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Thursday, March 23, 2000
Agbayani may
go to minors
Hawaii native unhappy after
By Pat Bigold
hearing he may be sent to
Triple A Norfolk
Star-BulletinBenny Agbayani had a very short description of how he felt when he was told the New York Mets might send him down to Triple A Norfolk.
"I was pissed," said the 28-year-old Hawaii native, who hit .286 with 14 homers and 42 RBIs for the Mets last season in his first full year in the big leagues.
But because Mets manager Bobby Valentine has not told him officially he will not be with the team, Agbayani is still planning to start the season with the Mets.
"At this point I'm going to Japan and then I'm going to start the season in the big leagues," he said. "But I don't know for how long."
The Mets will play two games in Japan against the Chicago Cubs on March 29-30 and then open at home April 3 against the San Diego Padres.
Agbayani said his agent, Dan Horwitz, thinks his fate will be decided by April 10. A published report in yesterday's New York Post suggests Agbayani won't be with the team on opening day.
The former St. Louis School and Hawaii Pacific star has asked to be traded, but Mets general manager Steve Phillips has indicated he has no motivation to do that.
Asked if he thinks that could mean the Mets might do the same thing they did last year when they called him up early, Agbayani said maybe.
"I'm probably the only guy they got who's ready to play in the major leagues," he said. "If they trade me away, then if somebody gets hurt, they have nobody to bring up."
Agbayani played six seasons in the minor leagues after being drafted in the 30th round in 1993 out of HPU.
Outfielder Jay Payton, a former first-round pick of the Mets who is Agbayani's friend, will definitely start the season with the big league team because he's out of options and can't be sent to the minors.
"They invested a lot of money in him and there's no way they're going to get rid of him," Agbayani said.
He said he would take a trade to anywhere, but his heart is in New York City.
"I love the fans, I love New York City, we have a great team and I know we can go all the way because we got the guys to do it," he said. "If I get traded, I hope it's to a team where I can play every day and show my abilities."
He said Horwitz last spoke to him last night.
Agbayani doesn't regret freely expressing his feelings to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.
"If I thought to myself that I didn't deserve to be on a major league team, then I wouldn't have said anything," he said. "But coming off that great year I had, I think I deserve something, right?
"I thought I did everything to establish myself, but I guess that wasn't good enough."
