Carlos Delgado: The Mets Have Been Down This Road Before
Everyone wants to know what the deal is with Carlos Delgado. It's really plain to see if you ask me.
Carlos Delgado has just turned 35. Much like sluggers Jeff Bagwell, Glenn Davis, and Jack Clark to name a few, Delgado has experienced a very sharp decline like they did. The players I mentioned played the same position and were similar type sluggers, and each of them became shells of their former selves at age 35.
Delgado’s situation is compounded further more by two things...
1. He is trying to return from off season surgery. He insists it is not a problem, but has also been jockeying for the Mets to pickup his $16 million dollar team option for the 2009 season. Any player will tell you that returning from one surgery is difficult enough, two surgeries, well that may be asking for too much, especially at his age. There's a difference huge between coming back from surgery when your 25 and when your 35.
2. He missed considerable time physically and mentally in the spring due to the birth of his child. At a time when Delgado should have been hard at work rehabbing, getting back into game shape, and getting his timing back, he spent too much time on personal matters for a player who had so much on the line.
Delgado takes things to heart and is a proud guy. You may remember his stance on standing for God Bless America, and the US vs Puerto Rico case. Guys like him are the last ones to admit that they are in decline.
Unfortunately for the Mets, he is not going to get any better than what we now see. He is what he is. It happens. Over 50% of major league baseball players are out of the game by their 35th birthday. That percentage is even higher in football and in hockey.
Carlos Delgado's defense is also taking a major hit. He never was great defensively to begin with, but he was never as bad as he appears to be now.
The slump is beginning to weigh heavy on him, and pretty soon the boo birds at Shea Stadium will certainly bring him down even further. It is beginning to look much like some other Mets who broke down completely in their thirties. Players like Roberto Alomar(34), Mo Vaughn(35), Gary Carter(33), Howard Johnson(32), and Keith Hernandez(33). When you consider all of the facts it should come as no surprise that Carlos Delgado has come to the probable end of a long career.
Willie Randolph could probably help his cause somewhat by hitting him even lower in the lineup than 5th, but he is reluctant to do so.
So, we are all left with a situation that will only get worse and maybe even ugly, as time goes on.
Delgado is owed $14.5 million dollars for this year, and $16 million dollars for 2008. As I mentioned earlier, the Mets have a team option in 2009 for another $16 million. The Florida Marlins were very smart when they structured this deal. In the first year (2005) it paid $4 million, then escalated to $13.5 million in 2006. As soon as his first year was up, they moved him to the Mets.
All we can do is hope that we can some production out of him for the money. There is no team that will ever take him off of our hands unless he can drastically turn it around. But guys his age don't ever drastically turn things around unless they're juicing as the steroids generation has shown us. But that's a story for another blog.
Comments
Extremely good blog Joe. I completely agree with you on everything.
Delgado needs to start hitting, or he'll be hitting out of NY.
Willie did one good thing before, dropping him lower, which he recovered and restored his clean-up status, but he continued to slump. Willie, leave him in the 6 or 7 hole until he learns how to hit with and/or without RISP.
Posted by: Ryan | June 28, 2007 12:35 PM
Trade him to the Yankees!
Posted by: Derek C. | June 28, 2007 01:08 PM
I would love to disagree with you, but this time you did a pretty good job of covering your ass. I guess we should all do with what you suggest at the end of your blog and hope for the best. So lets all get together and start hoping really, really hard.
Posted by: Kevin | June 28, 2007 01:48 PM
I'm not convinced that Delgado is washed up. You don't have 10 years of 30+ homers and then just lose it all of a sudden. He'll get to where he needs to be sooner or later. I think the All-Star break will be good for him. Remember a lot of big time sluggers are struggling this year, but no one is calling Ortiz or Ramirez washed up. Delgado's best 2 weeks this year were when he was bumped down to the 6th spot and then moved back to the 4th. Willie just needs to move him to the 6th spot and keep him there.
Posted by: Dan | June 28, 2007 04:41 PM
I agree with Dan, Delgado needs to be moved back to the 6 hole. I hope and pray the all-star break will give him the needed rest and focus to return to his 06 form. It is really amazing to me how fast Delgado has fallen off the edge of the earth. When he comes to the plate I keep waiting for his bat to return, but then he swings at bad pitches and watches good ones, or just grounds out to second.
Posted by: Chris | June 28, 2007 05:41 PM
I wouldn't say Delgado is done. If players are no good after age 35, then how do you explain Julio Franco? Sure Franco is no slugger... but age aint nothin but a number. I think he's still got it in him.
Posted by: Deb | June 28, 2007 06:47 PM
WOW. i think your blog just hit an all-time low. this will be the last time i read this! you clearly have no friends or family of your own, if you're going to pick on delgado for "attening to personal matters," LIKE THE BIRTH OF HIS OWN CHILD. jesus. really, please, start rooting for the yankees because the mets don't need fans like you.
Posted by: kristen | June 28, 2007 07:22 PM
Hi Kristen,
I think youre being a little too dramatic. Most ball players take a day off not two weeks. I only mentioned it as an additional reason as to why he fell behind in his recovery from surgery. They only play games for 4 weeks, he missed half of it. I'm sorry that I cant sugar coat everything and pretend we're living in paradise.
Posted by: Joe D | June 28, 2007 08:22 PM
Kristen, you may want to re-read that article again. I dont believe Joe picked on anyone by saying he missed 2 weeks of valuable time during a week period. When other players on the team had a birth in the family or even a death, they always got a day off and in the rarest cases two days off. That's the life of a baseball player and why they get paid the big bucks, and in Delgado's case he gets the biggest bucks on the roster.
Posted by: Manny | June 29, 2007 07:07 AM
Sorry Manny but thats not true. If you have ever heard of the bereavement list. A player placed on the bereavement list has to miss a minimum of 3 games and can miss up to a max of 10 games.
However for the birth of a child or any personal issues your allowed up 3 days during the season.
Posted by: Christian (AKA MetsMan) | June 29, 2007 09:37 AM
by the way the bereavement list is to be used only in the case of a death in the family or a friend.
Posted by: Christian (AKA MetsMan) | June 29, 2007 09:39 AM
I think that Carlos Delgado will eventually turn things around and I cite one of your reasons in the blog for it. You say that he is a proud man and I think it is because of his pride that he will turn it around. We need Dos Carlos back fast!
Posted by: Veronica | June 29, 2007 09:44 AM