Comments on: Benchwarmers: Are Mets Reserves Better Or Worse?

By: Satish Ram

Satish Ram — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:49:08 +0000

Hu was traded for Antonini, not Stoner.

Don’t scare me, I’ve waited years to buy a Stoner Mets jersey. But I don’t think he’s pitched this year…

By: METS62FAN

METS62FAN — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:49:00 +0000

Any, it would seem as if Sandy agrees with your Hairston assessment; since there’s been talk of going with 3 catchers once Paulino is activated, that apparently would call for a Hairston decision. with benches as short as 3 or 4 the luxury of defensive ONLY options(#2C,Hu) becomes questionable; however, IMO, the shorter the bench the more valuable the SWH of which there’s a derth in our contingent. We have L/R balance; but often not enough of each as in last night, Pridie as the sole LHH with a RHP going 8IP.

I believe “Paulino needs more ABs” is code for, I’m monitoring the Trainer’s Room closely for a fringer I can d/l instead of risking losing Hairston as we lost Boyer from future help option. ON THIS TEAM ESPECIALLY OPTIONS RULE! THE MORE THE MERRIER!

By: Donal

Donal — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:35:52 +0000

Thats the problem though. How do we know what saves a run or a hit? Just because a guy makes a web gem once in a while doesn’t mean he’s a great fielder.

You have a guy like Carlos Beltran who doesn’t make a lot diving catches because he’s a great fielder and athlete. He reads the ball off the bat brilliantly, takes good routes, and can take long strides so it looks pretty effortless.

By: Gina

Gina — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:20:16 +0000

Thanks for responding to me. I’m glad we didnt lose him,so why is Evans in Buffalo when we can certainly use him here? It shouldnt take a trained eye this long to see Hairston is inadequate and I’m being kind. Oh and I know Tejada cant hit, my point was that neither can Chen Hu and while I remember a few great plays from Tejada last year, I haven’t see Hu do anything as special or even make a play to save a run or a hit.

By: Donal

Donal — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:01:49 +0000

” I dont know of any other bench that would break camp with three terribly bad hitters as these”

Last year’s team?

Oh, wait the .180 hitters were the starters last year. My bad.

By: Donal

Donal — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:00:02 +0000

Nick Evans is in Buffalo because he cleared waivers ie, no other team claimed him.

Ruben Tejada is playing SS everyday in Buffalo and giving lots of souveniers to the fans behind first base. He’s also putting up roller coaster batting lines because his team mates are getting on base for him. Even if he was looking really good, you’re not helping him or the team by having him ride the bench up here.

“He looked very good in the filed and I oved seeing him do that Jeter thing at ss where he jumped, spun around and threw across his body to first base.”

I prefer guys who don’t need to make easy plays look hard. By the way, the real “Jeter thing” is having no sideways mobility so everything slightly to your elft or right is a single.

By: XtreemIcon

XtreemIcon — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:55:52 +0000

XtreemIcon says:
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April 29, 2011 at 9:54 am
He’s not a backup. He’s a platoon. Big difference.

By: XtreemIcon

XtreemIcon — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:54:30 +0000

He’s not a backup. He’s a platoon. Big difference.

By: Donal

Donal — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:50:14 +0000

Actually, “bad” is a relative term, so ya, you do compare them to othe teams.

“The thing you say about they wouldnt be on bench if they were good is ok for a team like the Pirates.”

Oh, is there a spot on the All-Star ballot for “pinch hitter”?

“Who is our one reliable bat off the bench?”

Well, it was Murphy and it is April.

” How many teams have Hu coming up to pinch hit with the game on the line. ”

No idea. How many teams have a light hitting defensive replacement.

By: Gina

Gina — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:47:48 +0000

Where is Nick Evans? Did we lose him or something? I always thought he would be a nice bat off the bench and he can play infield and outfield. Why didnt we use Ruben Tejada instead of Chen Hu? He looked very good in the filed and I oved seeing him do that Jeter thing at ss where he jumped, spun around and threw across his body to first base.

By: t agee

t agee — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:40:11 +0000

Having a role for the 5 bench players that can perform well in is a vital ingredient for a winning team. Not only for the rest they provide the regulars but just for morale purposes. Getting everyone involved and contributing and keeping it that way makes for a healthy and happy team. Burying a guy or two like we have in recent years leads to bad overall morale on the team and shows up on the field in lethargic play. Having someone capable enough to start at your position in your place keeps you in line and keeps the focus where it should be. On the field and winning baseball games.

By: Kranepool7

Kranepool7 — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:39:48 +0000

Isnt the backup catcher part of the bench? The bench isnt just pinch hitting appearances.

By: Kranepool7

Kranepool7 — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:36:45 +0000

Hairston, Hu and Harris ALL batted at or below .200 last season. Harris and Hairston were cut from two last place teams who didnt want them back. I dont know of any other bench that would break camp with three terribly bad hitters as these. As it turned out Emaus sucked big time and was not the player he was portrayed as being. Turner might be the only guy on the bench who could hit in the major leagues. If we are saying it’s ok to have .180 hitters on the bench, then I’d rather see some guys from the minors then these 30 year old stiffs.

By: XtreemIcon

XtreemIcon — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:34:16 +0000

Hojo, I get what you’re trying to do here, but I think you inflated some of the AB totals for some of the guys. Reason being there’s been some platoons and also, Emaus won the job out of Spring Training and most of his ABs came as a starter. Same with Nickeas. He’s part of a platoon in which he’s expected to start against lefties, so his numbers from those games wouldn’t necessarily count as bench numbers, would they? How many ABs does he have against righties? Or as a PH because the other team brought in a lefty reliever? I would consider those bench numbers.

For instance, of Emaus’ 37 ABs, 34 came as a starter and three came off the bench (1-3). And of the ten games he started, he played nine innings in nine of them, coming out in the 6th inning of that 7-1 win against the Phillies in a double switch to get Hu’s defense in there to preserve the lead. I would argue that Emaus doesn’t belong on that list at all.

Same with Nickeas. He has all 20 of his ABs as a starter, which is his job against lefties. I wouldn’t include him on this list.

Juswt a different view of what constitutes a bench, I suppose.

By: t agee

t agee — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:28:29 +0000

Emaus wasn’t a bench player, he was given the chance to start just like Jacobs and GMJ. Hu gives you exactly what you have to have from a back up MI, great glove, if he hits at all that’s a plus and at his age he might you never know. Harris has been real good at times and real bad at times. Last night it looked like the lack of playing time had messed up his timing but while a speedy, decent defender hitting LH is a good ingredient for the bench it doesn’t look like he is the long term answer. Pridie could take his role. Hairston has been nothing less than a complete disapointment both offensively as well as defensively. His approach at the plate is all messed up. There is no reason to swing for the fences every single swing and bailing out on the ball against Colorado was really just as awful as it gets. It was bad fortune that Paulino got no ST and next to no work with the pitching staff. Hopefully he’ll hit LHP real well. If he does that will really help this lineup. Some good some awful. Better than years past but has room for improvement. We are still one injury away from scenarios I’d rather not think about.

By: kevin

kevin — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:23:08 +0000

Yeah what you say is true, but Omar got hammered for his bench incessantly. This bench is much worse in my opinion. The thing you say about they wouldnt be on bench if they were good is ok for a team like the Pirates. Who is our one reliable bat off the bench? How many teams have Hu coming up to pinch hit with the game on the line. It’s a bad bench and you dont need a comparison to other teams to see that.

By: any

any — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:38:39 +0000

It’s a bench. They are not known for putting up huge numbers 9otherwise they would be starters!)

what would really be interesting though is to see a comparison to all the other benches in the NL. I wonder if the mets are really that much worse off?

2 key things of course are 1) play the bench stiffs as little as possible (bay being back and Beltran playing FT helps there) and 2) ditch the dead wood as soon as you see it floating (bye bye emaus!)

of that list, Duda was just an emergency fill in, and 17 Abs doesn’t really say much (spread out over what, 2+ weeks?), and of course, he is gone. Hu with 11 ABs is a defensive replacement. Even harris has been serviceable as a low AB bench guy. Nickeas just a place holder for the “real” bench guy.

so the one that sticks out as getting too many ABs of putrid performance is Hairston. Yuck.

so it looks like ~40% of those ABs belong to Emaus (gone), Duda (gone) and Hairston(should be gone!). With their latest replacements (Pridie and turner) so far (small smaples) putting up OK numbers. that has to mean something!