THE Mets defeated Flor ida 3-0 last night, climbing over the Marlins into second place in the NL East. They did it guided by the familiar and well-paid, with power from David Wright and Carlos Delgado, and with more cha-ching, here-comes-free-agency brilliance from Oliver Perez.
But allow me to let you in on a little secret, on the other part of a Mets team that will be exemplified today when Brian Stokes makes his first major league start since the final week of the 2006 season.
Right now the residents of Shea Stadium have a M*A*S*H feel, and that stands for the “Mets Are Short-Handed.” Roughly one-third of the roster is rookies or rejects, or in the case of Robinson Cancel, both. This has turned into the Joan Rivers of teams, so startling is the facelift from April until now.
The Mets began the season with the majors’ oldest average-age roster and with no rookies. Now they are 22nd in average age, mainly a reflection of having six rookies: Cancel, Nick Evans, Argenis Reyes, Eddie Kunz, Carlos Muniz and Daniel Murphy. Washington and San Francisco (eight rookies each) are the only NL teams with more rookies than the Mets. But those are rebuilding clubs who were a combined 44 games under .500 going into yesterday. The Mets have a $138 million payroll and October desires.
Yet, they considered starting a seventh rookie, lefty Jon Niese, today against the Marlins. Instead, they turned to Stokes, in part because of Florida’s heavy reliance on righty might. Stokes will replace Ruddy Lugo on the roster. Stokes and Lugo had both been out of the majors since being among the worst cogs on a Tampa Bay relief corps last year that produced the worst bullpen ERA (6.16) since the 1950 St. Louis Browns (6.62).
Stokes’ lengthy absence from the majors will make him a natural for this team. Cancel got 44 at-bats for the 1999 Brewers, and didn’t play in the majors again until the Mets had run through third- and fourth-string catchers Gustavo Molina and Raul Casanova. Before this season, Fernando Tatis’ only major league appearance since 2003 was a 28-game cameo for the 2006 Orioles. The Mets have assembled a larger cast of Not Ready for Primetime Players than “Saturday Night Live.”
“The only time you are truly comfortable is when most of your roster has proven track records,” GM Omar Minaya conceded.
But here is the funny thing. The Mets are actually benefiting from some production and energy from this odd lot.
Tatis, for example, no longer can be viewed as some small-sample freak. He began yesterday with the NL’s 12th-best batting average (.310) and 22nd best slugging percentage (.516) among players with at least 175 plate appearances. He has been invaluable in replacing the near identical offense of Ryan Church (.307/.512), who learned last night he can finally return to baseball activity in his attempt to come back from concussion issues.
Evans and, especially, Murphy have indicated they will provide legitimate at-bats. Murphy has just 22 plate appearances, but gives the whiff of being a lefty-swinging Kevin Youkilis – a hitter who treats each pitch as a holy war, is fearless of deep counts and will drive the ball to all fields. He had two more hits yesterday, but more impressive was that against tough southpaw Reynel Pinto, Murphy battled from a 1-2 count to draw a walk. He has a .571 on-base percentage.
It is not inconceivable – at least to me – that Murphy could do a lot of what the Mets would have received had they obtained Seattle’s Raul Ibanez before the deadline. Ibanez had the track record that Minaya craves so much. Murphy, like many current Mets, does not.
Can the Mets win the NL East this way?