In a press release, the Mets have announced the signing of catcher Shawn Riggans to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training.
Riggans had a rough 2009, hitting .143 in seven major league games with Tampa Bay, and posting just a .233/.298/.314 line in three minor league stops. Clearly, his right shoulder tendinitis played a role.
As recently as 2007, he posted strong minor league numbers, but there is little reason to expect Riggans to be much of an upgrade at catcher for the Mets. Still, when the starter is likely Omir Santos, a career minor leaguer, it is understandable that the Mets are bringing in some extra competition.
Riggans/Blanco/Coste doesn’t seem much better than just putting Thole behind the plate platooning with Blanco. Riggans is young though.
This is one of those signings where Omar is saying: “Mets fans, please believe in this signing!!”.
WHY?!?!?!?!?! Aren’t 4 bad catchers enough???
Um, “minor league deal”. He won’t make the team.
Oh, really???? I thought for a second that they’d totally have 4 catchers on the major league roster. I realize sarcasm doesn’t translate very well, that was sarcasm.
Haha Between Riggans Coste Blanco and Santos, there just isnt anything strong at this position. Where did the 6.5 mil they said theyd give Molina go?
It makes no sense that the Mets are stockpiling backup catchers. They only need one sure thing. The problem is they have several back ups, but no starter. They are probably hoping one of these guys emerges as a starting option.
Oh hey, i think if the Mets sign 2 more crappy minor leaguers they can go make they’ll have to make another AAA team. Im starting to get pretty annoyed with these kind moves. Coste,Blanco,Santos,Thole,Riggans none of them are starters! Thole is the future, Blanco is past his prime, and the rest never made it anywhere! If they wanted a catcher so bad after Molina left, why didnt they just take Torrealba up on his $1.4 million deal? They said at the time they had no money, but since then they have spent over that much! Us Met fans really get tossed around alot, this season will be no different. We have a decently lineup, but no starters and clearly no decent catcher. I say play Blanco only bcs his defense is pretty good…
To be fair to Omar he probably heard Chone Figgins was still a Free Agent, not realizing he was actually signing Shawn Riggans.
well done, sir.
I’m convinced…(mets mgmt) they are all idiots..!!!!
I don’t see the big deal in this move. So they stock up on minor league players…why not? A big FYI, the Mets minor league teams did not do so hot last year, so adding more talent for them to work with isn’t exactly terrible – and again, the Mets were plagued with injuries so rather have backup options working out in AAA now then to find themselves in big trouble later on.
In a press release, the Mets have announced the signing of GM Omar Minaya to a minor league contract. No invite to spring training was mentioned.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for me”, said Minaya. “It will give me a chance to evaluate and bond with the vast majority of our off-season signings. It will also give me time to take a break and hone my GM skills at the minor league level. I pledge that I will work hard down on the farm, so I can seamlessly take over in case the big club’s GM goes down during the season.”
“Oh sh-t … that’s me! Uh-oh!”