spot. By all accounts, Matt Harvey is not ready, so bringing him up soon could backfire for this season and for the future. The Mets already rushed Jennry Mejia up and we see how that worked out.

There's certainly a better feeling around the Mets than there has been in awhile. So far at least, losing Jose Reyes has not been as bad as I feared. Reyes and the Marlins are struggling. Ruben Tejada is hitting .325 and fielding well. I'm not saying Tejada has fully replaced Reyes, but it could be worse, say Torres (.201 batting average, 26 runs, 9 steals, 20 RBI, 1 homer) for Angel Pagan (now hitting .284 with 38 runs, 15 steals, 33 RBI and 5 homers).

And while it's great to have Zack Wheeler in the system for the future, the 2012 Mets outfield could certainly use 2012 All-Star Carlos Beltran.

Ultimately, the Beltran for Wheeler trade underscores the fact that the Mets are being built for the future, not the immediate present. I hope the future is not too far off for the Mets. But it doesn't look as if it is in 2012.

Mets now 15-5 when Ruben Tejada starts at second base

Ruben Tejada returned to the Mets' starting lineup Saturday night and made several nice plays at second base to help the Mets beat the Phillies, 1-0. The Mets are now 55-55. When Tejada starts at second, they are 15-5. When Luis Castillo or former Met Alex Cora started at second, the Mets are 40-50.

It's not that the Mets only win with Tejada in the lineup. He has also started thirteen games at short, and the Mets are just 6-7 in those games. But when Tejada plays short, he's replacing an All-Star-caliber player. When Tejada plays second, he's replacing Castillo.

Castillo is a better hitter than Tejada, who only hit .108 in July, going just 4 for 37, before being sent down. Castillo has even perked up at the plate so far in August, going 5-for-12, a .417 batting average. But Castillo overall is hitting just .246 with a .628 OPS.

Castillo is a liability both in the field and at the plate. At least Tejada is a good fielder. And if this Met team is going to win, they are going to need to do it with pitching and defense.

Time will tell if Fernando Martinez deserves his promotion, but platooning Jeff Francoeur is long overdue. Before tonight's game, Francoeur was hitting .317 against lefties with an .819 OPS as opposed to .218 and .626 vs. righties.

But Francoeur remains an important part of the team, with his second game-winning homer on the road trip as well as a key shot against the Cardinals last week. Francoeur's three homers have come off of three top pitchers - Adam Wainwright, Billy Wagner and Cole Hamels.

The Mets beat the Phillies, Johan Santana pitched a gem and Francisco Rodriguez came through with a five-out save to make sure Santana got his well-deserved win. And off the field, the Mets made some smart moves. Putting Castillo on the bench could also be the first step toward eating his contract. A great night all around.