His batting average for May, June, August & Septmber is a Pagan-like .306. Inasmuch as we can get statistics to say anything, those numbers are normal for him when he is healthy.

Pardon the digression, but it’s guys like Pagan, Daniel Murphy, Ike Davis, Lucas Duda & Ruben Tejada who will battle opposing pitchers and make them work for every pitch. Those type of batters wear out starters and are – what I call – inning extenders. Wright used to be that way, until he fancied himself a homerun hitter. Somehow, they manage to make things happen.

That mentality plays into one of Terry Collins’ strengths, his ability to use all of his players. Glad to have Angel Pagan aboard.

Either way, signing him is a no brainer. He’s a stop gap this upcoming season and if later on a better candidate can be had, he can always be traded.

Looking at the FA tracker to date on another blog this morning, the Mets aren’t the only team that hasn’t done much so far. In fact, with the exception of a handful of moves, most teams are right where the Mets. There’s been about 35 signings so that averages about one per team, with a few teams > 1 and some teams like the Yankees having done nothing so far.

http://mets.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=434636#sectionType=splitsCareer&statType=1&season=2011&gameType='R‘

At first glance, the disparity in his performance in April and July contrast sharply with his performance in May, June, August and September, to a lesser extent. The disparity is largely attributable to two chronic and unrelated conditions that he battled last year.

Pagan’s oblique strains affected him in the spring and in July. It appears that in April 2011, he came back from the injury too early. Once he got his legs under him, his production was solid and timely. The July injury coincided with Jose Reyes’ hamstring issues, which set the team back and, ultimately, out of contention. It made Alderson’s decision to trade K-Rod and Beltran a lot easier to justify.

Pagan’s lesser known malady, his chronic bouts with colitis, affect his equilibrium and leave him dehydrated and exhausted. I won’t fully attribute his vapor-lock to his colitis, but any condition that can affect an individuals biochemistry is likely to become manifest in their performance in an atheletic competition.

The aspect of Pagan’s game that is often underappreciated is his ability to increase his focus and intensity when the game is on the line. Please review his “late and close” stats, which confirm my observation of him as a ballplayer – you can see it in his eyes and in his body language.

If this man can somehow manage to maintain his health throughout the course of the season, he will be one of the National League’s top outfielders. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with him and speaking with him. He’s very respectful, very mindful of his approach at the plate, quite humble, yet at the same time confident in his own ability. He’s incredibly strong.

I expect Angel Pagan to have an outstanding bounce-back season.

Well it’s two fold…
First off there aren’t that many decent CFs around as you correctly pointed out but Sandy’s quote tells the bigger story here…

“But he gave us some speed on the bases. He filled in I think reasonably well for Jose Reyes when he was out…”

It changed when Reyes got an offer they are going to refuse! They won’t refuse it yet hoping that someone makes a better offer so they can say it was just too much, (6/90 hardly applies as too much to resign) and have a better excuse for declining to match.

Angel Pagan is very likely to be our leadoff hitter next year! Reyes will be gone and thats why the change of heart on his value to us!

I am sure that Sandy has already decided Reyes got more than he wanted to spend both in years and per year money. So that changed how valuable Pagan was to them!
They need a leadoff hitter to replace Reyes! And Pagan is going to be it!

If I’m making a deal and considering Grady Sizemore no way am I making that deal without knowing their power numbers and if he’s driving in runs, same with Dejesus and Ankiel. Ankiel to me is a bottom of the order guy with power so it serves no pupose to tell me his OBP and not tell me if he’s hitting HRs and in how many ABs. Those slash lines don’t give ABs either and I’m not making a deal without know that too.

Welcome to MMO Drew but you’ve been around and you should know those things. Would YOU want to consider signing Grady Sizemore or Rick Ankiel without knowing how many HRs they hit in how many ABs and if they are driving in runs at a good clip? I don’t think you would not want to know those things.

That being said I would still see what is out there and if I can upgrade from Angel Pagan. I cannot stand this slow measured approach by the front office because if you can sign or trade for guy that makes you better now and you can fit him in the budget than why sit back and wait? While you’re waiting for the market to lower on him someone else who needs that player to make their team better can swoop in and grab him because they’re not sitting around and “waiting” for the price to go down, he simply fits his budget as is. And to me that’s the SMARTER way of doing things. If he’s within your budget than get him before somebody else does and that’s what seems to be happening here.