At the press conference this afternoon introducing JJ Putz as a member of the Mets they issued him a jersey with No. 40 on it. That jersey most recently belonged to chubby reserve catcher Robinson Cancel and before that, Ambiorix Burgos who was not offered a contract last week and became a free agent at least in baseball terms.
Putz remarked to reporters afterward that he’d ask coach Howard Johnson about the possibility of taking over his No. 20 jersey when the games start this spring. I’d guess HoJo gives the OK, though I’ve always preferred the No. 20 jersey stay on the back of hitters (like HoJo, Agee, Burnitz… and Ken Henderson).It hasn’t been worn by a pitcher since Ricky Bottalicoin 2001 2004 (thanks commenters).
Bonus Trivia: Without looking it up, how many Met pitchers can you name who wore No. 20? (there have been six including Bottalico)
So long and good luck to Al Leiter 22 and all his grunts, broken bats and full counts. It may have been time to part ways but we’ll remember Al as the pitching soul of brief but fun few years in Met history and realize that even as his skills declined, he still gave his team a chance to win most nights. The Mets also failed to offer arbitration or a new contract to streaky rightfielder Richard Hidalgo 15 and reliever Ricky Bottalico 20, leaving Omar Minaya with the frightening mandate to make a flurry of deals this weekend at the Winter Meetings. They did reach agreement with Mike DeJean 35, who pitched pretty well in New York at least until a broken leg sidelined him.