A few weeks back I wrote a column and I briefly mentioned the fact that I believe Nick Johnson would be a great fit for the Mets in 2010. I’m going to take that further today.
Assume for a second that everybody’s fantasy of acquiring Prince Fielder or Adrian Gonzalez is not going to happen. Even if it does happen, the price tag for both of them will be astronomical. To me that leaves the Mets with the following options at 1B in 2010.
They can either re-sign Carlos Delgado on a wing and a prayer that he’s healthy enough to return to his 2008 form at the age of 38. I just can’t sign off on this. I’m sorry but the Mets need to do something to change the culture of this team, and the first thing they need to do is let Delgado play somewhere else. If he hits 40 bombs in San Francisco next year, fine by me. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.
They can keep Daniel Murphy at 1B all season long and hope that at age 25 Murphy has learned enough about playing in the big leagues that he can be an adequate first baseman. The thing with Murphy to me is, he could be a valuable player, but he was asked to do too much, too soon. Not everybody is a superstar at age 24, and Murphy was basically asked to live up to that type of potential. He’s a good ball player, but he needs to take a step back. Murphy could be more valuable to the Mets as a 26 year old player who backed up a legit starting 1B for 2 years.
The third option to me is signing Nick Johnson to be the first baseman for the NY Mets. This option not only brings a lot to the current makeup of this team, but it also allows them to keep Murphy and work with him to get him to be the player they know he can be. The only, and I mean the ONLY reason not to bring Johnson into this organization is his injury past.
To be fair, some of his injuries were just a case of bad luck. You can’t label a guy injury prone when he collides with an outfielder at Shea Stadium and breaks his femur. You can’t call a guy injury prone when a ball takes an absolute wicked hop and breaks his cheekbone. Back injuries, sure I’ll buy those. Remind me again, when Vlad Guerrero had his back problems and the Mets avoided him, how’d that work out? Vlad won which award the following year? Oh right! Most Valuable Player.
Here’s the problem I have with that though. When people argue he is too injury prone, they are implying that the Mets, Nick Johnson, and his agent don’t know that. I don’t think Johnson is going to hit the market and demand an insanely huge contract. Take a look at last year’s market, there is nothing that says a 1 year contract isn’t an option when it comes to Johnson.
If Nick Johnson does get injured, the Mets still would have Daniel Murphy and possibly Ike Davis available to come up for a replacement.
It’s a gamble, I admit that. It is however a gamble that will cost the Mets the least amount of sacrifice at the end of the day.
Here’s why Nick Johnson is a great fit for the Mets in 2010.
Let’s keep in mind also that Johnson has over 400 AB’s this year. Johnson is THIRD in the Major Leagues in OBP. Some devalue OBP, but you can’t score runs unless you have players on base. The impact of Johnson batting third in front of the likes of Carlos Beltran and David Wright would be amazing. You want somebody to teach Daniel Murphy how to play 1B and be a patient hitter at the same time? Johnson’s your guy.
Among qualified hitters, Johnson sees the third most pitches per at bat. He’s a grinder. He makes pitchers work, and 42% of the time he ends up on base due to it. You simply cannot find that kind of player without paying an enormous contract. If Johnson takes a decent financial deal at let’s just say two years, it’s a no brainer to me to take that chance!
Johnson also has played in NY before, and if you read Joe Torre’s book, you read that Torre wanted to keep Johnson rather than acquire Jason Giambi. You know he can handle it in NY, which is always a big question mark for any high priced free agent coming to play here for the first time.
If Johnson’s negotiations go as I expect them to, he will not cost the Mets an arm and a leg, and will allow the Mets to keep their much needed minor league prospects, while also allowing them to work the free agent market for a left fielder and a pitcher. He is the most talented and most cost effective 1B option the Mets have for 2010 without unloading the farm system.
Finally, I’ll make you a deal. If the Mets do sign Johnson, and he ends up not earning his paycheck due to injury, I’ll write up a story about how you were right and I was wrong. However, if Johnson has a season where he gets over 400 AB’s, and is on base over 40% of the time hitting in front of David Wright and Carlos Beltran, you better expect to read an I told you so column!
*Mets Merized Online Needs Your Help*
I am a HUGE fan of Nick Johnson…Ive wanted him on the Mets for a while now. However, given Murphy’s adjustment to the league, I dont know that he is an upgrade.
Nick provides a great glove, good average & OBP, & moderate power.
Murphy provides an ok glove, decent average/OBP, & possibly low-mod power while hitting a good amount of doubles.
However, Murph provides 3 things Nick doesn’t… speed, gritty attitude,& he is someone fans gravitate towards. He reminds me of a poor man’s Dykstra.
With all that, is Nick that much of an upgrade, or is the money better spent on LF, #2 SP, and some role players.
First off, I bought a custom Murphy shirt in August of 08. So I really like Murph’s style… but he lost his way a little this year, and I think it’s partly because he was put in every lineup spot imagineable, 2 different positions and expected to be a top producer when the MEts best offensive players went down.
With that said, I think he skipped a period of development and can learn a lot by having a guy like Johnson at 1B for 2 yrs.
I don’t know how you can compare the two in the way you did.
First of all Johnson doesn’t have good OBP, he has GREAT OBP. Johnson’s OBP puts him in a category with the likes of Pujols, Mauer, Hanley, Youkilis, Utley, Helton, Fielder, and ARod to name a few.
Murphy’s OBP puts him in a group with Aubrey Huff, Orlando Cabrera, Vernon Wells, and Colby Rasmus.
Which group would you rather have bat in front of Wright or Beltran>?
Fans gravitated to Ty Wiggington also… you want him playing 3B over David Wright?
He is an upgrade because he brings something that very few players can do. You cannot tell me a middle of the lineup of Johnson, Beltran, Wright, Francouer is not a better option than Murphy in there.
Plus this allows Murph to actually develop in the big leagues under a veteran who plays in a style that Murph is being groomed to be. An on base patient 1B hitter. Who better to teach him than the best in the game in that regard?
Let ‘er rip. I want to see new blood at Citi
Just doing some facination…but with all this talk of breaking up the core while making salary cuts. Not that it would ever happen, but what about:
Reyes + Beltran + Ollie [force Ollie as a salary dump]
for
Papelbon, Ellsbury, Youklis, Bucholtz, Lowrie, and Anderson.
1. Ellsbury, cf
2. Murphy, 1b
3. Wright, 2b[he has the footwork/glove/range to be a GG'r there]
4. Youk, 3b
5. Anderson, lf
6. Frenchy, rf
7. Thole, C
8. Lowrie, ss
B-Pagan, Santos, Tatis, Hernandez, Evans
SP-Johan, Papelbon, Bucholtz, Pelf, Neise
BP-Green, Felic, Bostick, Stokes, Maine, Krod
That’s a lot of salary cut and a far more interesting team
would never happen…just fascinating…fantasy style.
Stop it.
Dude!!! Are you serious, get real man!
whatdatmean: Should we throw in 1,000 of NY’s finest police and swat to stop the riots that would occur in Boston also?
Nice!! Throw in Stokes and get Okajima
I would bring Johnson in, as long as he comes cheap. HOWEVER, if you do bring Johnson in, where are you going to get your power from? I’ve been saying for a while now that the Mets need a serious power bat in this lineup. That is what Delgado provided. If Johnson is signed, then the Mets HAVE TO go out and get a true power hitting LF. I’m not saying they will get Holliday, but they need a guy who can hit around .260, with 30-40 HR’s, and around 80-90 RBI’s. You watch how Wright and Beltran, and Franceur hit with that type of power in the middle of the lineup.
Now the only problem is, where are we going to get a guy like that.
You made a strong case for Johnson and a good one too. It’s true that some of his injuries were flukes and not his fault. But he doesn’t cure the Mets need for power, in fact Murphy has out homered him. Defensively, theres nobody better, but what this team needs more than anything else is a bonafide power hitter and a number two starter. All these OBP guys mean nothing if you dont have some high SLG guys to drive them home.
The Dodgers are 12th in runs scored, 24th in HRs and 4th in OBP. For quite some time weren’t they the team to beat? Aren’t they still leading their division?
If players get on base, that forces other runners home. If Citi Field doesn’t allow you to hit HR’s as much, then stop trying to hit HRs.
We don’t need Johnson unless it’s in a utility role. The Mets need an upgrade on the GM and the utility players. the utility players the Mets have now has the DNA of the 3 Stooges.
Nick Johnson is the perfect fundementally sound utility player that we need. If I was the GM, I would wait and see what type of offers Johnson gets during the off-season. I would not be in any hurry to sign him. I doubt many teams see him as a starting first baseman worth more than the 5.3 he’s making now.
He’s a utility player that gets on base on average more than guys like Hanley, Youk, and Adam Dunn. Yeah that makes sense. Great bench player. COME ON!
Jessep,
If Johnson put up numbers similar to Hanley, Youk, and Dunn I’d take him in a heart beat. He’ll never come close to those guys.
Look at Johnson’s career.
Free agents tend to be over-rated during the off season. Look at Oliver Perez.
If anything I’d rather sign Adam Dunn and put him at first or left field. That’s only if we can’t get Prince Feilder.
Okay again, why don’t you look at his career OBP? Compare that # to the guys you just mentioned.
Secondly, you can’t “sign” Dunn. He’s under contract. Fielder will cost an arm and a leg.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
MY RESPONSE TO YOUR EXCUSES FOR JOHNSON’S “BLACK CLOUD” CAREER IS SIMPOLY , “HOLY MOISES!!!!”
QUITE SIMPLY PUT, IN MY OPINION IF DFLGADO’S BAT SPEED IS STILL THERE HE’;S BY FAR & A WAY A BETTER OFFENSIVE FIT FOR NEXT YR. YOU EXPOUNDED UPON ALL THAT JIOHNSON COULD DELIVER WITH 500 ABs. LOOK NO FURTHER THAN HIS ‘06 SEASON(HIS MOST HEALTHY) WHAT I FOUND REMARKABLE IS HIS HEALTHIEST CAREER SEASON WAS 147G COMPARE THAT TO DELGADO’S AVERAGE OF 146.5 BET ‘05-’08. FAIR COMPARISON, NO? HERE’S JOHNSON’S ‘06 Vs DELGADO’S AVG #s OVER THAT SPAN.
G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB BA
JOHNSON 147 500 100 145 260 46 0 23 77 110 .290
DELGADO 146.5 545 85 149 285 33 2 33 108 68 .273
IF U R DISMISSING HLTH CONSIDERATIONS ON ONE WHY NOT BOTH.DELGADO’S AVG GAMES PLAYED OVER PAST 4 YRS SAME AS JOHNSON’S HEALTHIEST. JOHNSON GETS THE EDGE ON DEFENSE CERTAINLY. KEEPING RUNS OFF IS NOT AS SEXY AS PUTTING THEM ON.
Do you really believe that Nick Johnson would sign as a utility player when a dozen teams will be chasing him for a job as a starting first baseman. How could you even think of having him and Murphy and opting for Murphy as the starter?
Great job Jessep. I really like him tutoring Murphy or even Davis. There’s many of us at The Real Dirty Mets Blog who would love to have Nick batting in front of Beltran and Wright. Throw in a LFer like Figgins or Crawford to lead off and you’ve got quite a lineup. Figgins-Reyes-Johnson-Wright-Beltran-Frency-Santos-Castillo. Get ‘em on, get ‘em in!
Again, some of you need to get off this HR bandwagon. The Giants and Dodgers don’t hit HR… they seem to be doing quite well in the NL don’t they?
If you add a pitcher, a guy like Crawford and Johnson you havea Citi Field team.
The Dogers don’t hit home runs? Aren’t the Dodgers on the verge of tying or breaking a major league record this year for the most starting players on a team with 20 or more home runs?
As a team they are 24th out of 30 in HR’s with 128.
Nick Johnson is always injuried and is not that great of a player.
Mets would be wasting money on him
The Mets need to give their own players a chance. Murphy and Evans had disappointing years, but it is still early. I’d give them half a season to see if they could be decent, either individually or as a platoon — Evans kills lefties.
Meanwhile, you’ve got Ike Davis. Start him in Triple-A, and see how he does. By mid-2010, or certainly by 2011, he could be better than Nick Johnson or any available player, at a lower price.
We got lucky with DelGado, compared with some other late-career signings. It’s time to start building from within, and using free agents sparingly.