25
2011
Hits and Misses: Prince Fielder, CBP, AFL, Super Bowl Predictions
An article by 
The Prince of New York
It’s amazing how often I see or hear Prince Fielder’s name pop up as a potential target for the Mets this offseason. I get the fascination of course, what’s not to like? But what bugs me is how willing everyone is to brush aside Ike Davis as if he’s a liverwurst sandwich. There are many reasons why I believe going after Fielder would be a bad decision, and Ike Davis is one of them. Why would you want to pay $20 million dollars a year for about 5-10 extra home runs than you would get from Davis who was on pace to hit 30+ this season? Especially when we have a dozen other more important needs to fill? Did you know that before David Wright collided with Ike Davis, he was batting .310 with a .382 OBP, .543 SLG and .925 OPS? Fielder’s career slash? .281/.388/.537/.925 – So can we please put a cork on all the Prince Fielder gibberish for now? We obviously got much bigger fish to fry than fixing what’s not broke at first base… Why isn’t anyone asking about C.J. Wilson instead?
Bandbox My ***
If Citizen’s Bank Ballpark is a bandbox, somebody forgot to tell Cliff Lee (2.38 ERA), Roy Halladay ( 2.41 ERA), Vance Worley (3.00 ERA), Cole Hamels (2.75 ERA) and Kyle Kendrick (3.17 ERA). Can you imagine how our rotation would get hammered if they had to make half of their starts at CBP? As it is stands now the Mets team ERA stands at 4.19 which ranks 22nd in the majors. The Mets sound like they have no plans to change the rotation either and for another year they will bank on the healthy return of Johan Santana as their only significant addition. The point is don’t worry about reducing the dimensions of Citi Field, good pitchers pitch good no matter where they pitch, even if it’s in a bandbox like CBP. If you’re worried about the effects reducing Citi Field will have on our rotation, then you have your priorities screwed up. Instead you should be concerned about why we’ll be going into 2012 with the same sub-standard rotation as we had in 2011. That should be EVERY Met fan’s main concern…
Are the Mets Sending Suspects or Prospects to Arizona?
My friend Mack from Mack’s Mets posed an interesting thought last week on his site. He wrote:
I’m confused with the players sent to Peoria of the Arizona Fall League: P Collin McHugh, P Taylor Whitenton, 3B Jefry Marte, 2B Wilfredo Tovar, and OF Juan Lagares. Isn’t this the fall league where you are supposed to send your best prospects to?
Where is Zack Wheeler or Matt Harvey? Where is Brandon Nimmo? Who is Wilfredo Tovar? Was Jordanny Valdespin unavailable and isn’t he someone that we could get a better read on playing against MLB’s best prospects? I know Reese Haven’s was originally slated to go, but the fear of another injury changed that scenario… Call him Mr. Glass… Maybe our Mets minor league maven, Pete, can give us his thoughts on this in another post.
One Last Swing…
There’s a new video from SNY on MetsBlog, in which several Mets get together to share their predictions for who will win the Super Bowl this season.
I wish they would make a companion video where they predict who will win the World Series in 2012… Or 2013… I’m really interested in hearing Wright’s and Bay’s predictions on that…
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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In the “if the Mets had unlimited financial assets, AKA, if the Mets were the Yanks”, you could theoretically put Prince at 1B and slide Ike to RF, move Duda to LF and kick Bay to the curb. So really, signing Prince would be fixing the OF, not 1B. Unfortunately, Prince can’t pitch, which is the biggest issue this team has by far.
Even if Reyes walks, so his money is available to be spent, it still ain’t happening. Bay is on the hook, Ike is too good defensively and even at 2/3 or 3/4 the hitter of Prince is Ike is still awesome, the pitching staff is a mess and there are financial restraints this team is burdened with.
Why do people think Ike Davis is the answer in RF? He played a total of 2 games in the OF in the minors and had 4 total chances…one of those chances resulted in an error, plus those 4 OF chances were 3 seasons ago. Not too mention Ike is as slow as my grandmother with her bad hips and walker, so Citi’s RF would be a terrible place for Ike to call home. Duda would be better in LF than in RF…however, there is some guy named Bay there who is guaranteed $32 million over the next 2 years and has a very attainable option for an additional year at the bargain price of $16 million more…in other words, that Canadian ain’t going anywhere. Have we not learned from the Reyes at 2B, Murphy in LF, or Hundley in LF experiments how these things work out when we put players in places they do not belong.
Mets should go after CJ Wilson, look to trade Wright (maybe package him with Valdespin who i keep reading/hearing is a really bad guy) and get another starter. Maybe Cain from SF?
That would give us a staff of Santana, Wilson, Cain (or other top pitcher for Wright), Dickey, and then Gee or Niese – move Capuano to the Bullpen and he can always spot start in the pinch. And if we were able to build a starting staff like that I’d sign for it now and take my chances with Murphy/Turner platoon at 3B.
No DOUBT those 2 platooning would give us more timely hitting at that position than what we have now. I’m not interested in a bunch of numbers that look better on paper than on the field. Turner and Murphy’s offensive numbers look better on the field than on paper – and not so bad on paper too. And I really don’t think we’re losing anything at 3B too.
then maybe you can move Pelf/Pagan and sign/trade for a CFer. With the fences coming in i’m more relaxed with Bay now and this latest streak has lasted a very long time and he’s pulling the ball well too so with the new dimensions maybe NOW we’ll see the Bay we paid for in 2012.
That’s how I would go about things this off season. But I want to win, with a moneyball guy like Alderson at the helm it scares me because those guys are not as interested in competing as they are liking to save a few bucks and try to win as cheap as possible. This is New York City if you got enough guns the you have to try and WIN and the Mets will have enough guns to give a shot next season all they need is some help by a GM who wants to WIN. With the pitching staff I’m laying out there now you have a chance to compete for the Wld Card
Oh, forgot one little thing – all this is done with retaining Reyes in mind!
And if Alderson lets Reyes walk and keeps Wright then he better use that money and whatever other resources he has to get TWO top of the line starters. Cj Wilson and somebody else.
TWO, not one.
2 pitchers not 1? Are you not understanding what Alderson being here is all about? There wont be anymore free agent splashes, just forget about it. They are slashing payroll by a third to around 100mil tops. Profit before postseason dude!
you do understand that the postseason is a tidal wave of money for every team, right?
Again with the moneyball conspiracy theorists.I thought Sandy Alderson was the GM but it sounds like Billy Beane is the GM of the Mets.Again if anybody was paying attention to Sandy’s press conference and stop listening to the moronic NY Media AKA Mike Fatcesa,he wouldn’t have taken the job if he was subject to payroll constraints and what intrigued him was the resources that the Mets have.I guess if you spend more wisely as opposed to a drunken Minaya you become the Moneyball Mets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyball
I do agree that 2 SPs are needed. And I’m with you on CJ, but I don’t see it happening. Unfortunately, after CJ, there’s basically crap, crap and crap out there on the FA market. So, trades are the best bet.
If they do trade Wright (which I’m against, but I’m also in the “anything that makes the team better” camp), I’d want Bumgarden, not Cain. I’d want youth, controllable, and not hitting FA in 2013.
OK Joe! You got it.
Lots of points in there Joe Most of which I agree with especially the Fielder section!
RE the Philly Bandbox – Phillies ERA at home is 2.83 with 56 HRs given up. Away they have a 3.28 ERA and 61 Hrs given up. (Does seem to support your statement) They hit .256 with a .405 SLG, 77 HRs and 359 RBI at Home and .246 with a .384 SLG, 72 HR and 319 RBI on the road.
These number support yor statement regarding pitching but the bandbox affect is quite apparent on thier hitters. As you correctly pointed out GOOD (and these are actually GREAT) pitchers know how to pitch in ANY park and will pitch accordingly! Their hitters are great for that Ballpark but their numbers drop the second they leave it’s bandbox confines.
RE: Arizona League – I offer Emaus as evidence item A here. Arizona Fall league is notoriously good for Hitters, Thinner air, Warm weather all make for accelerated hitting numbers for anyone who goes there. You don’t want to send young Pitchers there due to the fact it might shake their confidence, So who do you send? SIMPLE! Send the guys you think should be hitting better and want to bump up their value so you can trade them! None of the players being sent have been mentioned as part of our long term plans. Sandy doesn’t want to spend much which suggests he needs to make trades. By trying to get some inflated numbers for the hitters their trade value might go up. And if the pitchers succeed there then you got a good idea they might succeed anywhere! In the AFL they can work on pitches against real hitting and regardless of the success or fail they will be the better for it. You don’t take those risks with a Harvey or Familia (both the injury, confidence and wear and tear) but for the Pitchers they sent it really is a no lose proposition.
Agree with you Joe on Ike, he is our 1b of the present, next year and future.
He brings power, avg and DEFENSE, something Fielder is not good at.
If you want to play defense behind your pitchers then 1b and SS are two most important and with Ike and Reyes returning that will help cause we have had a circus of fill ins and they don’t come close to Ike.
I would have sent Nimmo just to get him some more at bats plus aren’t other more deserving minor league, close to major league ready players that can use the playing time?