Friday, September 20, 2013

Mets to promote Wilfredo Tovar

The Mets have added infielder Wilfredo Tovar to the big league roster. Tovar is expected to join the team in Philadelphia on Friday, and he will help fill a hole that was created once Ruben Tejada was lost for the year. 

With Double-A Binghamton this season, Tovar has hit .263 with a .323 on-base percentage, while playing most of his games at shortstop.

He is already on the 40 man roster, so adding him will not require a corresponding move.

Personally, I see Tovar as a very similar player to Ruben Tejada. They are both pre-dominantly defensive specialists with a light bat, and are young enough to be seen as potential long-term pieces to this organization. I don't value Tovar as high as I do with Tejada, for some reason that even I don't know how to explain, but I still would like to see him get the bulk of the playing time at shortstop for the final 10 games of the season.

I like to think optimistically, and with that being said he can't be much worse than Omar Quintanilla. If Tovar manages to hit around .250 while playing outstanding defense, I'd be satisfied.  

Tejada breaks leg, will miss rest of season

Ruben Tejada has a broken fibula, and is out for the rest of the season. Tejada injured his leg in a collision with Andrew Brown during Wednesday's game against the Giants. 

Tejada was recently called back up to the Mets on September 10, after spending a few months in the minor leagues. 

Tejada hit .209 in 50 games for the Mets before hurting himself, and ultimately being demoted to Triple-A Las Vegas earlier in the season. 

Since being brought back, in the 7 games that he has played, he has hit .143 with a .182 OBP.

Tejada was recently called out on his lack of work ethic by the General Manager Sandy Alderson, and probably needed a strong September to prove his worth.

It's really a sad situation all around, as now we won't be able to fully determine what Tejada is, and now he probably wont be getting another fair chance at showing what he's capable of.

I've always been relatively easy on Tejada, as I loved his strong glove, and knew that sometime his bat would come along. At age 23, I'm not ready to completely throw in the towel on him, but he could definitely be upgraded on this winter.

There will be shortstops out on the market. Erick Aybar, Stephen Drew, and possibly even the mighty Troy Tulowitzski. I expect Sandy Alderson to be involved in trade talks, but I don't know how quick he would pull the trigger on such a deal.


Harvey elects to avoid surgery, for now

Matt Harvey recently saw Dr. James Andrews, and after seeking his opinion, he will not undergo Tommy John surgery for the time being. Harvey will try to rehabilitate the torn ulnar ligament in his elbow for the next six to eight weeks, and see how the arm feels after that. 

"I've never had pain in my actual elbow area, where the UCL is," Harvey told reporters. "For me, it felt like why jump into surgery in a situation where I never had tingling, numbness, shooting pain in my elbow? If rehab is the way to go...then that's what I want to do."

Harvey had relatively positive news when he saw Dr. James Andrews.

"Nothing was moving in places it shouldn't." Andrews said. 

Tommy John surgery isn't out of the question, and if he does end up undergoing the procedure, he could wait until December. If he waits until then, the timeline wouldn't be much different from what it is now, as either way would likely keep him out the entire 2014 season. 

Harvey had an incredible 2013 season, posting a 2.27 ERA in 26 starts, while striking out 191 batters in 178.1 innings.

Despite that success, Sandy Alderson doesn't think that Harvey's presence will be missed too much if he is lost next year.  

"It won't effect our plans as much as suggested," Alderson said. "We have depth at starting pitching. I don't see us working hard if he can't come back."

At this point, everyone involved in the situation can just keep their fingers crossed and hope for the best. The initial thought of losing Harvey for the entire 2014 season was heartbreaking, but if surgery is what he needs to come back and get stronger, then I'd be all for it.

However, since he is electing this route, we can only hope that his elbow continues to get stronger. The word is that if over 30 percent of the ligament is torn, then it would require Tommy John surgery. However, Sandy Alderson has not given out an official percentage on that.

If Harvey is lost for the 2014 season, I disagree with Alderson when he said that he wouldn't be missed too much. Pitching depth is always incredibly important, but Harvey is supposedly the team's ace, and if the Mets have any intent on contending next year, you would think that having their ace out there every fifth day would give them an advantage.

All in all, we'll just have to wait and see. Short term this may work in Harvey's favor, but long-term hopefully this doesn't handcuff him.