Francisco Rodriguez participated in a slow-pitch softball game in Venezuela on Thursday.
Leading the other team was Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
K-Rod “allowed” 11 runs over three innings. Chavez surrendered seven runs over two innings on the mound.
Chavez’s team won 14-12.
I’m just going to hand it off to the press release…
[Shawn] Riggans, 29, has caught 64 games in the Majors over the last three years with the Tampa Bay Rays. He hit seven home runs along with eight doubles and 28 RBIs during his career with the Rays.
Last season, the 6-2, 200-pounder was limited to just 26 games in the Minors and seven contests with the Rays due to right shoulder tendinitis.
He appeared in 44 games and made 38 starts for Tampa Bay in 2008.
And that’s about all you need to know. Enjoy Binghamton.
To which many Mets fans exclaim: “Seven years too late!”
But hey, he pitched 1,005 1-3 innings with the Mets, winning 61 games, notching a 3.97 ERA and 1.373 WHIP. He also helped foster the reemergence of the “new” Mets.
“It will not be surprising if this changes, but the Mets believe Carlos Beltran will head to spring training when position players report, even though the star center fielder will not be physically ready and is under no obligation to report that early.”
The Mets have signed SS Rylan Sandoval, 22, out of the Arizona Winter League.
The team had drafted Sandoval in the 30th round in 2007, but he elected to attend college instead.
From the press release…
Sandoval had been one of the leading hitters and a top defensive shortstop in the AWL which is 8 games into it's fourth winter season. He is the 11th AWL player to be signed by a major league organization in the last three years, two of those - Scott Richmond and Sergio Romo of the 2007 AWL are already in the big leagues.
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Sandoval, 22, was a two-year junior college All-American and was the California Junior College Player of the Year at Chabot College in his freshman year. Drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 38th round in 2006 and by the New York Mets in the 30th round in 2007 he elected to accept a scholarship to Long Beach State where he played the last two seasons before graduating this past June. Overlooked due to sharing playing time at Long Beach State he went undrafted his senior year and decided on the Arizona Winter League to showcase his skills and pursue a professional contract. In the AWL he was hitting .368 and leading his team in runs scored.
Update – 12:41 p.m.: David Lennon is reporting that the Mets and Hisanori Takahashi have agreed to a minor-league deal. He expects the deal to be announced later this week.
Update – 12:34 p.m.: David Waldstein, the Mets new beat writer for the New York Times, reports that it is likely a minor-league deal.
I’m all for depth, so I can’t hate this. But the wording of Heyman’s tweet just makes it seem awkward.
Awesome.
Don’t worry, baseball is coming soon!
The Mets and Angel Pagan have agreed to a one-year, $1.45 million deal, according to Adam Rubin.
Pagan was the last arbitration-eligible player to sign.
He’s Keith Hernandez.