Have we ever made a team of 2-time Mets?

[roger_that]

Thanks --I'll start looking through my photo files tonight. What is the problem, though? I'm pretty sure everyone doesn't have a lot of 4 KB photos hanging around.

[Edgy MD]

True, but (looking at his stats) only 45 at-bats all season long, and nearly every time he got on base, you needed to pinch run for him. 2 runs scored in 1985, and one of them was on his only HR.

Pinch-running for him was no big whoop. Sending an off-day starting pitcher in to run for a player/coach with .400 on-base percentage was a wonderful problem to have.*

Bench players tend to have their limitations. It doesn't discount their assets.

* It was a win-win. Some of us got to give Rusty one more round of applause as he came back into the dugout, and the rest of us got an eyeful of Ron Darling when it wasn't even his day to pitch.

[roger_that]

Not disagreeing with you vehemently--as I've noted here, I thought his presence on the 1985 roster was virtuous in several different ways, not all of them on the field--but you've got to wonder why teams that have players like Staub who are very limited but successful within those limitations often decide, with the players' assent sometimes, to put an end to his career, .400 OBP notwithstanding.

To get away from Staub, I'll give you the example of the Dodgers with Manny Mota at the end of his career. His last year I think Mota had a .400 BATTING AVERAGE, not OBP but BA, and they reached a decision that he was done anyway, because all he could do was hit singles in a pinch-hitting role, while occupying a roster spot. They decided that the roster spot should go to a less limited player, and I believe the Mets and Staub reached a similar conclusion.

But I was there cheering for Rusty when he was removed for a runner. I'm very fond of him, sometimes fonder than I am smart.

Edited to add: In an odd way, a better example than Mota might be Eddie Gaedel, who wouldn't even make a satisfying lunch for Rusty Staub but who makes an interesting comparison. Aside from being (ahem) discouraged by the AL President to remain on the Browns' roster, I don't think the Browns would have kept him on their roster despite his lifetime 1.000 OBP and the likely prospect of him getting on base every time up for the foreseeable future. He simply didn't warrant a roster spot, because all he could do was get on base.

An even sillier example would be a hypothetical pitcher who could throw 200 miles per hour with every pitch in the strike zone. The kicker would be that he could throw only three pitches per week, because after three 200-MPH pitches his arm would be sore (and I'll bet it would). So you could have this guy with a close to 100% K rate, but would you keep on your team for that one strikeout per week, or even less actually because you wouldn't necessarily want to use him every 7 days like clockwork--sometimes you'd go 10 days or two weeks between "must strikeout" situations.

Less silly, because it happens all the time, is someone who could make Rey Ordonez look like Rusty Staub--a fielder who can get to balls no one else can reach but who can't hit water from a boat. Good field, no-hit guys get cut all the time because that valuable skill of fielding better than anyone in MLB is insufficient to justify the roster space.

Essentially, Rusty would have had the same virtues as he had, but if he'd been slightly less effective with the bat, at what point would you hesitate to keep him on the team? Would you cut him with a .380 OBP? .350? .320? Odds are that one or two of his actual singles in 1985 just found a lucky hole, as some singles do, but if they hadn't, his OBP would have plummetted, which happens with 45 at-bats, and then there goes your argument about his wonderful OBP. There definitely comes a point where you need to reconsider keeping a guy whose skills are as limited as Rusty Staub's, beloved though he may be.

[Cowtipper]

Can't forget Gary Matthews, Jr. and Matt Den Dekker! Ruben Tejada departed and came back. Brady Clark did, too.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis left and came back ... in the same season.

[RealityChuck]

Terry Leach.

Just happen to look him up.

[Cowtipper]

Also Eric Young, Jr.

[Cowtipper]

And Jay Bruce.

[Chad ochoseis]

Ray Sadecki started, relieved, hit well for a pitcher, and came back to do it again.

OE - he only came back for three innings in 1977. For some reason, I thought he stayed a full season when he came back. Kid memory plays tricks on you.

[Cowtipper]

Kelly Stinnett returned after a long hiatus.

Rene Rivera is another catcher that went away and came back.

A lot more Mets have done this than I could have imagined.

Also, Chasen Shreve went away and came back. I had to do some digging to remember that one.

Kelly Johnson too, maybe?

Oh, and here's a good obscure one: Wilfredo Tovar.