Alderson Has Visions Of Valdespin In Center

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• jessep July 20, 2012 at 2:18 pm

  So do I… which is why if Upton was really on the table I’d go as far as Familia, Flores, Kirk.

  Put Duda in LF, Upton in RF, DFA Torres then when Baxter comes back, DFA Bay.

  That’s the only way I’d want Upton “today”
  • Hank July 20, 2012 at 2:50 pm

    Interesting.

    I don’t know if that deal would work for the D-Backs, but I know most Mets fans would take that in a second. That said, while we have the pieces to make deals happen, I just don’t know if we will. The Mets seem to be a very reactive organization. This is not a Sandy or Omar thing; it’s a that’s how many clubs operate thing.

    I get that you need time to assess the organization and maybe implement new strategies and ways of going about business. It’s important to take time to understand what exactly you have. That said, you also have to be proactive. I just don’t see us as a proactive type of organization.
    • jessep July 20, 2012 at 2:54 pm

      Hank, only Kevin Towers knows… but why not?

      They need infield help right? They need outfield help right? Plus a pretty well regarded arm?

      I’m saying that’s as far as I’d go. I personally think they’d want Tejada or Harvey or Wheeler in a deal and if so, then I walk away.
      • METS62FAN July 23, 2012 at 9:32 am

        JESS, I HAVE MY SERIOUS DOUBTS AS TO THE COMPATABILITY BETQWEEN EITHER UPTON PERSONALITY & THE NYC LIFESTYLE, I BELIEVE BOTH MAY APPEAR ON PAGE 6 MORE OFTEN THAN THE BACKPAGE. AS BOTH ARE SUSPECTED PRIMA DONNAS IN TINSELESS “BACKWATERS” OF PHOENIX & TAMPA AN UPTON IN FLUSHING EITHER MAY PROVIDE TOO MUCH DISTRACTION FOR WRIGHT AS HE’S ATTEMPTING TO GUIDE HIS HOMEBOY TO HIS OWN DETREMENT
        .
        THIS TEAM NO LONGER HAS ENOUGH RESPECTED VETERAN LEADERSHIP TO HARNESS THE SINGULARITY OF A DISRUPTIVE UPTON DESPITE THE OBVIOUS POTENTIAL ADDED PRODUCTIVITY.
        • jessep July 23, 2012 at 9:43 am

          Mets62: I do not disagree with you at all here.
  • oleosmirf July 20, 2012 at 4:38 pm

    and I’m pretty sure Arizona can get a much better deal elsewhere, but that would be some acquisition…
  • NJstuckinTX July 20, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    If Harvey or Wheeler isnt in that deal, it ain’t happening.
• Hoegy July 20, 2012 at 2:51 pm

  I would do Upton for Familia, Flores and Kirk in a heartbeat. Team him up with Wright and TC will take care of the rest. Torres is expendable at that point.

  I don’t know what would happen when Baxter is done rehabbing and you know they can’t just DFA Bay.

  Oh well
• jerseymet July 20, 2012 at 3:03 pm

  Let’s not forget Den Dekker is viewed as a better CF than Kirk. Play Spin in a corner outfield position.
  • XtreemIcon July 20, 2012 at 3:14 pm

    Can MDD hit, though? At this point, he looks no better than Torres. I think at this point, you have to forge ahead as if Valdy is the future CF, and if MDD can take it from him, then even better, but don’t move forward expecting it.
    • jessep July 20, 2012 at 3:20 pm

      Xtreem how ya feel about my proposal since you were very pro Upton

      Send Flores, Familia, Kirk and or den Dekker for Upton

      That’s as high as I will go.
      • XtreemIcon July 20, 2012 at 3:21 pm

        I’d do somersaults and drive them out to the desert myself. But I have a feeling Towers would laugh Sandy off the phone if that was the top offer. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame him.
• Steve From Norfolk July 20, 2012 at 3:09 pm

  I agree with Jessup, except I would think about putting Duda in that package instead of Kirk, Duda is losing us as many runs in the field as he hits for us. His skill set is starting to remind me of another player – Adam Dunn – except he plays a decent first base. Trouble is, we don’t need another first baseman.

  With Kirk, his problems are on the offensive side, but he has the tools to get past them. Kirk is suffering from 2 problems, both of them common. One, he’s on his second time around with more and more of the pitchers, and two, he needs to hit lefties better. We are damaging his career by not letting him hit lefties. He will adjust – he has at every other level. But, he needs to be allowed hit against them. Same basic problem with the familiarity problem. They’ve adjusted to him. Now, he needs to figure out how the league is going to pitch him, and adjust.

  What do you think?
  • jessep July 20, 2012 at 3:13 pm

    I wouldn’t give up on Duda’s bat yet, especially if you are in need of a LF.

    Kirk to me is a nice player, but there’s not a lot special about him. You can probably find a lot of “Kirk’s” but you won’t find a lot of Spin or Duda’s.

    To me, I would only want Upton if it upgrades multiple spots.

    If you trade Duda instead of Kirk – you have not upgraded LF or CF because Kirk will be ahead of Spin in CF depth chart.

    If you trade Kirk, you upgrade LF by sliding Duda over and you upgrade CF by givig the job to spin. Plus you upgrade RF.
    • Metsie July 20, 2012 at 4:28 pm

      The argument for including Duda is that Upton’s bat would provide the same if not more pop than Duda but from the right side of the plate (giving Lineup balance) PLUS you get a better glove than Duda.

      Kirk is not a fielding liability and if they let him hit vs Lefties he might solve that one issue. Right now he isn’t hitting against anyone though.
  • L.J. Phipps July 20, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    Duda & Kirk are having the same issues right now, letting fastballs down the pipe go by, getting beat on the outside with breaking balls, and striking out on the inside and down off speed stuff. The fix is leaving that inside pitch alone for now, if it’s called a strike, tip your hat. They need to look to go the other way, especially against lefties (when they get a chance to hit against them). Rip that fastball in the zone, quit looking at it. While I like that they are trying to work the count, against some pitchers you have to show some aggressiveness. Pick a pitch is all I am saying.
• stick July 20, 2012 at 3:12 pm

  Why do you say CF is one of the hardest positions to learn? If anything, it is one of the easiest.
  • XtreemIcon July 20, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    You think so? I don’t agree.
    • stick July 20, 2012 at 3:29 pm

      only OF spot where the ball comes right at you (corners have to deal with slicing and the corners).

      MI? obviously way more to learn, having to deal with runners and the bag (ask Murphy)

      corners, same plus reaction plays, scoops, runners.

      C? obvious there too!

      CF is mostly run like hell and throw to the cutoff man, relative to the other positions. and you have the best angle at the field.
      • XtreemIcon July 20, 2012 at 5:04 pm

        Fair enough. I still don”t agree. CFs have the most ground to cover and have to take charge of the OF. That’s why they’re generally the best OFs and you stil liabilities in the corner.
        • Stick July 20, 2012 at 5:20 pm

          the question was learning to play, not playing it. For sure the speed is the big hang up usually. But if you got the wheels, not much else to “learn” compared to other positions.
        • NJstuckinTX July 21, 2012 at 9:55 am

          So really, all you need to know in CF is that you need to be able to cover a lot of ground.
          • XtreemIcon July 21, 2012 at 10:17 am

            I guess I can understand why you say it’s the easiest to learn, but I still think it’s the hardest to play. I could “teach” you how to play the guitar in 30 minutes, some chords, where your fingers should go, basic theory, etc. But learning to actually play it, making your fingers go where you want from muscle memory, etc. That takes a long time to master, and is not easy.

            So I guess you can stick anyone with speed out there, tell him to catch the ball and call that learning it, but playing it is a far different animal.
            • NJstuckinTX July 21, 2012 at 10:21 am

              I get the point you are making. Understood. Agreed to not be in agreement.
              • XtreemIcon July 21, 2012 at 10:24 am

                Fair enough.
        • stick July 21, 2012 at 10:03 am

          and to yell “mine” very loudly at your overly large RF.
          • NJstuckinTX July 21, 2012 at 10:09 am

            I must have missed that! Dang that position is a tough one. So many things to remember..
• Metsie July 20, 2012 at 4:31 pm

  If Sandy is truly serious about valde in CF then one thing they should consider is attempting to make him a switch hitter.
  probably not something you would do up here but if he gets sent back down to Minors to work on being a CF that might be a good time to see how he does with it.

  You can see what happens during BP up here but you wouldn’t do it in a game.

  If you see after a month he just can’t cut it then you can always abandon it later on.

  And I wouldn’t be opposed to try it with Kirk either.
  • oleosmirf July 20, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    lol you just can’t all of a sudden be a switch hitter. He’s 24 not 14…
• Fonzie13 July 20, 2012 at 5:00 pm

  I think he’s a future outfielder anyway so they might as well put him in CF which is where he would increase his value. His bat does not profile as a corner OF and he doesn’t have good hands to be a middle infielder. CF would be a perfect spot for him and I think he’d be able to handle it from what I’ve seen of him so far. They should send him to the AFL and winter ball and concentrate on CF this offseason. I’m not convinced Den Dekker or Niuewenhuis are going to be able to hit LHP and if they end up being able to then that becomes a nice problem to have.
  • Joe D July 20, 2012 at 5:46 pm

    I agree with you Fonzie on DenDekker and Kirk. Me and Pete spoke earlier today just about them and we see them as merely as platoon or utility players. Kirk turns 25 in two weeks and his strikeouts are getting worse instead of better. Same for DenDekker. Lets see what Spin can do. He may not be a solution either, but we have nothing to lose by affording him as much playing time as we can give him in CF. Who knows, maybe we get lucky.
• Joey D. July 21, 2012 at 2:32 am

  This year Valdy has been playing mostly center down in the minors without making an error, however, it being a totally new position, is there any feedback from the coaches and manager down there as to his range? Is he able to get a good jump on the ball and track down flies or do more fall in for base hits? How about his throwing arm?

  What we must also keep in mind is that we could easily become carried away with Valdy’s early success when pitchers are still trying to discover his weak points and how to explore them. Remember we were all on the Kirk bandwagon two months ago. I also have to wonder why one with a lifetime .284 batting average in the minors would spend five full seasons down there and not called up for even a cup of coffee prior to this season.
  • Joey D. July 21, 2012 at 2:45 am

    **** hit the enter button prematurely before completing my sentence. . Shows what happens when one is about ready to go to sleep. To continue my thoughts:

    ….. “not called up for even a cup of coffee prior to this season” in lieu of Tejada who wasn’t regarded by many as being an everyday shortstop or second baseman back in 2010. Could be because of Valdy’s low fielding percentage both at short and second.

    So I’m wondering if his fielding cost him earlier shots at the big club and if his glove might not be any more suited for an outfield spot on a regular basis as well.
• larman July 21, 2012 at 7:40 am

  Let’s face it alderson knows nothing, this mets team is a disgrace right now because of the direction it’s going in, like a run away train. We have no bullpen again, no starting pitching again, no production from the catches, the outfielders no production, i mean really sandy, gid rid of bay to the american league please, cus u can see at the plate he just doesn’t want to be in a mets uniform, The wilpons please sell our team and get lost, you guys killed any legacy of our mets, so please GO GO GO GO NOW. I know that they won’t do anything at the trade deadline, why Cus they just don’t care and that sucks.
  • Metfan Lou July 21, 2012 at 8:56 am

    Somewhat disagree. The Mets come back in many games but fall short. We lost to LA 7-6 and we have lost quite a few close games. Losing close games is a sign you are close to getting over the hump and their is a missing piece like a good solid bat or a hole in the pitching staff. That can be fixed in the off season. I see good things for the Mets in ’13.
• Metfan Lou July 21, 2012 at 8:53 am

  I think the rest of the Mets’ season is going to be trial and error for ’13. By that I mean trying players at different positions like Valdespin in center and fingering players like Murphy for trades. I think one way or the other they have already penciled out Bay as a Met unless he lights up the second half. Looking at the team now I don’t see us catching the Braves or Nats. Their pitching is just too good. The Mets will be fun to watch until October but it is now setting up for 2013.
• NJstuckinTX July 21, 2012 at 9:57 am

  If this is where Valdy projects, would be nice if they actually played him there…
• Moose July 21, 2012 at 6:47 pm

  First I would see if Bay has done the same thing Wright did to turn things aroubd at the plate. If he has not is is not willing to then trade him for Upton include at least half of remainder of his salary. Maybe include Torres in the deal. I would include one upper tier prospect and maybe two mid level and one lower or one mid level and two maybe three lower levels. Then have an outfield Duda LF Val in CF and Upton in RF
  • Fonzie13 July 21, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    Bay for Upton? Maybe they’ll throw in Trevor Bauer and Archie Bradley if we sweeten the pot. lol