Memories of Javy Baez

[G-Fafif]

With Baez's agreement to wear Tiger stripes having reached the same “reportedly” https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32753025/detroit-tigers-closing-multi-year-deal-free-agent-shortstop-javier-baez-source-saysconsensus stage as the Scherzer, et al signings, let us enter Javy into the hall of memories.



Fascinating if brief as a Met. Big homer in his first game. Amazing slide in his first week. Dreadful slump. Injury. Apparent transformation as a selective hitter. Public enemy numero uno, all brought on himself. Quickly forgiven. Best player on the team when the team was imploding.



And now gone. Wonder if they ever found his earring.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Guest

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yeah, lost his earring in a play at home is what I will take away. Also, he was Lindor's boy and I woulda bet that connection would have been meaningful enough to continue the relationship.



Thumbs-Down thing got too much attention.



Left me confused as to who's on second this year. I don't think it's McNeil's job anymore, so maybe Cano, or maybe Escobar, or maybe Mauricio

[Edgy MD]

Terrific athlete who could shamelessly invent ways to play the game on the fly. Every team should have one.



It's a shame he figured out how to use a one-armed pushup to avoid a tag before he learned plate discipline. But if the plate discipline enlightenment he seemingly discovered in his last five weeks here turns out to be more than a blip, the Mets could be sorry.



Maddening to see him playing so well and the rest of the lineup around him had seemingly already begun their offseasons.



Was all over this Steve Henderson of a ninth-inning rally, which officially took place months before he joined the team. He scores the winning run by, amazingly, coming around from first on a single to left. That's Mookie Wilson crazy.



[media=youtube]VSO8ZTXzzV8[/media]



Also, I'm still not sure he touched first on his infield hit.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I was hoping he'd come back. He was fun to watch.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I know I'm in the minority, but I got a huge kick out of the thumbs down thing and will always think of that when Javy comes up. I know fans have the right to boo and yyybbb, but why do players have to just take it? They don't. A quiet mirror of discontent back on the fans was perfect until its meaning became known. So talented on both sides of the game and outrageously fun to watch. I'll miss him a lot.

[Willets Point]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I know I'm in the minority, but I got a huge kick out of the thumbs down thing and will always think of that when Javy comes up. I know fans have the right to boo and yyybbb, but why do players have to just take it? They don't. A quiet mirror of discontent back on the fans was perfect until its meaning became known. So talented on both sides of the game and outrageously fun to watch. I'll miss him a lot.

You're not alone, the fans kind of deserved it.

[smg58]

Perennial underachiever who had a few good weeks and acted like an ass. Another win for Eppler.

[A Boy Named Seo]

=smg58 post_id=82132 time=1638288688 user_id=62]
Perennial underachiever who had a few good weeks and acted like an ass. Another win for Eppler.

[Frayed Knot]

Willets Point wrote: A Boy Named Seo wrote: I know I'm in the minority, but I got a huge kick out of the thumbs down thing and will always think of that when Javy comes up. I know fans have the right to boo and yyybbb, but why do players have to just take it? They don't. A quiet mirror of discontent back on the fans was perfect until its meaning became known. So talented on both sides of the game and outrageously fun to watch. I'll miss him a lot. You're not alone, the fans kind of deserved it.

But players are never going to win that kind of war.

I understand WHY they did it (although the booing was out of frustration and didn't come within an Alonso HR of abuse) but they would have been better off just letting a slide (no pun intended).

[Frayed Knot]

Kind of surprised when I first started hearing about Detroit.

Not really the place to commit to for the remainder of your career (or close to it) unless he has reason to believe that they're about to turn the corner.

[seawolf17]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I know I'm in the minority, but I got a huge kick out of the thumbs down thing and will always think of that when Javy comes up. I know fans have the right to boo and yyybbb, but why do players have to just take it? They don't. A quiet mirror of discontent back on the fans was perfect until its meaning became known. So talented on both sides of the game and outrageously fun to watch. I'll miss him a lot.

This, mostly. I was worried about the strikeouts, and then suddenly I wasn't. Seemed like a likeable dude, overall.



(Also annoyed because he leaves me with a really expensive guy on my autograph need list who only got 186 PA with us.)

[roger_that]

Can you really succeed as a .307 OBP guy? I don't see it. That's close to the Ordonez line.

[roger_that]

And just to head off the corrections of my misguided point, I understand he has virtues that Rey-Rey never touched. But all in all, what is Baez? A slightly above-average offensive and defensive player. (Comparison to RO here: https://stathead.com/baseball/player-comparison.cgi?request=1&sum=1&player_id1=baezja01&player_id2=ordonre01&type=bhttps://stathead.com/baseball/player-comparison.cgi?request=1∑=1&player_id1=baezja01&player_id2=ordonre01&type=b ) Rephrased, is it really worth a major contract to lock down an average player entering his 30s?

[ashie62]

In his very short time as a Met I remember him as a bum.

[MFS62]

He gave the fans thumbs, and they wanted to give him a different finger.





Later

[Edgy MD]

Speaking as a fan, I didn't want to do that.

[kcmets]

It would be interesting if/and how much the Mets were willing to commit to Javy.

I suppose if I were to chew on it a bit I could be convinced that overpaying him

for three years would have been best for us but years matter to these guys when

getting their last big payday...

[Centerfield]

One of the best athletes I've ever seen in baseball. Fun player.



Just an ok hitter overall, unless that plate discipline he found in NY is sustainable. And I have no idea of knowing if it is.



I would have been cool with keeping him, but I'm also cool with someone else, so long as we get another big bat.

[Lefty Specialist]

I'm willing to move on. I think sooner or later he'd wear out his welcome, as he did with many Cub fans. Can be great, can also be maddening in stretches. I don't think the plate discipline he showed in his two months here was a long-term trend.



Tigers are building a contender and they saw him as a piece to build around.

[Fman99]

I'm depressed. I love watching this guy play. Like all former Mets, destined for greatness in his post-Flushing career, so there's that.

[bmfc1]

A magician on the basepaths. And now he'll never find his earring.

[metsmarathon]

=Fman99 post_id=82155 time=1638300823 user_id=86]
I'm depressed. I love watching this guy play. Like all former Mets, destined for greatness in his post-Flushing career, so there's that.

[Ceetar]

I enjoyed watching him some, but he definitely wasn't a good fit for the 2021 Mets, as they needed more OBP guys (and pitching) But with some of the acquisitions this year, it might've been more a fit for 2022, as it seems like they could use a power bat now, but there are other ways to get that too. Plus you get less value out of Javy playing 2B than SS. He was always going to be a better fit elsewhere if only for that reason.

[Frayed Knot]

Fun to watch ... except when he was exasperating

Great baserunner ... aside from those times where he was being stupid and there were several of those

Magician with the glove ... at least when he wasn't being error prone. Made 20 this season including six in just over 1/4 season (44 starts) as a NYM





If the OBP jump was real then he would have been worth retaining but I'd hate to bet on the six week (if that) stretch being the real him and the

six year track record, the illusion. And I certainly wouldn't want to extend that bet for seven years.

[roger_that]

Frayed Knot wrote: If the OBP jump was real then he would have been worth retaining but I'd hate to bet on the six week (if that) stretch being the real him and the six year track record, the illusion. And I certainly wouldn't want to extend that bet for seven years.

I've seen studies of exactly this. Players' OBP rates after their first three full seasons tend to be remarkably stable. Almost without exception, your OBP in season 7 is going to be what it was after season 3, and in season 10 about the same.

[Edgy MD]

Any links to these studies?

[roger_that]

Don't remember where I saw it, but I think it was so universal you could probably do a quick and dirty study yourself. Just take someone with a full career, and use baseball-reference to compute his OBP after his third full year. Compare that to his career OBP and it will be very close. Almost no one showed significant growth, and that was always when the league OBP went up. Basically, this study showed me that a player's OBP at 25 is his lifetime OBP.

[roger_that]

One example I can remember is that Willie Mays had a lifetime OBP that was .002 lower than his OBP at age 24, which was odd because Mays had some of his highest OBPs after age 40. I would have expected that his OBP would go up as he aged but it fell a bit.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=roger_that post_id=82211 time=1638320943 user_id=128]
One example I can remember is that Willie Mays had a lifetime OBP that was .002 lower than his OBP at age 24, which was odd because Mays had some of his highest OBPs after age 40. I would have expected that his OBP would go up as he aged but it fell a bit.

[G-Fafif]

Tim McCarver voice:

Although Pete Alonso is known as the Polar Bear, Javy Baez is the player who seems to be the most polarizing of figures among Mets fans.