Since the Mets are officially out of playoff contention it’s officially time to start thinking about next season and whom will be playing for the Mets. If there has been one good thing about this dismal season it’s that we have seen what the Mets bench next year will be like. If everyone stays healthy and the Mets make a few good off season moves with this bench we could have a good season. One of the players who has gotten everyone’s attention this season was Angel Pagan.
Pagan took over duties for Carlos Beltran in center-field when Beltran was sent to the disabled list with a bone bruise. He has impressed fans, writers and the Mets with his play during this time. He was given a chance with all these injuries this season and took full advantage. It’s gotten people who follow this team talking and asking about the possibility of Pagan starting out in left-field next year. There are pros and cons for having Angel Pagan as our everyday outfielder for next year that I’m sure Omar Minaya will be thinking about during this long off season coming up.
Pros:
- Defensively he is an immediate upgrade over Daniel Murphy who was the 2008 opening day starter out in left-field. In 554.2 innings played in the outfield Pagan has 2 errors where Daniel Murphy in 213.2 had 3, not counting on how many balls Murph couldn’t get to or just fell down on his backside trying to get to. He puts making the play first opposed to his well being as we saw last year against the Dodgers.
- He’s a team guy. As we heard in David Ponte’s interview with him Pagan is a team first guy. He does not care about where in the lineup he is, he just wants to be able to play and help contribute to the success of this team.
- As of this writing In 70 games so far this season Pagan is hitting .305 with 6 HR’s, his highest total of HR’s in his short career for any season. He’s not an easy out at the plate, works counts, drive up the pitch count against opposing pitchers.
Unfortunately there are a cons to consider as well when thinking about whether or not he should be an everyday outfielder come 2010.
Cons:
- Angel over the last two season’s has shown that he is prone to injuries and spending time on the disabled list. In May of 2008 after impressing the team and the fans during Spring Training he hurt his shoulder diving for a ball, which ultimately led to him having season ending surgery. He has spent time on the DL this season just like many other Mets.
- Pagan does not have any power at the plate. As of this writing he has had 681 AB’s and has only hit 15 HR’s in his career. The Mets have shown this season that lack of power does not win you ball games. LF is traditionally a power hitter’s position.
- He lacks the fundamentals needed to start everyday. His baserunning has really hurt the Mets this season. You cannot give away outs the way he does on the basepath’s. He does not pickup the 3rd base coach at times, sometimes stopping when he shouldn’t, sometimes going when he shouldn’t. He has shown on at least one occasion that he lost track of outs in the inning, resulting in a double play.
I personally think that Pagan should not be the everyday outfielder for the Mets when 2010 starts. I think Pagan has secured a spot on the roster as the #4 outfielder on this team. He has shown he’s a good pinch hitter and he can be used to give Beltran, Francoeur and whoever will be the other outfielder the day off once and while, especially down the stretch or if there’s an injury he can play for a limited time. Pagan has done a great job, I look forward to seeing him on the roster next year, just as a backup.
Great article Greg! I completely agree with you, Pagan is a great player, who puts his team first. However, likewise I just don’t feel comfortable relying on him to play everyday.
Agreed, he is a backup player and should not be a starter. Like Murphy, he needs some training at using his skills properly. Learn to run the bases and read plays better on defense. He needs to focus porperly during live action instead of being distracted. The Mets appear deficient in developing player skills and fostering growth in the capabilities of young players. The organization needs to concentrate on executing player development in a meaningful way if players like Pagan and Murphy are to be seriously considered for starting roles. As they are now, neither is ready to be a starter in the majors.
MASK, WHILE TAKEN IN A VACUUM, YOUR CRITICISM OF NYM FUNDIES IS ACCURATE; HOWEVER, I BELIEVE U NEED TO CONSIDER EXPERIENCE & TALENT LEVEL INTO THE MIX, IF U TOTAL ANGEL’S ENTIRE MLB CAREER OF 4 YRS. HE’S PLAYED IN ONLY 245 TOTAL GAMES AMASSING ONLY 667 ABS WITH 185 HITS & ONLY 54 BB OR 239 BASERUNNING OPPORTUNITIES IN 4 YRS! COMPARE THAT
TO REYES’ ’07 SEASON OF 160G WITH 681 AB, 191 HITS & 77 BB OR 268 BASERUNNING OPPORTUNITIES. SO IN 4 YRS PAGAN’S AMASSED FEWER BAERUNNING EXPERIENCES AS REYES GOT IN ONE SEASON. MURPHY IS MY TALENT EXAMPLE, HE WAS A LATE ROUNDER, WHICH SPEAKS TO RAW TALENT LEVEL, YET HE WAS SEEMINGLY FAST-TRACKED PAST AAA WHERE HE MAY HAVE ACQUIRED THE NECESSARY SITUATIONAL SKILLS. MURPH’S IS A PLIGHT MANY OF OUR YOUNGSTERS FACE SINCE WE’VE HAD A PAUCITY OF FIRST-ROUND TOP TALENT TO WORK WITH, YET WE KEEP SKIPPING THEM TO MAJORS FROM AA EXPECTING POLISHED TALENTS. EVEN THE PUREST OF DIAMONDS NEED PROPER POLISHING TO CLEAN THE SURFACE DIRT EBABLING THEM TO SPARKLE PROPERLY. BTW, PLS NOTE, SAME LACK OF OPPORTUNITIES HINDERING PAGAN’S DEVELOPMENT LIKELY TO IMPACT F-MART THE SAME WAY SINCE F-MART IS A REGULAR ON THE D/L. EITHER WAY, IN MY OPINION, ANGEL’S A #4 & MURPH IS TATIS’ REPLACEMENT AS B/U 1B,3B IN ’10.
I agree that Pagan should be our #4 outfielder. However, if the Mets can somehow go out and get a legit power hitting 1B, then I wouldn’t mind Pagan starting in LF. If the Mets can’t get that power 1B, then they need to get a power LF, in which case, Pagan can come off the bench.
I thought we already went over this last week? Pagen is in contention for one of the back-up outfielder jobs next spring. Pagen still makes the same mistakes he made with the Cubs. The Cubs let him go because they thought he had hit reached his development ceiling.
The thing about Pagen is, you never know what Angel Pagen is going to show up on a given play? For a back-up player this is not an endearing quality. Why take a chance playing Pagen if he is going to make bone headed base running plays and throw to the wrong base…. when you could play a less dynamic but far more reliable player in a part-time role such as Jeremy Redd or Cory Sullivan. And I like Pagen a lot! But I don’t know…
I think Sullivan is by far the better player. Perhaps Pagan is nothing more than a PH’er and late inning defensive replacement depending on who the LF is next season. Best of all would be to use him as trade fodder to get a real major legaue player to fill one of the holes.
To me, that would be the best case scenario…trade him either in a package deal to get either a LF, SP, or 1B, or trade himn for prospects. Of course, there has to be a team willing to take him.
He has enough stats that there should be a team out there with the proper skills to develop players that will take him as part of a deal that includes other inducements. I agree LF, 1B, SP, and even catcher are the proper needs to go after if we are to have a chance at being competitive next year.
MASK, SO MUCH DEPENDS ON NEXT YR’S PAYROLL BUDGET. I’D HOPE IT’S SOMEWHERE BET 120-130M FROM THE 149 WE’RE AT TODAY. IF LESS THAN THAT WE’RE IN BIG TROUBLE; BUT THAT PARAMETER CAN BE MADE TO WORK. THERE’S 93M ALREADY COMMITTED ON BOOKS PRESENTLY. MY GUESS IS 15M FOR A GOOD #2. 10-15M FOR THAT PWR LF(BEST CANDIDATES HOLLIDAY-13.5M IN ’09 & IF CRAWFORD ISN’T RETAINED WITH TB OPTION @ 10M FOR ’10) LEAVING VERY LITTLE FOR 1B & C. OUR BEST OPTION MAY BE IF DELGADO’S BATSPEED IS STILL GOOD, A LOW GUARANTEE OFFER FOR 1 YR W/ MODEST INCENTIVES HOPING FOR LITTLE COMPETITIVE INTEREST DUE TO AGE/INJURY AND KEEPING SANTOS,THOLE AS CATCHER TANDEM. SOMETHING ELSE I’D CONSIDER AS COST REDUCTION IS PARTING WITH BOTH CORA & TATIS IN FAVOR OF A-HERN & MURPH AS B/U INFIELDERS. A POTENTIAL LOWCOST LF WITH RIGHT MAKEUP MAY BE NADY COMING OFF 2nd TJ OF CATREER IF NYY FALTER IN INTEREST. WITH A LARGE AMOUNT OF LUCK & APLOMB IT MAY BE DOABLE ON THE CHEAP @ >130M. CERTAINLY IF THIS WERE BAU AS IT HAS BEEN WITH A 173M LUXURY CAP, THE ISSUE OF COMPETING WOULD BE MOOT. SO MUCH MORE COULD BE ACCOMPLISHED IN MORE DOMINATING FASHION; BUT ALAS, I THINK NOT & PRAY FOR 130M CEILING
Give me Pagan in LF over Murphy at first! Would i rather have Holliday, Abreu or Dye in left? Yes, but do the Mets have the finances to do that and to address the starting pitching issues (not to mention 1B)? It doesn’t look that way. Pagan starts the season in LF with the now tarnished FMart in the wings.
I feel that Pagen has not fully had enough time to be fully comfortable at playing on a steady basis.
Because of that I feel that he needs more time playing every day without the discomfort of feeling that if he does wrong, he losses the whole thing.
A steady Pagen will make a steady good player. And his long ball (20 or just above it) will be good enough to do the job.
LF should be his next year, unless he fails to live up to what I felt that he could do.
Oh and about Murphy. So far he did not hit as good as last year. BUT, he did hit good enough later in the seaason.
And early on he must of had some emotionally stuff going on because of him finding a position to play.
And since he is so young then I would question if he can also develop into a long ball hitter. I feel that he can also be a 20 plus homer guy.
So can he be our first basemen or not? Well if they can not find one in a trade/FA then he should at least start the season and see if it works out.
Agreed. 4th outfielder at best. The Mets need to go out and get a LF through free agency in the off-season.
But if Delgado comes in cheap for one years, with an upgrade if he does good then Murphy will start off on the bench, and or be part of a trade.
I say we shoud try to fins sombody better, but pitching is our priority, along with a power hitter. If we can get an upgrade over Pagan great. Somebody will surely get injured and leave Pagan with plenty of playing time. I like Pagan all things consdered I think he is more of a postive on this team than a neagtive.
I have been asking myself the same question in regards to Pagan. He shows a great deal of talent as well as being injury prone. Its a tough one. I do agree that this team needs a power bat. Its apparent that they can not win without it. They also need someone who is CLUTCH…. They can’t even score when the opportunity is given to them.
Anyway, I believe that both Pagan and Murphy should play winter ball and continue to develop thier skills.