One New York Life

Fernando Tatis – 2008 salary – $560k. 2009 salary – $1.7M: Did you know that Fernando Tatis wanted to build a church for his home town in the Dominican Republic and the only way he could afford it was by returning to baseball? I do. In fact, I heard the inspiring, feel-good story a bajillion times last year. I don’t want to sound bitter, because it actually WAS a cool feel-good story. I can’t find it in the archives at the moment, but I’m pretty sure I said something like “I’m very happy for Tatis and good job by the Mets for scouting him. Now, let’s hope they let him walk and allow someone else to overpay him for his decline.” Well, at least they only signed him for one year. Tatis is going to wind up platooning with either Daniel Murphy or Ryan Church depend on who gets off to the slowest start or who hits lefties worse. I don’t really expect Tatis to duplicate his .297/.369/.484 in 273 at-bats, but here’s hoping.

Alex Cora – 2008 – Boston Red Sox. 2009 – $2M: For some reason, Mets brass decided that paying Alex Cora $2M for one year was better than paying Alex Cora with power $3.5M for one year. This must be part of Omar Minaya demanding Luis Castillo get playing time so Minaya looks less foolish for the rapidly-approaching-absurd $24M contract. Nothing like sacrificing the good of the team to prove you’re right. I’ll go out on a limb and say that Cora will probably get as many starts at 2b as Castillo does this year — either due to injury or terrible batting. Thank god we have another left-handed bat off the bench.

Angel Pagan – 2008 salary – $401k. 2009 salary – $575k: Pagan was having a nice little year coming off the bench last season until his shoulder sidelined him for the remainder of 2008. This year, he was supposed to be a front-line bench guy again until bone-spur surgery in March put him on the DL until at least May. Whether Pagan is any good for an extended period of time remains to be seen and might end up moot if he winds up being one of those guys who just can’t stay healthy. His bench spot will probably be absorbed by Nick Evans, who was called from AA Binghamton to take his bench spot last year.

Nick Evans – 2008 salary – $403k. 2009 salary – $403k: Nick Evans was called up last season from AA and hit three doubles in his first game. Then he crashed back down to Earth as pitchers realized he was an easy strike out. He ended last season hitting about .250 and leaving his future on the Big Club in doubt. He’s been killing the ball in Spring Training and his .308 average will probably be good enough to play his way on to the 25-man roster as his trial by fire continues at the major league level. Considering the Mets success doing this with Mike Pelfrey (who had a cup of coffee in the minors before joining the Big Club) and Daniel Murphy’s surprise success last year, it seems as if the Mets’ new plan is to have their prospects skip Triple-A and just see what happens. This should be fine so long as it doesn’t crush the soul of 20-year-old kids like it almost did Pelfrey.

Marlon Anderson – 2008 salary – $1.05M. 2009 salary – $1.15M: Anderson is a guy who I have defended as an OK signing because, for whatever reason, he’s good at what he does. Over his career, he carries .275/.340/.413 as a pinch hitter vs. a 2008 league-average .232/.318/.350 at pinch-hitter and his own career line of .265/.314/.391. I know the full-on stathead crowd doesn’t believe that situation matters and that you’re either a good hitter or a bad hitter. For whatever reason, Anderson performs better than average as a pinch-hitter and in a league where you have to pinch hit two or more times a game, I’m fine with this guy having a roster spot.

Corey Sullivan – 2008 Colorado Rockies, 2009 salary – $600k: I didn’t really understand this signing when it happened and I still don’t. The last thing the Mets really needed was a fourth outfielder who bats lefty and who doesn’t bat particularly well. I presume he was supposed to fill Endy Chavez’s role as late-game defensive replacement for Daniel Murphy, who’s still defensively green in the outfield. As of yesterday, Sullivan has been banished optioned to Siberia Buffalo. I probably shouldn’t have included him for that reason but I’ve been dying to get that joke in to this preview and I’m going to wear it out for the next few seasons.

Jeremy Reed – 2008 Seattle Mariners. 2009 salary – $925k: Reed was a toss-in in the JJ Putz deal. Considering the Mets’ good luck with “throw-ins” I’m going to go ahead and be happy about this. With Sullivan’s demotion to Triple-A, it seems they’ve decided that they’ll go with this particular lefty fourth outfielder instead of the other lefty fourth outfielder for the bench. This should work out smashingly considering the two starting corner outfielders are also lefties. If only there had been an incredible right-handed corner outfielder available in the offseason.

Ramon Castro – 2008 salary – $1.85M. 2009 salary – $2.5M: You know your bench is built somewhat poorly when your best right-handed bat off the bench is your backup catcher. The sad part about this whole thing is I’m pretty sure he’s our better catcher. He calls a better game, has similar defense, and is a better hitter than Brian Schneider. Unfortunately, his — uh — portly frame renders him pretty much unable to be the every day catcher. On the positive, I get another full year of Trap Jaw jokes.