Hello MMO! Here’s your Morning Grind:
Why Is Chin-Lung Hu Here?
Mets backup middle infielder Chin-Lung Hu has just been absolutely dreadful to start this season. I see no reason why the 27-year old Taiwanese native is on the major league staff except to crack the cheap “Hu’s on first?” joke on the rare occasion he makes it to first base.
Hu is batting an almost laughable .056 with one mere hit, three walks, two runs and an RBI in 19 games, mostly pinch hitting. The worst part is, is that in his 18 official at-bats, Hu has struck out an abysmal 11 times. I would rather have a relief pitcher pinch hitting than Hu; the Mets would probably get a better result.
The Mets need to cut Hu and bring up Luis Hernandez, who was one of the final candidate for the starting 2B job during Spring Training earlier this year. Hernandez has struggled so far this year in Triple-A Buffalo batting .192 in 23 games. Despite his underwhelming performance in the minors so far, the middle infielder should get the call. But who knows? Jason Pridie was having a bad start in Buffalo, and now is hitting .300 in the majors. Hernandez ripped the cover off the ball this Spring and deserved to break camp with the Mets. He showed in 2010 he can be a decent backup in 2010 before going down with a broken foot after hitting a Kirk Gibson-esq home run last season.
The only other reason I can think of why Hernandez is not in the majors is because Alderson is still following the rules he laid down in Oakland: No player moves up unless they average at least one walk per 10 at-bats. Hernandez currently has three walks in 78 at-bats.
It is a nice sentiment trying to get players to walk more, but if this is what Alderson is doing, in this case, it is hurting the ballclub having Hu here.
Who’s on first? Not Hu, thats for sure.
Happy commenting!
