METS SIGN WILY MO PENA
ST. LOUIS — The Mets signed veteran outfielder Wily Mo Pena to a minor-league deal yesterday and assigned him to extended spring training. Pena, 27, is to report to Triple-A Buffalo after that.
The right-hand hitting Pena, originally signed by the Mets as an amateur free agent in 1998, had refused a minor-league assignment from the Nationals last month and was granted his unconditional release.
Pena hit just .205 in 64 games for Washington last season.
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Manager Jerry Manuel said Gary Sheffield can expect more playing time despite the 40-year-old’s .182 average so far as a Met.
“What I do feel is I have to keep [Sheffield] sharp,” Manuel said Sunday. “That’s important. I’ve got to do what I did this weekend and get him consecutive games, so I can expect a decent pinch-hitter. I feel confident and I think he will, too, at the same time.”
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Manuel wasn’t second-guessing himself for giving the red-hot Luis Castillo the day off Sunday. Fernando Tatis made his first career start at second base in that game, going 0-for-4 in an eventual 4-2 loss to the Brewers.
Manuel said Castillo, who later entered Sunday’s game as a pinch-hitter and is batting .389 this season, deserved a day off after a stress-filled spring.
“When you came with the stress and pressure [to] perform well — and he has performed well — if anybody would be fatigued, it would be him,” Manuel said. “But it wouldn’t be a physical fatigue as much as an emotional one.”
Manuel added that Castillo would be back in the lineup here tonight against the Cardinals.
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A rainout Sunday prompted the Cardinals to juggle their rotation for the series with the Mets.
Right-hander Todd Wellemeyer (1-1, 4.50 ERA) will now start tonight’s opener against Oliver Perez, with righties Joel Piniero (2-0, 5.40) and Adam Wainwright (2-0, 3.31) each pushed back one day to tomorrow and Thursday, respectively.
