Mets to Designate Omar Quintanilla for Assignment
The Mets announced on Twitter Wednesday night that they will designate Omar Quintanilla for assignment. Don’t get excited — Stephen Drew is not being fitted for one of the five Mets uniforms.
The communique from the Mets said it is “in anticipation of another roster move” on Thursday’s day off. Adam Rubin of ESPN New York tweeted “It’s an internal promotion — Not Stephen Drew or trade.”
The speculation is that Wilmer Flores will be brought up and inserted into the starting lineup at shortstop, replacing Ruben Tejada. While that will do wonders for the Mets anemic offense, it could be a nightmare defensively. But the Mets have been so bad at the plate that they must take the chance.
Even though Quintanilla hit just .207 in 29 at bats, he did have three RBIs. To put that in perspective, Eric Young has four RBIs in 99 at bats and Tejada has six RBIs in 82 at bats.
The point is, Omar Quintanilla has not been the problem, but someone has to go to make room and Quintanilla is expendable. Really, Tejada and his .183 batting average should get the boot, but Sandy Alderson is afraid of cutting him loose, fearing he will blossom somewhere else.
Flores is hitting .296 with five homers and 23 RBIs for Vegas this season, but he has made seven errors in 24 games at short. So be prepared for some cringe-worthy play out there. But if he hits, it will be worth it.
I agree that it should be Tejada and not Q that gets the boot, but clearly Quintanilla’s journeyman status makes it more likely that he can pass through waivers and head back to the minors while Tejada’s youth might make him attractive to another team looking for a butt to warm the bench. Plus, think of the PR shame! Going from “Tejada is our starting shortstop” to “Tejada is Vegas-bound” would splatter a lot of egg on the collective Mets Management faces.
Maybe once the June draft is over and there is no more draft pick compensation attached, the Mets should sign Kendrys Morales if Flores pans out and both Morales and Drew if he doesn’t. That’s what would happen if the Mets were suddenly transported to Bizarro World where they were owned by the Steingrabbers and the lowly Yankees were owned by the Coupons.
honestly what do the mets do correctly at this point? if they really thought tejada was their starter then they are blind.
scouts are saying flores should make the routine plays but don’t expect anything special (sounds like peralta to me but with no track record). if he can hit a bit, i think he’ll be worth it. i’d rather see the mets trying something new instead of running q and tejada out there everyday