6
2012
Mets Announce Nieuwenhuis To Replace Torres
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Mets make it official…
With center fielder Andres Torres heading to the disabled list, the Mets are expected to promote Kirk Nieuwenhuis from Triple-A Buffalo to make his major league debut this weekend, a team source told ESPNNewYork.com.
The lefty-hitting, righty-throwing center fielder had been held back in Port St. Lucie last weekend as his teammates left for Triple-A Buffalo in case Torres wasn’t ready for Opening Day. He eventually was cleared to join the Bisons, and played center field on Thursday night at Pawtucket, but now appears headed for Citi Field.
Now 24, Kirk had a slash-line of .298/.403/.505, with 6 HR’s and 14 RBI’s in 188 AB last season for Buffalo before injuring his shoulder. Nieuwenhuis batted third and was poised to have a big season and even earn a possible callup to the Mets.
Our minor league expert Petey, wrote the following regarding his defense in February:
As a fielder Kirk is very solid and has a good enough throwing arm to play RF. His speed is well above average for a baseball player, but merely average for a center-fielder, so there is still speculation about whether he can hold down the CF position on a daily basis in the bigs. I believe he can, using smarts and positioning to help counter any range limitations, but there is a distinct chance that he could wind up in RF when he reaches the Bigs.
This should be fun.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
36 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 22 | .476 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 23 | .410 | 6.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
Recent Comments
- Hotstreak: on Mets GM Tells Ike Davis He Has Until End Of Month To Turn Slump Around: Just remember Wright the past several years...
- Met Maniac: on Hefner Lasts Just Four Innings In Mets 8-2 Loss To Cubs: LOL That cant be the same Angelo....
- taskmaster4450: on Mets GM Tells Ike Davis He Has Until End Of Month To Turn Slump Around: A good comparison. Hopefully Ike turns...
- philipag: on Mets GM Tells Ike Davis He Has Until End Of Month To Turn Slump Around: I'm not making any assumptions - the...
- jessep: on Mets GM Tells Ike Davis He Has Until End Of Month To Turn Slump Around: Must be Valley Fever or wait Must be rust...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5354 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1270 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
This is the part where we start rushing prospects to compensate for the appalling lack of depth. The first injury of the year and we call up a top 10 prospect? When he struggles he’ll go back down never to be heard from again. We’ve seen this already, new direction my ass.
Kirk raked in AAA last year. there’s no more minor league levels after that. he would have been in the majors if he didn’t hurt his shoulder. no one is being rushed. and anyway it’s only two weeks, hopefully. if he hits maybe he stays. if he doesn’t he goes back down. nothing hurt.
He would have been with the team last September if he hadn’t hurt his shoulder and would have had a shot to make the team this Spring. He’s already been on the 40 man roster for a while. It is his time.
what they said. He is also 24, so not some overly young guy that is still growing (like F Mart when he first came up).
The only possible rush is not giving him a little more time to get in a groove at AAA. But, he was coming up at some point anyway.
This is a good move and we’ll get to see what we have here. Sounds like he’ll ultimately move to a corner but for now he should be of for 2 weeks in center. Live long and prosper Capt. Kirk.
So We finally get to see what all the hoopla is about,.. Capt Kirk is finally here, let’s see what he’s all about.. If he sucks he gets back down, or maybe he stays with the club for good and Bay/torres take over left?? Either way it’s a good move..
Agreed,
I posted earlier lets see what the kids have.
Kirk
Tejada
Murphy
Duda/Davis
Wright
Davis/Duda
Bay
Thole
That is a pretty deep lineup and how much can Bay really hurt us batting 7th?
According to TC after the game yesterday, Tejada is going to lead off in Torres’ absence.
Of course he could change his mind on that.
Yeah, expect them to go
Tejada, Murphy, Wright, Davis, Duda, Bay, Thole, Kirk.
I think he’ll stick with Bay ahead of duda…
I read somewhere he was thinking of batting those 2 back to back. Perhaps you see a little RH/LH changes. Vs RH you go Duda 5 and Bay 6 and vs LH you switch them.
nothing is set in stone. He might try it that way but if after a few games bay is still stinking up the joint, he will get dropped.
Tejada
Murphy
Wright
Davis
Bay
Duda
Kirk/Hairston
Thole
Pitcher
I’d like to see the Mets explore a trade for Baltimore’s Adam Jones. It would take a combo of Harvey or Wheeler, plus Niewenhuis & Murphy . If Murphy was included, then I’d bring up Valdespin and put him at 2nd base.
Valdespin
Tejada
Wright
Davis
Jones
Duda
Bay
Thole
Murphy is a difficult player to part with, but I cannot decline the addition of Adam Jones and Jordany Valdespin, which improves team defense up the middle and adds a major dose of power, speed and attitude.
In this line-up, batters 3-7 are capable of hitting 30 homers and knocking in 100+ RBIs. Batters alternate b/w lefty-righty throughout. Bench of Hairston, Baxter, Nickeas, Turner & Cedeno is decent, but not great. Torres can challenge Baxter for a 4th or 5th outfield spot once he demonstrates he’s healthy.
And we would still need pitching and the next year would need pitching and the next year would need pitching and the next year would need pitching.
I don’t see any way they trade Harvey or Wheeler anytime soon.
Credible suggestion Tommy but I cannot see us giving up any starting pitching for a CFer of which we have 3 good chances to fill ourselves for years to come and Jones becoming a FA after next year. Jones HR;s are influenced to some extent by his home field and would decrease yet again in ours. His OB is nothing to write home about and one of our 3 CF prospects will be able to duplicate his 25 doubles. I’d keep the pitching, go inhouse with Kirk, Den Dekker and Puello and spend the money and a draft choice if necessary on Montero assuming wew can bring him East.
Valdespin has work to do at the plate for his own benefit before we bring him here. In a year or two I could see Kirk moving over to RF for Duda in the late innings with den Dekker coming on for him in CF and Valdespin coming on for Murphy when he’s not starting at 2B or SS himself.
As for swagger I’d rather not see that until they actually win something.
I would rather see:
tejada
murphy
duda
wright
davis
bay
kirk
thole.
split up the run of lefties better. not ideal having Wright in the 4 hole, but that is more an indictment of how bad bay is that he can’t be put there.
As I said on the other one or this one, I can’t remember…
Kirk, Ruben, Murphy, Davis/Duda, Wright, Duda/Davis, Bay, Thole
That’s a long lineup with no real easy innings anywhere.
I can’t see Duda third. That doesn’t make the best use of his skills or Ike’s if he bats fifth.
Duda is a 3 hitter in the making if he continues to show plate discipline and has a high BA/OBP.
I see him more as a Ryan Howard masher than a Joey Votto hitter, if you get my point. Would love to be wrong, though.
I don’t. I think Davis is more in the Howard mold. Duda has shown at about every level to hit for power and have a high OBP/above average BA.
Can’t tell you how right I hope you are.
The thing about Duda, and I see people here concerning themselves with his OBP and all of that unnecessary stuff because Duda is going to put food on the table hitting HRs, and driving in runs..anyway the thing about Duda and I’ve said it before…I love the kid and I think he IS going to develop into a power hitter (notice no mention of OBP) but the thing that concerns me is his propensity to tighten up and swing at bad pitchers when the stakes are high.
Still young, still new, and plenty of time to gain confidence so I’m not knocking him just pointing out a very, very important aspect of his game that the other saber goons don’t even regard. Anyway, if he doesn’t overcome that aspect of his game he can have the highest OBP in the world, if he tightens up when the game is on the line and doesn’t drive in the important runs, and THAT is going to be his bread and butter – not his OBP – then all you wind up is with another player that just gives you window dressing for numbers.
I want to be wrong about this and hope as soon as the next game Duda comes up in a big RBI spot with the game at stake he delivers. If he makes a career of that…THAT will be the thing that turns him into a star, not his stupid obp
The reason no one talks about that is because it just isn’t true. You’re making things up again, or you don’t know what you see when you watch baseball. I’d put even money on both. Know what Duda hit with 2 out/RISP last season? .294/.455/.559 How about late and close? .277/.397/.511 Bases loaded? .333/.444/.667 Man on 3rd, less than 2 out? .400/.417/.667 How about high leverage? .329/.402/.507
So it’s perfectly obvious to anyone who actually knows what they see when they watch baseball that Duda doesn’t “tighten up” in big spots. He’s just fine.
as anyone who knows the game understands and doesn’t need those misleading numbers – Duda HAS shown the propensity to more often than not, tighten up in big spots. So you can go rely on numbers when you have no recollection or no understanding of what you watch because you’re too busy worrying about OBP.
He had 2 walk off hits last year. I’m not saying hes NEVER done it. I’m saying he has shown TO ME and I know what i’m watching because i have 100% confidence in my ability and experience and don’t have to run to a number that can be misleading in many ways to begin with. 2 outs and RISP can be 2 outs in a 10-2 game. Your stupid late and close stat does not tell me anything about RBIs so what runs has he driven in those spots, again, your STUPID bases loaded stat doesn’t say when he’s getting those hits. High leverage can be anywhere in the game and you can still wind up losing those games anyway.
Stupid numbers by a stupid person who has to lean on information and misleading information to begin with because he has no trust in his own judgement.
Going forward what’s important to watch is Duda’s development in becoming a big spot producer, yesterday he struck out with the base loaded with the game in tow and he’s done that quite often already in his young career. But he is young. I’m not knocking Duda, just pointing out a TRUTH that other stupid people like this numbers-sucking clown ignore.
MY EYES>>>> MY EYES>>>>
LOL, so once again when proven wrong you can just run back to your high school coaching experienced eyes.
But to not use those stupid stats and to use the only ones that count, he also had 3 HR and 11 RBI in 47 AB’s late and close.
The problem with the “eyes” is that they see what the mind wants to confirm which is usually a preconceived notion.
Earlier this week bayonne was in the shout box talking about Ike being a clutch hitter yet so far he’s been exactly the same hitter with runners in scoring position as he has been without.
He’s also been less than stellar with RISP w/2 out: .229/.373/.323. with 22 hits and 22 walks.
Late and close: .227/.307/.391. Tie game: .221/..320/.359. w/in 1 run: .232/..326/.399. And these are the numbers from a first basemen, not a middle infielder or catcher but a big gun.
Ike’s best numbers by far are when there is a lead of more than 4 runs: .297/.366/.554 or when we’re already ahead: .300/.403/.502. Those numbers are above Ike’s average production to date, the more pressurized stats are below it.
None of this means that Ike won’t up his production in tight situations after all he’s only got one full year in the Majors, Nor does it mean that I don’t like Ike, want him traded or anything else. It just means that the statement that Ike so far has shown the propensity to drive in big runs in big spots is not fully supported by the facts. Yes, he has driven in some of them but at a far lower rate of production as he has in less pressurized situations by a substantial margin so far.
In addition the notion that 2 out RBI’s are not a good form of clutch measurement because it doesn’t take into account the score or inning at the time is almost laughably naive.
Picking up 2 out RBI is the very essence of clutch even in the first inning because it could be your only AB all game with any runners on base at all. Who knows, it could be the only AB all game your team has with RISP. With a lead it extends that lead and gives your pen more margin of error. When trailing it closes the gap and offers additional opportunities to close it some more after the hit. When tied puts you ahead.
What’s not clutch about any of that?
Lastly Venters slider was by far and away the most difficult pitch to make contact on last year in the Majors, the fact that one of our hitters was struck out by him is not very surprising at all especially a LH hitting one, after all in Venters first two seasons he’s stuck out one of every two LH hitters he’s faced.
It’s also no surprise to see that Gonzalez made sure Venters faced Duda. Expect to see this occur every time we face the Braves.
there you go with that number mumbo jumbo again.
My eyes, my eyes, they’re burning….
I have to wonder since I can’t access it how much the Fuming Pile Box is burning right now?
The funny thing is that when people read my comments and your comments, I’m not the one they think is stupid. Yes, he struck out in ONE big plate appearance yesterday. God forbid a stud like Venters gets credit for great pitches. That’s just like you and your half truths and minimalist baseball knowledge. Since Duda struck out, it could be a problem. Nothing about how the pitcher pitched to him in that situation, how he was set up, what pitches and/or locations Venters and McCann attacked or stayed away from. You and your overrated and non-descript RBI love-fest take so much understanding away from the game, it’s sickening.
How about I got and find ONE at bat where he came through? I guess that makes me right, doesn’t it?
Stupid numbers by a stupid person”
LOL..
Bobby Ojeda on Duda and all the tinkering with him early on in his career.. during today’s pre-game:
“Getting on base is not what’s going to drive this kid’s future” and then went on to say “he pulls the ball and drives it out of the yard that’s who he is”
Thank you Bobby. Like I said – nobody in their right mind would give a DAMN about his OBP, what is going to pay Duda’s rent is hitting HRs and driving in runs, not standing on base.
Torres getting hurt was the best thing for the Mets since Kirk is the best offensive CFer in the Mets’ organization and has a terrific arm…not to mention, he is 24 and not getting any younger and has had 1500+ minor league ABs…it’s time to see what this kid can do.
Hopefully Kirk’s first cup of coffee will be a good one. Lets see what he has. It took Duda several attempts to settle in. I see Cory Sullivan of the 2009 Mets was cut by the Dodgers on March 29. He may sign a minor league contract.
In Duda’s defense, when he first came up, he was mainly a bench player. He didn’t really get a chance to prove himself until he was starting and getting a lot of PAs.