First Glavine, now Mota. Gone and gone! Ohmigod, what have we done to deserve this? Not having to root any longer for two guys I and, I suspect, most of us never wanted on the Mets must be like when your sentence is suspended by a kindly judge or president. It’s a Get Out Of Mezzanine Jail Free card…twice!
Who’d we get for Guillermo the choking, cheating coward who sucks on so many levels that I do believe he is the perfect storm of suckitude? Does it matter? Not really. But it’s a catcher, Johnny Estrada, the dude who mixed it up with Ned Yost in the Miller Park runway last August. Johnny Estrada, to whom I have always referred privately as Johnny Blue Jeans for no reason except the name stuck in my mind from a show I never watched but for which I saw a ton of commercials ten years ago, is pretty good I seem to recall (until somebody produces those helpful stats that will make me realize what a disaster he is and how I’ll be an idiot for enjoying his first RBI), though he does move from club to club quite a bit. Is there a correlation between his being on his fifth team in eight seasons and his personality? The fighting with managers maybe? Is he some kind of catching Bruce Chen? Whatever. I’m guessing he’s better than our heretofore tentative 2008 starting catcher, which was slated to be 40% Ramon Castro and 60% I Don’t Know.
And I don’t care. Not when Mota’s out the same door Glavine just went through. You give me anything short of food poisoning for Mota and it will be a Happy Thanksgiving.
tell it, my brother. amen.
no glavine, no mota.
the very definition of addition by subtraction.
Estrada apparently thinks Ball 4 is the same as Strike 3 (12 walks in 442 PAs is Ryan Thompson territory) and he's reputed to be, well, a jerk.
On the other hand, he is Not Guillermo Mota. I've always been a fan of Not Guillermo Mota.
BTW, Glavine still isn't forgiven. And I hate Steve Trachsel.
How can you not like this move ? The departure of Mota is clearly addition by subtraction. The acquisition of Estrada did not cost any of the few viable chips the Mets have. If he's healed, Estrada is a better choice than Torealba. Omar can concentrate on getting a stud starter. His job may depend on it.
It's not even Thanksgiving. The winter meetings are still weeks away. Omar has already addressed two of the three looming holes on his '08 roster.
That is, if you count one big starter and a passel of middle relievers one single hole.
Great news..Thats why I keep coming back to the site Greg. To get Mets off-season info with REAL opinions..Screw the 'official' site of the team!
To all those in Mets Fandom..Happy Thanksgiving!
P.S..Great picture of Tom Terrific and Doc…
Rich
Mota… another one I neither accepted nor liked for one single, solitary second. That dude shot his wad with me by going after Mike–more than once!!–and running away like a little girl's frilly blouse. Like Glavine, there was nothing he could have done to make me accept him in a Mets uniform. NOTHING.
Another wrong finally righted, albeit once again, too late for meaningful salvation.
That was one of the happiest phone calls I ever made, Greg!
And one of the best I ever took. (That is, the above news was received here via telephone from special correspondent CharlieH who sacrificed his mental well-being long enough to listen to Michael Kay's show and learn of the trade of Mota for something not as bad as food poisoning.)
Spencer Christian, you know the time has come…
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but Estrada can be non-tendered; i.e., Omar got the Brewers to take on Mota's contract with no strings attached.
I'd look for Omar to try to obtain an upgrade at the catching position between now and the non-tender deadline. And if he's successful, it'll be bye bye, Johnny Blue Jeans, we hardly knew ye.