Sack One

[Guest Edgy DC]

What the available firstbasemen are up to.

Player	Team	Age	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Davis	Buff (AAA)	23	22	.375	.545	.938	1.483
Evans	Bing (AA)	24	22	.400	.435	.850	1.285
Lutz	Bing (AA)	24	20	.333	.524	.600	1.124
Hessman	Buff (AAA)	32	18	.267	.389	.667	1.056
Hubbard	Bing (AA)	28	18	.353	.389	.647	1.036
Carter	Buff (AAA)	27	17	.200	.294	.533	.827
Tatis	Mets	35	13	.273	.333	.273	.606
Jacobs	Mets	29	16	.133	.188	.333	.521
Cervenak	Buff (AAA)	33	19	.211	.211	.211	.421
Catalanotto	Mets	36	5	.000	.000	.000	.000

I'm going to bet the Big Guy from Catalonia gets his first Metly start this series.

Not to jump to conclusions, but it can make a man blue to see three of the bottom four producers with the big club.

[metirish]

Those are some gaudy stats up top.

It's encouraging at least.

[TransMonk]

6 games. 6 games. 6 games.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't know if the 20-day thing that I mentioned in another thread is accurate or not. (If Davis stays off the big-league roster for the first 20 days of the season, his free agency gets delayed by a year.) I can see the argument, if that's true, for keeping him in Buffalo until April 25, and I'd just lean more towards Tatis and less towards Jacobs for the next 12 days, then reevaluate.

My guess is that Jacobs will end up getting released; either when Davis gets promoted or when Murphy gets activated.

If Davis comes along before Murphy, then I think Catalanotto is also in jeopardy once Murphy and Davis are both on the 25-man.

[Ceetar]

I doubt Davis comes along before Murphy. I feel like if they had any doubt Murphy wouldn't be back in April they'd just have brought Davis up, because it was questionable whether Jacobs made the team anyway.

They have confidence in Murphy to put up respectable numbers and contribute to this team (likely more than the rookie Davis would do over a full season), and it'd be hard to justify demoting Davis for him even if Davis wasn't doing that well. Releasing Jacobs for Murphy however, is a nobrainer.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The problem is that releasing or demoting Jacobs should have been a no-brainer... even AFTER the Murph injury. Handing the job to him is like handing last year's SS position to Angel Berroa for a month instead of a day.

Instead, Omar et. al. will wait, until a tiny-ass sample size that happens to be on the angels' side tells them that Jacobs "can't handle full-time duty."

At the risk of sounding like a broken... something, it's the process that bugs me at least as much as the result.

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I don't know if the 20-day thing that I mentioned in another thread is accurate or not. (If Davis stays off the big-league roster for the first 20 days of the season, his free agency gets delayed by a year.)

Yes it is - if not exactly then pretty close.
For accounting purposes, the ML season is divided into 182 days (note days, not games), but if a player accrues time on the ML roster (or DL) within 20 days of that he's given credit for a full season (that's to prevent the sort of brief demotion or late call-up specifically designed to screw a player out of one year of FA-gency). But a player who get less than that not get credit for the full year and therefore 6 seasons later will - even if he never gets sent down again - have only 5+ years in the bank and would have to wait another season before he could declare himself a FA.

That said, I don't think the team is keeping him down with that day as a call-up target. For all his nice work in the AFL and ST (small samples both) he's a guy with ~750 PAs in pro ball under his belt and less than 250 of those above A ball. Even for a player coming out of college that's not a lot. Plus I would think they'd like to see the questions about him coming into the season - about hitting LHPs and breaking balls better - answered over a more sustained timeframe, particularly now that he's made a bigger name for himself.

Ideally, I'd like to see him get a solid half-season at Buffalo before coming up. Now maybe that timeframe gets sped up if either the situation in Queens really falls apart or if he's so tearing things up at AAA that he forces a decision, but we're certainly not in either place yet nor will that change in the next two weeks.

[seawolf17]

Nick Evans is only 24? Feels like Nickheads have been bitching about getting him more ABs for years.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

seawolf17 wrote: Nick Evans is only 24? Feels like Nickheads have been bitching about getting him more ABs for years.

But why? 174 PAs is plenty of time to make a definite judgement about a 22-year-old's ultimate future in MLB.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Mets done some dis-service to Nick Evans now?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Ah, nothing. It's just that the org's moves with him have seemed intent on making sure he's stuck with the "career minor leaguer" label.

In terms of complementary talents... if Davis is indeed Next Year's Model, then Evans is an interesting, supa-cheap candidate for the lefty-mashing caddy/5th OF role. It would be nice to know for sure that he can fill that credibly... which none of us will unless he logs some time at the high minors/majors.

[Ceetar]

I didn't like Nick Evans when he first came up, but he's grown on me. I mean, can he really be worse than Jacobs? He does seem to have some power, is a righty (on a lefty heavy bench or something), is off to a fast start..

[smg58]

Not sure Evans is any worse than Tatis, but now he can't even make it to Buffalo. Unfortunately, I see a waiver claim in his future.

[Fman99]

Maybe I'm a whack job, but I'd never carry MLB floatsam like Tatis and Cora on a roster when I could give a guy like Evans or Carter a shot to show that they could actually play in the majors, even if they have to earn that shot through irregular appearances from the bench.

Tatis and Cora, and Jacobs, and these other age 30+ retreads, should get the ol' prom night dumpster babies treatment, is what I'm saying.

[ashie62]

I like Ike

[Guest Edgy DC]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ah, nothing. It's just that the org's moves with him have seemed intent on making sure he's stuck with the "career minor leaguer" label.

Come on. This is completely insupportable.

[seawolf17]

Edgy DC wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ah, nothing. It's just that the org's moves with him have seemed intent on making sure he's stuck with the "career minor leaguer" label. Come on. This is completely insupportable.

That was kinda my point with the "Nickheads" comment. He's only 24, and he hasn't exactly lit up the scoreboard everywhere he's played.

I agree with fman to a certain extent, though.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm not saying they're actually out to get him, or anything like that.

I'm saying that the possibility might pop into a reasonable observer's head in seeing how they've dealt with Evans (it probably wouldn't be the ultimate conclusion said imaginary observer would come to, but still...). Why give retreads like Tatis or stopgaps like Sullivan starts during the last month of an injury-fraught lost season? Why leave a guy like Evans languishing in the mid-minors for most of the year-- signing guys like Emil F-ing Brown to the major-league roster to fill Evans-shaped holes-- when you've had trouble finding the exact sort of potential cheap production-- lefty-masher/potential platoon 1B/OF-- that someone like him represents?

It's more the process that bugs me, and the thinking that's likely to underlie the process, than any real mistreatment of a player. Still, though, I wouldn't rule out that a few people in the Mets FO food chain have decided in their own minds that Evans isn't really a major-league sort of player. It would explain a lot.

[seawolf17]

You almost wonder if they think that, and as such, are trying not to overexpose him so as to include him in a deal for a washed-up middle reliever.

But seriously, he's done oogatz anywhere higher than Binghamton.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

110 PA against major-league lefties, .320 BA/.382 OBP/.490 SLG, 12 XBH.

Small sample, yes. But the reason it's so small isn't because he refused to come off the bench.

[nymr83]

I really want to see Carter because i think he has potential and is probably getting to the point of "now or never." Tatis is fine in his role on the bench and Jacobs would be fine in a similiar role if roster space permitted, but i don't think either is the answer.
I don't think Murphy is the answer either, but if Davis is deemed not ready i think he's better than the other guys at least for now so he's worth giving another shot.
I'm not big on Evans, but i feel the Mets are wasting ABs at 1B right now, and they'd be better off wasting them on the 24 year old Evans than on Jacobs.

I'd go with a Carter (second choice Evans) righty/lefty split with Tatis until Murphy comes back but everything should really depend on Davis...he should be up when the Mets feel he is ready, he shouldn't be rushed on account of these guys sucking and he shouldn't be held back to let these bozos get more chances.

[Guest Edgy DC]

One could think that if one were inclined? Is that the way you want to approach this?

This seems obvious, but...

• Evans was promoted from AA --- a sign of respect and confidence --- in a pinch, and given 1/3 of a job as the starting leftfielder.
  
  
• He did OK. Didn't embarass himself, but didn't establish himself as a major leaguer.
  
  
• He played through camp the next spring, and was farmed out at the end of camp, presumably as an option to come back if he played well and a big leaguer didn't.
  
  
• He had an absolutely horrendous start to his minor league season in AAA. Actrocious. Heinous. Scandalous. Where's my thesaurus?
  
  
• He was sent down to AA to find himself.
  
  
• He produced and was returned to AAA.
  
  
• He never fully found his form again there, finishing at .211 / .280 / .414 // .660.
  
  
• The Mets nonetheless found 30 games and 69 plate appearance for him in the major leagues, still finding enough faith in him to give him that playing time over guys who didn't embarass themselves in the AAA last season --- guys like Jesus Feliciano or Chip Ambres (who are being treated as carer minor leaguers).

The situation he is in now is the situation he has played himself into. The Mets have shown more faith in him being a big leaguer than his productivity has suggested he deserves.

[nymr83]

thats fair to Evans, but what about Carter? it just bothers me that everyday ABs are being wasted on jacobs, who i think might be the least potential upside

[Guest Edgy DC]

I am so behind Carter that it's creepy.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I fell for him like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

A visit from an old friend. Franco II?

Brian Costa wrote: DENVER -- Carlos Delgado was back in the Mets� clubhouse Tuesday, dressed in street clothes instead of a uniform, hobbling around on crutches instead of playing baseball. He�s hoping that will change later this year, but for now, Delgado is still recovering from his second hip surgery. The 37-year-old free agent and former Mets first baseman has spent the last eight weeks in Vail, Colo., where he underwent surgery to reconstruct the labrum in his right hip. He visited his former teammates before their series opener against the Rockies at Coors Field, chatting at length with Alex Cora and Johan Santana, among others. �Obviously, the plan is to end up playing somewhere, sometime,� Delgado said. �But the most important thing is just I want to bounce back and recuperate and see what happens. I don�t want to start thinking too far down the road until I see how the rehab is going and all that.� Delgado hasn�t played in a major-league game since May 10, 2009. He missed the rest of last season after undergoing surgery to repair a tear in the labrum and remove a bone spur. The Mets monitored his progress during winter ball in Puerto Rico. But they were not convinced he was mobile enough to play the field and instead opted to stick with Daniel Murphy at first. �We had some conversations and they sent some people down, but I didn�t get an offer,� Delgado said. �Sometimes it takes two to tango.� It soon became clear that Delgado never fully recovered from his hip injury last year. He said his hip bothered him during winter ball, which prompted him to have the second surgery in mid-February. �I was functional and I could play, but it was kind of like, it was a drag,� Delgado said. When asked about the chances of him playing in 2011 if he misses all of this season, Delgado said, �I don�t want to think that far in advance. I want to start my rehab. I�ve been on crutches for eight weeks, so let�s start by walking first, then do a little jogging and let�s see where we are. The plan is to go and play, but you�ve just got to make sure that your body allows it.�

[metirish]

I'm sure if he can get healthy and in playing shape he will help a contending team for the last few months.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He's never coming back here.

Hey, it would have been nice to have a better defensive first baseman out there last night.

[Ceetar]

You shouldn't give Evans a shot based on what he's done in the past, but what you think he'll do in the future. If you think he has upside, which is what many of us that think it couldn't be worse than Jacobs/Tatis think.

He played great in spring '09, didn't make the team, and admittedly beat himself up over it, but he did get himself together and start playing well again. He got called up, and despite the 60whatever AB he got, was very sparshly used, despite pretty much knowing guys like Reed and Sullivan would not make the team in 2010 anyway, so what could it hurt to play a young kid. Maybe you learn something else.

This spring he got hampered by the forearm or whatever it was, or I do believe he would've had a chance to play onto the team after Murphy got hurt.

However, it's not out of sight/out of mind. It's not like he's likely to be the savior, and it really seems like Jerry is making too many of the calls, and since he doesn't hear about or see Evans due to his busy schedule of (supposedly) managing baseball games, he's probably not on the radar.

[Guest Edgy DC]

If Mike Jacobs' 2009 is meaningful, so is Nick Evans'. We're grabbing a logical straws here. He played himself into his situation. If he put up that .211 season last year in the Major Leagues --- which would have been a greater accomplishment --- would you be arguing on his behalf?