There has been much talk about the catcher situation. If the mets go out and sign Molina that would give us Coste, Blanco, Santos, Thole and then Molina at the catcher position. So what? I like it. Lets take a look at the previous catchers we've had since the most recent face of the franchise left in 2005 (Michael Joseph Piazza).
Paul Lo Duca:
probably the most solid Catcher we've had since Mike. In his two years he hit an impressive .318 and a respectable .277. The power wasn't really there but he rarely struck out (71 K's in 957 AB's)
Brian Schneider:
One of my personal least favorite players...hit a whopping .218 this year battling injuries, hit .257 the year before..minimal power numbers, seemed to walk a lot though. Overall not too successful of a stint. Luckily Ryan Church was paired with him in the Milledge trade so we got Francouer out of the deal.
Omir Santos: Hit .260, but had a flare for the dramatic (who can forget that Red Sox game?). Seemed to be a clutch player with pop in his bat. Definitely seems like a viable option in the future. Maybe not as a starter but definitely a good platoon player with a lot of upside.
Josh Thole: Got me very excited. This young stud hit .321 in a small sample size (17/53) but showed promise and drove in 9 RBI's. With some experience and seasoning look for Thole to develop into a solid ball player. Will likely start in the minors.
Robinson Cancel/Kelly Stinnet/Mike DiFelice: Awful.
As you can see, we've had catchers that have performed mediocre at best for us in the post-Piazza era. It might be difficult for us to understand, being that we were spoiled by the best offensive catcher ever, but catcher is not traditionally an offensive position. I would personally be fine with Santos and Thole Platooning...but with our futility in backups in the past, why not bring in more bodies. I like Molina, he's getting older and losing his legs...but with all these options we wont need him to go out there every day. His bat has pop and is a solid defensive catcher. Blanco is a traditional catcher, youknow what you're going to get from him...a below average bat and a above average glove. I don't know why we went out and got Coste, i see nothing in him to be honest. He'll most likely be in the minors barring injury. Molina, Blanco, Santos and Thole will give us one of the most solid catching platoons weve had in the past half decade. Molina gives us the best power option (i like his RBI production), while blancos defense is his strength. Santos and Thole give us youth with Thole giving us a lefty bat, though we wont really see thole til later in the year. We can play more matchups and get a fresh set of legs behind the plate when needed. What a great learning experience it would be for the young Thole. Go get Molina but only for 2 years or less. Lets go Mets.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Most Hated Mets of All-Time
I asked and you responded: here are some of your least favorite players to ever wear the blue and orange (or black, still not a fan of that jersey).
Tom Glavine
Mo Vaughn
Gary Carter
Vince Coleman
Kenny Rodgers
Aaron Heilman
David Weathers
Bobby Bonilla
Mike Glavine
Eric Gunderson
Kelly Stinnett
Jeff Kent
Honorable Mention
Jim Duquette
Steve Phillips
Thank you to all that responded on twitter http://twitter.com/PessimisticMet
Please add your least favorite Mets of all-time in the comments section!
Tom Glavine
Mo Vaughn
Gary Carter
Vince Coleman
Kenny Rodgers
Aaron Heilman
David Weathers
Bobby Bonilla
Mike Glavine
Eric Gunderson
Kelly Stinnett
Jeff Kent
Honorable Mention
Jim Duquette
Steve Phillips
Thank you to all that responded on twitter http://twitter.com/PessimisticMet
Please add your least favorite Mets of all-time in the comments section!
Friday, November 13, 2009
The Case For Carl Crawford
I understand the need and excitement over Adrian Gonzales and Roy Halladay.
I also understand the need for Matt Holliday.
I want Carl Crawford.
Is he going to be difficult to obtain? yes. Is it possible? maybe. But we need to acquire him.
Crawford is still young and entering his prime. We could dump our prospects on Gonzales and quite frankly I'd be happy and fine. I'd love to have a power hitting gold glover at first. But imagine this. Reyes leading off, and Crawford batting second.
Could you even imagine the fear that would be in every opposing pitcher and catcher? Thats 100, 150 plus stolen bases right there. The dynamic boost that this would bring to run production and scoring would be something we could only dream of.
I may be making a bold statement, but I think Reyes and Crawford would be the most dynamic 1-2 punch of all-time. Can you think of a faster combo? Crawford has been walking more the past 3 seasons, and i can only hope that would continue to rise. He'll hit .300 steal 50-60 bases for your team, when coupled with a healthy reyes would be absolutely dynamic and beautiful to watch.
Citi field would be his playground. When paired with two gold glove outfielders (Beltran, Frenchy) his speed would be an absolute asset in left field, and take some pressure off the injury prone Beltran. This 3 outfield set would be exactly what Citi field needs. Less doubles, less triples and this outfield would be a blessing to our starting pitching. Not to mention how this would help him offensively. Let's face it, you aren't going to get 20 home runs from him, but you will see his doubles and triples rise in this new field. If the Mets unload their prospects on him, which i think they should, then they can try to sign 2 quality pitchers instead of trading for the older Halladay.
Come on Omar make it happen.
We would then have
Reyes- an incredible perennial threat to win the SB title each year
Castillo (if he stays)- an aging, yet good base stealer
Wright- a 30-30 man who lead the team with 27 Sb's last season
Crawford- his 60 sb's last year...need I say more?
Beltran- the most successful base-stealer of ALL TIME
This is a step in the right direction to field a team that can thrive and fully take advantage of Citi field.
I also understand the need for Matt Holliday.
I want Carl Crawford.
Is he going to be difficult to obtain? yes. Is it possible? maybe. But we need to acquire him.
Crawford is still young and entering his prime. We could dump our prospects on Gonzales and quite frankly I'd be happy and fine. I'd love to have a power hitting gold glover at first. But imagine this. Reyes leading off, and Crawford batting second.
Could you even imagine the fear that would be in every opposing pitcher and catcher? Thats 100, 150 plus stolen bases right there. The dynamic boost that this would bring to run production and scoring would be something we could only dream of.
I may be making a bold statement, but I think Reyes and Crawford would be the most dynamic 1-2 punch of all-time. Can you think of a faster combo? Crawford has been walking more the past 3 seasons, and i can only hope that would continue to rise. He'll hit .300 steal 50-60 bases for your team, when coupled with a healthy reyes would be absolutely dynamic and beautiful to watch.
Citi field would be his playground. When paired with two gold glove outfielders (Beltran, Frenchy) his speed would be an absolute asset in left field, and take some pressure off the injury prone Beltran. This 3 outfield set would be exactly what Citi field needs. Less doubles, less triples and this outfield would be a blessing to our starting pitching. Not to mention how this would help him offensively. Let's face it, you aren't going to get 20 home runs from him, but you will see his doubles and triples rise in this new field. If the Mets unload their prospects on him, which i think they should, then they can try to sign 2 quality pitchers instead of trading for the older Halladay.
Come on Omar make it happen.
We would then have
Reyes- an incredible perennial threat to win the SB title each year
Castillo (if he stays)- an aging, yet good base stealer
Wright- a 30-30 man who lead the team with 27 Sb's last season
Crawford- his 60 sb's last year...need I say more?
Beltran- the most successful base-stealer of ALL TIME
This is a step in the right direction to field a team that can thrive and fully take advantage of Citi field.
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Daniel Murphy Enigma
If Carlos Delgado is gone for good (He just filed for free agency) what will that mean for the Mets? Is Daniel Murphy the long term answer for this team at the first base position?
If you didn't realize (or are just trying to forget about last year completely), D-Murph led the Mets in home runs last year! Now, 12 home runs isn't something to be excited about, especially not from the power position of first base, but nonetheless you can not take that away from him. Other interesting stats from last season:
-1st on the Mets in games played (155)
-2nd in at-bats
-3rd in runs scored, hits, and triples
-2nd in doubles (38) and RBI's
I just don't know who this kid really is. I think the stats are more of a showing of how battered the team was due to injury. Perhaps Murph is just a player who could fill in with mediocre stats on a bad team. However, he's 24 years old and has plenty of time to learn and mature. But this is New York, we don't like patience, we like immediate gratification. Murph batted .282 after the all-star break, but a mere .266 on the season as a whole. He didn't walk nearly enough and struck out nearly twice as much as he did walk. His defense did seem to improve dramatically when he made the switch to first base, and he posted a .989 fielding percentage over at First.
Once again, who is Daniel Murphy? Can he hit 30 homers and drive in 100 RBI? Can he hit 300? Can he improve upon that abysmal .313 OBP he posted last year. Can Daniel Murphy play for a winning team at first base. Start hitting Danny.
If you didn't realize (or are just trying to forget about last year completely), D-Murph led the Mets in home runs last year! Now, 12 home runs isn't something to be excited about, especially not from the power position of first base, but nonetheless you can not take that away from him. Other interesting stats from last season:
-1st on the Mets in games played (155)
-2nd in at-bats
-3rd in runs scored, hits, and triples
-2nd in doubles (38) and RBI's
I just don't know who this kid really is. I think the stats are more of a showing of how battered the team was due to injury. Perhaps Murph is just a player who could fill in with mediocre stats on a bad team. However, he's 24 years old and has plenty of time to learn and mature. But this is New York, we don't like patience, we like immediate gratification. Murph batted .282 after the all-star break, but a mere .266 on the season as a whole. He didn't walk nearly enough and struck out nearly twice as much as he did walk. His defense did seem to improve dramatically when he made the switch to first base, and he posted a .989 fielding percentage over at First.
Once again, who is Daniel Murphy? Can he hit 30 homers and drive in 100 RBI? Can he hit 300? Can he improve upon that abysmal .313 OBP he posted last year. Can Daniel Murphy play for a winning team at first base. Start hitting Danny.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Greatest Mets Second Baseman of the past 8 years...Jose Valentin?
I was wondering the other day when the last time the Mets had a solid offensive/defensive second baseman in the past decade. The only person who really came to mind was one of my childhood favorites, Edgardo Alfonzo. Heres a breakdown of Met second basemen from the past decade. They are the players who played the most amount of games at second base in their given year.
1998: Carlos Baerga: .266 avg, 7 HR, 53 RBI, 27 2B, 0 SB/9 Errors (144 games)
1999: Edgardo Alfonzo: .304 Avg, 27 HR, 108 RBI, 41 2B, 9 SB/5 Errors (158 games)
2000: Edgardo Alfonzo: .324 Avg, 25 HR, 94 RBI, 40 2B, 3 SB/10 Errors (150 games)
2001: Edgardo Alfonzo: .243 Avg, 17 HR, 49 RBI, 22 2B, 5 SB/7 Errors (124 games)
2002: Roberto Alomar: .266 Avg, 11 HR, 53 RBI, 24 2B, 16 SB/11 Errors (149 games)
2003: Roberto Alomar: .262 Avg, 2 HR, 22 RBI, 17 2B, 6 SB/6 Errors (73 games)
2004: Danny Garcia: .232 Avg, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 7 2B, 3 SB/6 Errors (58 Games)
2005: Miguel Cairo: .251 Avg, 2 HR, 19 RBI, 18 2B, 13 SB/5 Errors (82 Games)
2006: Jose Valentin: .271 Avg., 18 HR, 62 RBI, 24 2B, 6 SB/6 Errors (94 Games)
2007:Luis Castillo: .296 Avg, 1 HR, 20 RBI, 8 2B, 10 SB/2 Errors (50 Games)
2008:Luis Castillo: .245 Avg, 3 HR, 28 RBI, 7 2B, 17 SB/6 Errors (81 Games)
2009:Luis Castillo: .302 Avg, 1 HR, 40 RBI, 12 2B, 20 SB/11 Errors (137 Games)
The numbers are kind of shocking, first of all, Kaz Matsui didn't even qualify to make the list due to games played at 2B, which is kind of funny. If you look back at the 1999 and 2000 seasons of Edgardo Alfonzo, he was the best second basemen offensively (and defensively arguably). If you take him out of the picture, and don't count Castillo's trade shortened 50 game season the stats are pretty startling. Jose Valentin was the best second baseman we've had in a decade? Really? No one has batted over .275, (I'm still convinced that Castillo's 2009 season was a fluke) no one has hit 20 homeruns, no one has driven in over 65 runs, and no one has hitten 25 doubles. One could say, "Well, second base is a speed position." Good point, but why hasn't any met stolen over 20 bases? In the post-Alfonzo era, (not including the abysmal 149 game season by Alomar) Only one person has started the majority of the games at second, and that was Miguel Cairo with 82! (you really want to count Luis Castillo?) The Mets really could use a second baseman who can hit for average, power, steal some bases, and for God's sake, stay healthy!
The 2008 Phillies had Utley, The 2007 Red Sox had former MVP Pedroia the 2009 Yanks (yuck) had Cano (look at his regular season hitting statistics). I believe Championship teams are built through pitching, and up the middle. We have Reyes, and a perennial All-Star and Gold Glover in Beltran. We need that piece to the puzzle to compliment Reyes in the double play combo. No more of these over-aged over-paid second basemen.
1998: Carlos Baerga: .266 avg, 7 HR, 53 RBI, 27 2B, 0 SB/9 Errors (144 games)
1999: Edgardo Alfonzo: .304 Avg, 27 HR, 108 RBI, 41 2B, 9 SB/5 Errors (158 games)
2000: Edgardo Alfonzo: .324 Avg, 25 HR, 94 RBI, 40 2B, 3 SB/10 Errors (150 games)
2001: Edgardo Alfonzo: .243 Avg, 17 HR, 49 RBI, 22 2B, 5 SB/7 Errors (124 games)
2002: Roberto Alomar: .266 Avg, 11 HR, 53 RBI, 24 2B, 16 SB/11 Errors (149 games)
2003: Roberto Alomar: .262 Avg, 2 HR, 22 RBI, 17 2B, 6 SB/6 Errors (73 games)
2004: Danny Garcia: .232 Avg, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 7 2B, 3 SB/6 Errors (58 Games)
2005: Miguel Cairo: .251 Avg, 2 HR, 19 RBI, 18 2B, 13 SB/5 Errors (82 Games)
2006: Jose Valentin: .271 Avg., 18 HR, 62 RBI, 24 2B, 6 SB/6 Errors (94 Games)
2007:Luis Castillo: .296 Avg, 1 HR, 20 RBI, 8 2B, 10 SB/2 Errors (50 Games)
2008:Luis Castillo: .245 Avg, 3 HR, 28 RBI, 7 2B, 17 SB/6 Errors (81 Games)
2009:Luis Castillo: .302 Avg, 1 HR, 40 RBI, 12 2B, 20 SB/11 Errors (137 Games)
The numbers are kind of shocking, first of all, Kaz Matsui didn't even qualify to make the list due to games played at 2B, which is kind of funny. If you look back at the 1999 and 2000 seasons of Edgardo Alfonzo, he was the best second basemen offensively (and defensively arguably). If you take him out of the picture, and don't count Castillo's trade shortened 50 game season the stats are pretty startling. Jose Valentin was the best second baseman we've had in a decade? Really? No one has batted over .275, (I'm still convinced that Castillo's 2009 season was a fluke) no one has hit 20 homeruns, no one has driven in over 65 runs, and no one has hitten 25 doubles. One could say, "Well, second base is a speed position." Good point, but why hasn't any met stolen over 20 bases? In the post-Alfonzo era, (not including the abysmal 149 game season by Alomar) Only one person has started the majority of the games at second, and that was Miguel Cairo with 82! (you really want to count Luis Castillo?) The Mets really could use a second baseman who can hit for average, power, steal some bases, and for God's sake, stay healthy!
The 2008 Phillies had Utley, The 2007 Red Sox had former MVP Pedroia the 2009 Yanks (yuck) had Cano (look at his regular season hitting statistics). I believe Championship teams are built through pitching, and up the middle. We have Reyes, and a perennial All-Star and Gold Glover in Beltran. We need that piece to the puzzle to compliment Reyes in the double play combo. No more of these over-aged over-paid second basemen.
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