3
2011
Who Gets Cut When Pagan Returns This Weekend?
An article by Craig Lerner
Yesterday, outfielder Angel Pagan got into his first game since going down with a strained left oblique. Pagan went 1-for-4 with a walk while playing five innings in an extended spring training game in Port St. Lucie.
It was originally reported by some that the oblique strain suffered by Pagan could take a minimum of three weeks to fully heal, but it now appears that Pagan may make it back in the minimum 15 days. He is eligible to be activated this Saturday
The real question becomes who the Mets cut bait with to make room for Pagan.
The three likely candidates would be one of Jason Pridie who has been a nice surprise defensively and offensively since joining the team, Scott Hairston who has underwhelmed, and Willie Harris who has come up woefully short for the Mets.
The odds are that Pridie heads back to Buffalo, but I hope they cut Hairston or Harris instead.
About the Author: Craig Lerner
I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.
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Harris and Hairston. Keep who is working and get rid of who isn’t!!! Keep Pridie and give Evens a shot at warming the bench. He can play 1st and both corner outfields. And correct me if I’m wrong but I thought he was an ok pinch hitter???
Good thing Pagan is a switch hitter and plays good defense, so there is no concern about lefty-righty matchups or a defensive replacement for him.
That said, I’d drop Harris. Pridie has earned his spot on the team for now, so we don’t need another lefty bat.
I would say Pride stays, Harris leaves but then he re-surfaces on another team and makes another game altering catch against us…but he has shown nothing as a PH either.
Hairston might stay cause there is no other option on bench for RH hitter unless Mets drop both Hairston and Harris, keep Pridie and bring up Evans who can play couple of positions and has shown he can PH and has extra base pop, just saying.
Would you have cut this guy after April in 1999?
.118/.211/.176
If the guy was a bench player who also showed piss poor defense, no real history of offensive proficiency and wasn’t really part of the long term plan anyway? Yes.
Does your mystery player fall into that description?
Congratulations you just cut Matt Franco on May 1st 1999, right before he had a tremendous May and June, as well as early July before struggling in August and September.
And see that is the problem with “bench players” by the sheer nature of their job they cannot perform at a constantly high mark.
Remember in 2008 when everyone wanted to take Fernando Tatis aside and shoot him like a dead horse in May? Who knew that when he separated his shoulder in September it would be something to lament.
So while Hairston and Harris are easy to dismiss the fact is major league rosters are not run like ROTO teams.
Does Franco fit the profile of Harris? No? OK, thanks for playing.
Franco was a different player with a slightly different role, and even then, I still don’t think cutting him would hae been a big deal.
By whose definition? Yours? Ok, thanks but luckily there is more to the world than your thoughts alone.
Franco was in no different of a role, and frankly the role Harris and Hairston are in is brand new to both. Franco played on a team for which the two positions he might be likely to play, 1st and 3rd played 323 of a possible 324 between the two. When Pagan comes back you essentially have a core roster where the only possible playing time is an occasional rest for one of the three outfielders. So whom is that going to be shouldered on? Guys that should and could be playing everyday in the minors, or veterans whom are not losing skill time by adjusting into less than part time roles?
Wasn’t Matt Franco in the Mitchell Report?
Franco was in the report specifically indicated by Radomski as inquiring and then purchasing steroids in 2000, Franco spoke to Mitchell’s team and denied it. If you said he was taking steroids or some other PED in 2002 when he was with Atlanta, I suppose that would be a possible conclusion, then again, it could have been playing more than in a pinch hitting role that landed some consistency to his game that season. If he indeed was using steroids in 2000 and beyond, he had a really terrible dealer and even worse performances of enhancement than Guillermo Mota. Specifically Franco’s entire 2001 AAA campaign was abysmal.
Nice post… anyone that puts donutz the parrot back in his cage is A-OK.
Here’s what they have to do when Pagan returns:
-DFA Harris in order to make room for Pagan
-Retain Pridie & give Hairston his walking papers
-DFA Hu and trade for switch hitting utility infielder Wilson Betemit from KC
So you’d go with a 24 man roster just because Pagan is returning?
Did I say anything about a 24 man roster?
I’m gonna see what Duda does this time around while Bay is currently away on paternity leave. If he performs well in this series against the Giants, he could regain his spot back on the Major League roster when Bay returns. You talk about Matt Franco and his crap numbers before and after April 1999, but I’d trust Duda and his power bat over Harris and his lackluster play.
Oh please, don’t try to sell that you inadvertently left Duda out of the mix when he was announced as a roster spot roughly an hour ago. Why in the world would the Mets or any team let a guy who needs to play everyday to retain his value sit on the bench everyday? Duda is not going to be playing CF any time soon which makes his value pretty limited.
Plus not for nothin but Duda is not a bench player. He has 0 defensive advantage. He’s either a starter or a AAA guy.
I like how we just trade for Kansas City’s starting 3B by the way. Are you trading Wright or are you just dreaming that Betemit has barely played 2B/SS/1B in his career doesn’t mean he’s not a 2B/SS/1B
And why are the royals trading the 29 year old again? and what exactly in your fantasy world are the Mets giving up?
Betemit’s making what? $1m? Yea, can’t see any reason why KC (who is better than NYM by the way) dumps him
Hell, I’d trade Pagan for Betemit yesterday.
Authors Note: Obviously KC isn’t that stupid. From a Mets standpoint, it’s a no-brainer.
“Plus not for nothin but Duda is not a bench player. He has 0 defensive advantage. He’s either a starter or a AAA guy.”
Or a DH.
“why are the royals trading the 29 year old again? and what exactly in your fantasy world are the Mets giving up?”
Two words: Mike Moustakas. If you did your damn homework, you’d know already that the Royals are high on him and as soon as he’s ready (which isn’t too far off now), Betemit is good as gone. You really think he’s a long term plan for them? Of course you do, because you’re slow as hell. Betemit wouldn’t gonna cost us much anyway.
“Betemit’s making what? $1m? Yea, can’t see any reason why KC (who is better than NYM by the way) dumps him”
Yes, because KC is gonna stay in contention in the AL Central all year…keep telling yourself that.
Question: Who Gets Cut When Pagan Returns This Weekend?
Answer: How about Pagan?
Sandy likes Hairston so I don’t see that being the move.
I’m unsure of Pridie’s option status? I like Pridie but he’s less of a tool off the bench than Harris or Hairston can be.
In all honesty, I hope Pridie takes the job from Pagan but I doubt that will happen.
So my guess is Pridie but smart money is on an injury occurs that makes the decision easy
+1 on Pagan, but all things considered he’ll probably have some phantom glimpses of the 2009 season when he returns, and I would rather keep Pridie as well, though I’d opt to lose Harris bat vs. Hairston’s righty bat. Ultimately I’d rather only need a single fourth outfielder with the ability of Pagan to move to right or left in place of Bay or Beltran from some spot starts with Pridie in Center.
Pagan, Pridie, Bay, Beltran affords them plenty of flexibility day to day barring injury.
I’d just as soon they have Nickeas on the roster so that on days were Paulino starts they could use Thole to hit off the bench.
While I would probably say Harris is the guy to cut to keep the equally left handed Pridie, My guess is Pridie will go down to be the Buffalo starter until such time as Sandy makes a trade for an Outfielder and calls Pridie back up to be the regular CF.
I could definitly see them trade Bletran, move Pagan back to RF and then promote Pridie to be the CF.
It would make sense to get Pridie regular and consistent playing time until the trades are made and the spots open up.