Omar, Omar, Omar deep down you know I am right. There simply is no way on earth,let alone Citifield that Heilman can remain a New York Met, so today on the infamous day in honor of Felix Unger let the house cleaning begin. Here is my list of players currently on the Mets 40 man roster that must go, and I am sure my good friend and New York Herald sports reporter Oscar Madison would agree .
1) Aaron Heilman : One winning season in six as a Met, back to back seasons with 5 blow saves in less then 10 save opportunities, an ERA of over 5.2 last season and over 4 for his career. Heilman wants to start ?? Fine , START by packing your bags !
2) Abbiorix Burgos : Gives a whole new meaning to term "battery mate " I doubt the NYSE had as bad a month as Burgos did this past September to October. Burgos was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend,prosecutors say he repeatedly punched her on the back,bit her and slapped her, and then less then a month later he was indicted on charges of hit and run in his native Dominican Republic. Sources say that Burgos struck two women in his SUV and drove off. The woman later died of their injuries. There is no upside here, the closest Burgos will ever come to being a closer is maybe being booked by Kyra Sedgwick.
3,4 ) Orlando Hernandez/Moises Alou: Yes these two players epitomize what a professional baseball player should be, that being said, if you look very closely ay Davinci's Last Supper you can see EL Duque and Moises on the far right. Hey Jesus is Moises uncle ! There clearly is no role for either of them on this team.
5) Scott Schoenweis : From all accounts a great guy, from all accounts a lousy pitcher. Lifetime 10 games under .500, 15 blown saves in 24 chances in his career, Lifetime ERA close to 5 runs a game. Go to baseball reference.com and compare by age and the impressive list of relief pitchers that he ranks with are Brad Havens, Wandy Rodriguez, Ron Villone and Brian Bohanon..get the point ?
Bonus clean-up : Luis Castillo * I am actually on the fence on this one. A few years back I was screaming that Jose Valentin was done, yet he went on to have a very productive year and was a key component of the team, I loved the acquisition of Castillo and thought he was the perfect number two hitter behind Reyes. Castillo was known for his work ethic, his bat control, yet this past season he seemed to be the second coming of Roberto Alomar. I would like to give Castillo spring training and the month of April before writing him off, I think he may have a rebound year.
Your thoughts ??
Mark Rosenman, SPORTSTALKNY, Host and Producer
See SPORTSTALKNY every Wednesday night live at 9 PM to 11 PM est at www.sportstalknylive.com. Check out past shows on the archive page and download all the past interviews in the itunes store keyword "sportstalknypodcasts"
After a few weeks of nothing in the world of all things Metropolitan, now we have more news than we can handle. First, Aaron Heilman demands to either start, or be traded somewhere where he can start. Then we find out that Luis Castillo has practically begged the Mets to not be traded.
