Indians general manager Mark Shapiro watched with interest Thursday night as Guillermo Mota took the mound for the Mets in the eighth inning of NLCS Game 1.
Mota spent the first four months of this season pitching for the Indians. The results were not pretty: Mota went 1-3 with a 6.21 ERA. Shapiro unloaded Mota to the Mets in August for cash considerations.
Now the lanky right-hander was on the mound trying to hold a 2-0 lead against the Cardinals.
Four batters later, Mota was out of the inning and the Mets were on their way to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“It’s a reminder that baseball is inexplicable at times,” Shapiro said yesterday in a phone interview. “The trite expression that sometimes a guy needs a change of scenery is true.” Mota is not alone in the Mets’ clubhouse as a player another team gave up only to revive his career in Queens. Mota, Endy Chavez and Jose Valentin each were available for the taking in the last year, but Omar Minaya was the only one buying.
“It’s a credit not to me, it’s a credit to our scouts,” Minaya said. “When you build a good organization, it’s not about the general manager. It’s about the staff, the scouts, the player-development people.” Mota, Chavez and Valentin have excelled in the roles given them by Willie Randolph this season, and are crucial parts of the postseason for the Mets.
Minaya signed Valentin and Chavez last winter after the Dodgers and Phillies let them walk as free agents. Valentin became the team’s everyday second baseman by Memorial Day and Chavez has been a spark in the outfield off the bench.
Valentin spent 2005 in Los Angeles but was bogged down by injuries.
“We knew what he was capable of doing,” Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng said. “Unfortunately, he was hurt for most of the year. You can’t spend too much time looking backward.” Chavez spent parts of four seasons with Montreal/ Washington before getting traded to the Phillies last year.
He hit .215 in Philadelphia and the team let him go last December.
“We knew he had the tools to play; he just had to realize that he wasn’t Vladimir Guerrero, he was Endy Chavez,” Nationals assistant GM Tony Siegle said.
“Watching him play, he looks like he got the message.” Mota is the most intriguing pickup. In August, Shapiro realized it was not going to work out in Cleveland. He said Mota worked hard but American League hitters were destroying him. A few teams expressed interest, but Minaya made the best offer, which wasn’t even a player, but cash.
“Any contending GM in baseball could have had him for a little more money than Omar offered,” Shapiro said. “But nobody else really had interest in the guy.” In the eighth inning Thursday night, several were probably interested.
