[Editor’s Note: This first edition of Metamorphosis was written before Pedro Martinez was sent to the DL. Look for that in the next edition.]

Ah, the first Metamorphosis of the new year: the winter is starting to die, the fields are fresh, and Opening Day is upon us.

When I was picked to run Metamorphosis (by “picked” I mean “I volunteered”) my first instinct was to look through past Metamorphoses for inspiration. Instead of searching this site, however, I just ran it through Google and was reminded of the man who is synonymous with the metamorphosis, Franz Kafka.

So, in memoriam to Franz, without whom we would probably not have this splendid word with “Met” in it to symbolize change in our everyday lexicons, I think it is only fair to lead off Metamorphosis with perhaps the greatest tribute to him, The Franz Kafka Rock Opera.

March 28: Returned Rule 5 pick RP Stephen Register to the Rockies, lost IF Ruben Gotay to the Braves on waivers.

Register was never a good bet to jump up from Double-A anyway, so this wasn’t too much of a surprise. The Mets attempted to haggle his rights away from the Rockies after he put up a mediocre spring performance (8 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 12 hits), so they must have been quite infatuated with his sinking fastball, but the Rockies would not part with him.

For me, as someone who has played in the occasional simulated baseball league, I found this mildly amusing, mainly because I’m trying to picture what negotiations would look like for Stephen Register. Because as terse and creative as I’m sure those negotiations must have been for Omar Minaya and Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd, in sim leagues players like Stephen Register are the kinds of guys you jokingly offer up for people who actually contribute, or acquire for a beer and a handshake. At any rate, I doubt the Mets will miss Register as they have crafted a pretty formidable pen in New Orleans between Juan Padilla, Ruddy Lugo, a recovering Duaner Sanchez, and some other NRIs that didn’t make the squad. He was always more of a luxury than a necessity.

Gotay, on the other hand, is someone that this internet hack job advocated trading away while his value was at it’s highest. He never seemed to get a fair shake from the Mets or have his performance last year taken seriously, which may have helped decrease his value around the league as much as anything. Either way, he was banged up all spring, and instead of the final spot on the roster coming down to Gotay or Jose Valentin, as I thought, one is a Brave and the other’s career is in serious jeopardy due to a neck problem. Depressing.

One thing I want to urge about losing Gotay, however, is that it is not the end of the world that the Braves picked him. Yes, the Braves have been tormentors to Mets fans for years, and yes, losing Gotay was not a particularly smart move. Keeping that in mind, Gotay was regularly slammed by the projection systems, could not field an adequate shortstop (and wasn’t too hot at second, either), and new Braves GM Frank Wren is not exactly the second coming of John Scheurholz (ask Braves fans how they feel about Mark Kotsay). The person I feel worst for in this whole mess is Gotay, who reportedly spent the whole day in tears while calling his agent to try and see where his career was going. Sorry Rubes, living like a bug ain’t easy.

March 30, 2008: Placed SP Orlando Hernandez, RP Duaner Sanchez, and C Ramon Castro on the 15-day DL, Purchased the contracts of OF Brady Clark and C Raul Casanova. Designated P Brian Stokes for assignment. Sent 3B Fernando Tatis, P’s Nelson Figueroa, and Ricardo Rincon, to minor league camp for reassignment.

These moves leave one with a sense of relief, particularly after the club opted not to go with Fernando Tatis. Why was he in the derby to begin with? Management talked him up because they felt the team needed some right-handed power off the bench, but ignored the fact that (a) while that’s historically Tatis’ game, he hasn’t been good enough to play in the majors for years, and (b) they just cut loose a more distinguished option for this role when they let Olmedo Saenz go home. They are very right to worry about their lack of right-handed power, but projecting that onto Tatis would’ve been at best a waste of time and at worst a disaster in the making.

So Clark, who will bring his right-handedness and the occasional walk to the table, will hang around until Moises Alou comes back around the end of April. Not that they were going to get any days off early anyway, but David Wright and Jose Reyes better plan on playing 160 games with Damion Easley as the lone infield backup with any experience on the left side of the infield. Felipe Lopez, anyone? Once again I feel like the Mets are neglecting an opportunity to find cheap talent that would better fit their roster for the guys they brought in to camp.

Casanova was easily the best bet of the NRI catchers, so no complaints with that move. El Duque’s short early season DL stint will force the Mets to go with Mike Pelfrey early on, even though he’s been pounded in the last few weeks of spring. These are going to be career defining starts for Pelfrey: put some good innings up and the front office will suddenly have to think about how fast to bring Hernandez back throw some more terrible starts and the Mets will have to begin looking at this logically. Pelfrey is a 24-year-old starting pitcher who is only consistent with one pitch and hasn’t been able to keep a sub-4.00 ERA in Triple-A or a sub-5.50 ERA in the Majors. How many more times are they going to try to force the square peg into the round hole before they give up and see what he can do out of the pen?

Lastly, Joe Smith beats out Brian Stokes for the last spot in the pen, which is solidly the right move. The question there is whether Willie Randolph will ever trust Smith again after last season, when Joe went from crucial setup man to anonymous blow-out pitcher over the course of a month of blowing games. Considering Stokes made it all the way to the Mets on waivers from the Devil Rays, he remains unlikely to be claimed and will probably file down to New Orleans.