Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Del-Traded For-It!
If local and national media outlets are to be believed, and are not just executing some elaborate plot to torture me by getting my hopes up and then dashing them, the Mets have got themselves a first baseman. The team has been transported back to the heady days of 1999 when the manager didn't have to hold his nose while filling out the spot next to "1B" on his lineup card. Wille Randolph no longer has to explain that he can't bat his first baseman eighth because he is too slow to make it to second base on a sacrifice bunt. It is a brand new day at Shea Stadium. Carlos Delgado will be donning the orange and blue.
The man's qualifications require little interpretation. After a down year in 2004 which saw him hit .269/.372/.535 and miss some time due to injury for the Toronto Blue Jays, Delgado signed with the Marlins. He exploded upon the National League, hitting .301/.399/.582 with thirty-three home runs in a stadium that dampens offense similarly to Shea Stadium. Even accounting for the fact that he is thirty-three years old and not that great defensively, he is an enormous upgrade over the guys the Mets were sending out to play first last year. They hit .227/.303/.391, posting an OPS lower than the National League average at shortstop or catcher. A bat like Carlos Delgado's was a large part of the difference between the 2004 Mets and a playoff team.
Of course, to acquire Delgado, the Mets have to give something up. And a whole lot of money just isn't enough. So Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit will be headed south. As happy as I am to have Delgado on the Mets, I am sad to see both of these guys go. Jacobs's improbable offensive explosion in the last month of the season was fun to watch, and he would have been a nice guy to have around for a team without a real first baseman like the Mets have been in recent years. But the Mets have a real first baseman now, and Jacobs is far from a proven major leaguer. He had a big month in the majors and a very good year in the minors. But he spent that year as a twenty-four year old in AA after missing almost all of 2004 due to injury. Jacobs is a nice player to have, but he stopped looking like a future star major leaguer when he took off his catcher's mitt.
As for Petit, that one hurts. I've really enjoyed watching him progress through the minors over the last two years, piling up strikeouts along the way. He had a big year in AA in 2005, striking out 130 batters in 117 2/3 innings with walking just 18. Scouts have always questioned his ability to get major league hitters out with his less than imposing fastball and he finished the year off with a rough couple of weeks in AAA. But I always looked forward to the day when he'd put on a Mets uniform, step onto the mound at Shea Stadium and make some major leaguer wonder how he just swung at that fastball and missed. The fact that this is the second year in a row the Mets have given up their top pitching prospect in a trade makes it hurt all the more.
But this time, the Mets got something in return. They gave up a pitcher with the potential for greatness and received a hitter who's already great. Carlos Delgado has a career .284/.393/.559 line with 369 home runs. So while I hate to see Petit go, I can't help but be excited about the new look of the 2006 Mets lineup. Imagine a top five of Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Cliff Floyd. Even if Willie Randolph finds some less appealing way to arrange them, it's going to be fun. ¶ joe | 2:16 PM |
If local and national media outlets are to be believed, and are not just executing some elaborate plot to torture me by getting my hopes up and then dashing them, the Mets have got themselves a first baseman. The team has been transported back to the heady days of 1999 when the manager didn't have to hold his nose while filling out the spot next to "1B" on his lineup card. Wille Randolph no longer has to explain that he can't bat his first baseman eighth because he is too slow to make it to second base on a sacrifice bunt. It is a brand new day at Shea Stadium. Carlos Delgado will be donning the orange and blue.
The man's qualifications require little interpretation. After a down year in 2004 which saw him hit .269/.372/.535 and miss some time due to injury for the Toronto Blue Jays, Delgado signed with the Marlins. He exploded upon the National League, hitting .301/.399/.582 with thirty-three home runs in a stadium that dampens offense similarly to Shea Stadium. Even accounting for the fact that he is thirty-three years old and not that great defensively, he is an enormous upgrade over the guys the Mets were sending out to play first last year. They hit .227/.303/.391, posting an OPS lower than the National League average at shortstop or catcher. A bat like Carlos Delgado's was a large part of the difference between the 2004 Mets and a playoff team.
Of course, to acquire Delgado, the Mets have to give something up. And a whole lot of money just isn't enough. So Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit will be headed south. As happy as I am to have Delgado on the Mets, I am sad to see both of these guys go. Jacobs's improbable offensive explosion in the last month of the season was fun to watch, and he would have been a nice guy to have around for a team without a real first baseman like the Mets have been in recent years. But the Mets have a real first baseman now, and Jacobs is far from a proven major leaguer. He had a big month in the majors and a very good year in the minors. But he spent that year as a twenty-four year old in AA after missing almost all of 2004 due to injury. Jacobs is a nice player to have, but he stopped looking like a future star major leaguer when he took off his catcher's mitt.
As for Petit, that one hurts. I've really enjoyed watching him progress through the minors over the last two years, piling up strikeouts along the way. He had a big year in AA in 2005, striking out 130 batters in 117 2/3 innings with walking just 18. Scouts have always questioned his ability to get major league hitters out with his less than imposing fastball and he finished the year off with a rough couple of weeks in AAA. But I always looked forward to the day when he'd put on a Mets uniform, step onto the mound at Shea Stadium and make some major leaguer wonder how he just swung at that fastball and missed. The fact that this is the second year in a row the Mets have given up their top pitching prospect in a trade makes it hurt all the more.
But this time, the Mets got something in return. They gave up a pitcher with the potential for greatness and received a hitter who's already great. Carlos Delgado has a career .284/.393/.559 line with 369 home runs. So while I hate to see Petit go, I can't help but be excited about the new look of the 2006 Mets lineup. Imagine a top five of Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Cliff Floyd. Even if Willie Randolph finds some less appealing way to arrange them, it's going to be fun. ¶ joe | 2:16 PM |
