THEY ARE BENCH PLAYERS FOR A REASON

Check out these numbers for the Mets key bench players this year:

Endy Chavez 1 HR, 6 RBI, .239, .586 OPS
Trot Nixon 1 HR, 1 RBI, .174 (but a .321 OBP).669 OPS
Fernando Tatis 1 HR, 10 RBI, .224, .562 OPS
Marlon Anderson 1 HR, 6 RBI, .188, .489 OPS
Damion Easley 2 HR, 14 RBI, .254, .652 OPS

The greatest measurement of production is OPS. As a point of reference, Luis Castillo has an OPS of .702. The Mets bench has atrocioius OPS numbers. The most legitimate indictment of Omar Minaya this season is the lousy bench he put together and this is a skill that Minaya excelled at the past few years. However, stocking the bench was more important this year than any time during Minaya's tenure.

Between Moises Alou, Carlos Delgado and Luis Castillo, you have both fading veterans and not very durable players. The monkeys like many Mets fans are mystified that Minaya didn't have the foresight to stock the bench with at least one if not two legitimate power threats considering two of his top 4 homerun threats were likely to regress or spend time on the DL. The Mets have gotten 2 homeruns out of leftfield this season. That is not a typo.

The monkeys and other bloggers have called for Valentino Pascucci who has been getting on base (.420 OBP) and hitting for power (14 homers). We know he is defensively challenged, but he really needs to get a shot. The Mets sent Chris Aguila make to the minors after just 6 AB's, but despite Robinson Cancel's "Chip Ambres" moment, does anybody not believe Aguila would have provided more as a righty option in the outfield the last couple of weeks?

Since the Mets will need to make a roster move involving adding a pitcher next week, the monkeys expect them to send down Tatis (Cancel will go down for Church this weekend). After the Mets do not need the extra pitcher, why not call up Pascucci then? The Mets need to reshuffle the deck a bit with their bench. And although some Valentinos may have better footwork, Pascucci can hit.