Mr. Useless

By Joe Janish
Posted Thursday, September 13, 2007

When the Mets fell behind by six in the third inning of Tuesday's game against the Braves, the man who was brought in to pour gasoline on the fire was Aaron Sele. Sele proceeded to allow a three-run homer to Mark Teixeira to put the game completely out of reach and further add to starter Orlando Hernandez's ballooning ERA.

If this had been earlier in the year -- say, it was mid-May -- it would make perfect sense to see Mr. Sele enter the game at that point. After all, he's the designated mop-up man, the janitor who jogs out of the bullpen once every two weeks or so to eat up innings in long-lost ballgames. In September, however, does Sele have any use?

Well of course he does -- he's still the mop-up man, and the Mets needed someone to gobble up some innings in far-gone game (ironically, he pitched only one inning). But therein lies the mystery: why is Aaron Sele still the long reliever? And why is he taking precious innings from youngsters such as Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber, and -- at some point -- Jason Vargas or Kevin Mulvey? Why is Aaron Sele hogging a roster spot that could be given to Carlos Muniz, Adam Bostick, or Eddie Camacho? Heck, I'd rather see Steve Schmoll in uniform than Aaron Sele. And why was Marcos Carvajal -- the 23-year-old who touches triple digits -- the one who was DFA'd to make room on the 40-man for Carlos Gomez, rather than Sele (or Brian Lawrence, for that matter).

Let's face facts: Aaron Sele is a washed-up, 37-year-old journeyman who eats more sunflower seeds than innings. He's pitched in 31 games covering 49 innings, and is sporting a 5.26 ERA and 1.83 WHIP. His fastball barely hovers around 85 and has little movement. His curveball is occasional good, but it's hard to keep it sharp when he only pitches once every 15 days. And as we were reminded on Tuesday, he does not pitch well when he has to warm up in a hurry -- kind of a negative for someone coming out of the bullpen. At his age, after rotator cuff surgery, and with his below-pedestrian stuff, he's not going to improve. He is what he is.

Back in the old days, when starters routinely pitched into the 8th and 9th innings, every team had at least one Aaron Sele -- usually an old crusty veteran that the team kept around partially because he was a good guy and mainly for those blowouts that happened once or twice a month. If you were lucky, he might also be someone who could pass on something of wisdom to the youngsters on the staff. In Willie Randolph's days with the Yankees, that guy was Ken Holtzman or Jim Kaat. The Mets had a guy named Brent Gaff, and then Randy Niemann, who filled the role for a few years in the 80s. These days, however, with starters rarely getting through the sixth inning, teams can't afford to carry a janitor -- every arm counts. And looking at the current state of the Mets' pen, it looks like they have three: Sele, Scott Schoeneweis, and Guillermo Mota.

Which brings up another critical issue -- assuming the Mets make it to the postseason, who besides Aaron Heilman is going to bridge the gap to Billy Wagner? Even if you include Pedro Feliciano -- who looks to be more effective as a matchup guy than a one- to two-inning reliever -- that's still not enough dependable arms to get through a playoff series. Schoeneweis and Mota have proven time and time again that they are not the answer. Unless Mota gets back on the juice, it's doubtful he'll suddenly re-discover the dominance exhibited at the end of 2006. That said, the Mets have three weeks of open auditions for bridge roles -- so why is Sele getting innings? Is anyone truly considering carrying him on the postseason roster?

Maybe Mike Pelfrey isn't an answer. Maybe Humber, Vargas, Muniz, Bostick, and the others aren't either. But the point is, we don't know. If all of the unknowns are given ample opportunities in big-league games, maybe someone gets hot. Perhaps Humber's knee-buckling deuce is enough to be effective for an inning at a time, the way Adam Wainwright was in 2006. Though Vargas hasn't shown much as a starter, there could be hope for him as a LOOGY (the same for Bostick). Maybe if Marcos Carvajal -- who was a starter all year in AA -- focuses only on fastballs, the Mets will discover a nugget. Carvajal has the kind of heat that could be useful in short spurts, such as for matchups or an inning here and there. You never know, he could dominate the way K-Rod did for the Angels in 2002. Sure, the chances are small, but the chance is there nonetheless. Comparatively, what chance does Aaron Sele have of dominating anyone? Last year the Mets pinned their hopes on a wild gunslinger with sometimes scary stuff named Oliver Perez in October, and caught lightning in a bottle. So, it could happen.

With Sele, the Mets know exactly what they have: a nice guy, who had a nice career, but who is currently useless toward the goal of winning a championship. There may be black clouds in that bottle, but certainly no lightning.