Jordan Patterson

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Mets have claimed LH hitting 1Bman Jordan Patterson on waivers from the Rockies.

Had a cuppa Joe in [crossout]2014[/crossout] 2016 but seems like Syracuse's new No. 4 hitter. 26 HRs each of the last 2 years in AAA.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

He'll turn 27 during spring training. (And his cup of coffee was in 2016, not 2014, for whatever that's worth.)

[seawolf17]

This confuses me, what with Alonso there and all that.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I expect that Alonso will be leaving Syracuse somewhere around April 15.

[Edgy MD]

Indeed, there are four options already for the opening day/#1 firstbaseman. So a backup there isn't really a priority.

But he plays some outfield, and Syracuse is very thin on outfielders. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mets immediately turned around and tried to put him through waivers themselves.

[smg58]

Right. If he goes unclaimed (and he doesn't have enough service time to qualify as a minor league free agent), you can stick him in AAA.

[smg58]

Stashing him in AAA makes sense you anticipate moving one or two of the remaining first base options.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Or just to keep the Syracuse team stocked.

[nymr83]

seawolf17 wrote: This confuses me, what with Alonso there and all that.

Alonso should be in Syracuse for exactly as long as the Mets need to leave him there to manipulate his service time.

[Frayed Knot]

Or until, y'know, he maybe cuts down a bit on the 30+% strikeout rate that he racked up while in Vegas last season: 78 times in 258 ABs; 22.7% in Bingo (50 in 220)

At the risk of repeating myself, I fear that the general consensus here has convinced themselves that Alonso is a can't-miss and/or an already finished product, and I'm not sure he's either right now.

[nymr83]

He isnt "can't miss" but I like his chances better than Smith at this point and want to see what he has.

Strikeouts are overrated, they are just outs.

[Edgy MD]

I think the 2018 Mets proved very well that strikeouts are different from other outs.

Actually, I think the 2018 Everybody proved it.

[Frayed Knot]

Nymr83 wrote: He isnt "can't miss" but I like his chances better than Smith at this point

How much of that is the 'backup quarterback syndrome'?

" and want to see what he has." -- Sure. I just don't think it's been established that he's already earned a call-up the minute he's no longer eligible for a full season in 2019

"strikeouts are overrated, they are just outs." -- The jump from his (already somewhat high) rate in AA to the one in AAA causes me some concern. Where's it going to be against the next level of pitching?

[smg58]

Alonso did outperform Smith by a very large amount in Vegas last year, even given the strikeout rate (and a very slow start that he recovered from pretty strongly -- before the PCL All-Star break he had a .698 OPS with 29 Ks in 76 ABs, and after it he had a 1.043 OPS with 49 Ks in 182 ABs). Yeah the K rate was still higher than you'd like, but it got demonstrably better as he got used to the pitching and the overall jump in performance speaks for itself.

His K rate (18.3% per plate appearance) and OPS (1.015) at AA were comparable to Paul Goldshmidt's (20.1% and 1.061) at the same age (23). Goldschmidt skipped AAA entirely, and was none the worse for wear. That does not mean that Alonso is going to be Goldschmidt, but it does suggest that his upside is higher than Smith's, or Jay Bruce's for that matter.

[Edgy MD]

This is all true, but it's also possible the troubles that Smitty has endured the last two years were his crucible and he's ready to thrive, while the same crucible is ahead of Alonso.

I'm not saying that's so, but while you don't want to keep kicking the can down the road, I don't think this is a choice the Mets will be necessarily forced to make right away.

[bmfc1]

You say hello, I say goodbye:
[tweet:2w2qov58]https://twitter.com/MLBRosterMoves/status/1068222864065798144[/tweet:2w2qov58]

[Benjamin Grimm]

We never even got to see what his girlfriend's hair looks like.

[Zvon]

Well I'm all excited about this and I just wanna say.....(gets a msg from brother)

Oh, that was quick


Bro says "it's all a shell game".