OK, back from little visit to the beach and have a ton of useless info to catch up on. As detailed in the comments section below, the Mets have recalled a bunch of players from the minors and are suddenly flirting with the prospect of debuting the 900th player in team history, an unthinkable mark only a few months ago. So as to keep this update nice and organized, let’s proceed directly to the sacred scrolls:
892: Joaquin Arias. Acquired for hapless hacker Jeff Francoeur in a waiver deal with the Texas Rangers, Arias was once chosen ahead of Robinson Cano by the Rangers for payment in the Alex Rodriguez deal. He’s a utility infielder who was designated for assignment when Texas acquired Alex Cora, if you want to get an idea of how he was thought of around Dallas. The Mets assigned him the same No. 12 worn by Francoeur, making this a DUD (Del Unser Deal) and final slap in the face to Francoeur who ought to be remembered as Bobby Cox’s final Masterstroke in a long career of screwing over the Mets. If anyone knew Francoeur possessed just enough talent to intrigue Omar Minaya and just enough personal magnetism and discount price to excite the owners, it was him. Jeff lived up to every expectation.
893: Lucas Duda. The outfielder had a terrific season at Buffalo but a rough start at the plate for the Mets. They assigned him No. 21: Most recently on the back of recently departed catch Rod Barajas.
894: Mike Nickeas. He’s the catcher the Mets collected in another right fielder dump to Texas a few years ago — the Victor Diaz deal. Nickeas makes an intriguing addition in that he dates all the way back to Tim Bogar in the oldest active Trade Chain among Mets: He was acquired for Diaz, who was acquired for Jeromy Burnitz in 2003, who came from Milwaukee in that whacky Todd Zeile thingy also involving Lenny Harris, who was acquired for Bill Pulsipher, who was (re-)acuired for Luis Lopez, who initially came over for Bogar, a 1987 Met draftee. Nickeas wears No. 13, the first since Cora.
895: Dillon Gee. Mets.com has him wearing No. 35, last worn by opening-day cleanup hitter and future trivia answer Mike Jacobs this year. Frequently described as one of those minor league prospects with limited repetoire but who “knows how to compete,” (gulp) Gee gets Tuesday’s start at Washington.
In the meantime the Mets also welcomed back outfielder and serial No. 6 acquirer Nick Evans; relievers Raul Valdes, No. 22; and Sean Green, No. 50; as well as reliever-turned-starter Jenrry Mejia, No. 32. Outfielder Jesus Feliciano is also back in No. 27.
Other than the bad baseball, did I miss anything?
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