Thursday, March 25, 2004
Deivi Cruz?!
Are you kidding me? The Mets are allegedly interested in signing Deivi Cruz, recently released by the Devil Rays, to fill the role of backup middle infielder. Cruz, who has had over 400 plate apperances in each of his seven major league seasons would almost certainly command more than the major league minimum, and I'm wondering what exactly it is that he does that the Mets couldn't get cheaper from Danny Garcia. Cruz hit .250/.269/.378 last year and in seven major league seasons, playing almost every day, has posted an on-base percentage over .300 just twice, with a career high of .318. In addition to his offensive ineptitude, by any measure you can find, he's at best an average defensive shortstop, more likely below average.
Garcia had a rough year at the plate both at AAA Norfolk and in 56 major league at bats. But prior to last year, he had a history of posting solid to excellent OBPs in the minors. There isn't much evidence that Garcia's any sort of asset with the glove either and he hasn't played much shortstop in the minors, but if the Mets are in such desperate shape that they need Deivi Cruz or Danny Garcia to play shortstop for any significant amount of time, it would mean that Kaz Matsui, Jose Reyes and Art Howe's buddy Joe McEwing were unavailable and the Mets' season would be in the kind of trouble from which neither Cruz nor Garcia could do much to rescue it.
The only real argument I can see for signing Cruz would be that the Mets want to give Garcia some more time in the minor leagues. But given that he'll be twenty-four years old in April and plays a position currently occupied by the 21-year-old present and future of the Mets' middle infield, I don't see how that's worth throwing a few hundred grand at Deivi Cruz. If Garcia can't hack it with the Mets this year, he probably doesn't have much of a future with the team and the Mets are in a position where they're better served figuring that out than they are making sure McEwing is adequately backed up.
Instead of trying assemble the least useful collection of backup infielders he can find, Duquette should be focused on doing something about the remaining black hole in right rield. Either of the rumored available Blue Jays could be a good fit for the right price, but I'll thow another name out. Jason Lane. He's twenty-seven. He's got no chance to start where he is. And, oh yeah, he can hit (.298/.374/.452 at AAA last year, .272/.328/.472 in 2002, .316/.407/.608 at AA in 2001). Better than anyone we've got now, at least. ¶ joe | 4:04 PM |
Are you kidding me? The Mets are allegedly interested in signing Deivi Cruz, recently released by the Devil Rays, to fill the role of backup middle infielder. Cruz, who has had over 400 plate apperances in each of his seven major league seasons would almost certainly command more than the major league minimum, and I'm wondering what exactly it is that he does that the Mets couldn't get cheaper from Danny Garcia. Cruz hit .250/.269/.378 last year and in seven major league seasons, playing almost every day, has posted an on-base percentage over .300 just twice, with a career high of .318. In addition to his offensive ineptitude, by any measure you can find, he's at best an average defensive shortstop, more likely below average.
Garcia had a rough year at the plate both at AAA Norfolk and in 56 major league at bats. But prior to last year, he had a history of posting solid to excellent OBPs in the minors. There isn't much evidence that Garcia's any sort of asset with the glove either and he hasn't played much shortstop in the minors, but if the Mets are in such desperate shape that they need Deivi Cruz or Danny Garcia to play shortstop for any significant amount of time, it would mean that Kaz Matsui, Jose Reyes and Art Howe's buddy Joe McEwing were unavailable and the Mets' season would be in the kind of trouble from which neither Cruz nor Garcia could do much to rescue it.
The only real argument I can see for signing Cruz would be that the Mets want to give Garcia some more time in the minor leagues. But given that he'll be twenty-four years old in April and plays a position currently occupied by the 21-year-old present and future of the Mets' middle infield, I don't see how that's worth throwing a few hundred grand at Deivi Cruz. If Garcia can't hack it with the Mets this year, he probably doesn't have much of a future with the team and the Mets are in a position where they're better served figuring that out than they are making sure McEwing is adequately backed up.
Instead of trying assemble the least useful collection of backup infielders he can find, Duquette should be focused on doing something about the remaining black hole in right rield. Either of the rumored available Blue Jays could be a good fit for the right price, but I'll thow another name out. Jason Lane. He's twenty-seven. He's got no chance to start where he is. And, oh yeah, he can hit (.298/.374/.452 at AAA last year, .272/.328/.472 in 2002, .316/.407/.608 at AA in 2001). Better than anyone we've got now, at least. ¶ joe | 4:04 PM |
