Evans

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I know I'm framing this all wrong because from all I read it looks like Muffy is in and Evans is not, but why not?

Evans can play more positions better than Muffy, whose only advantage seems to be his lefthandedhittingness. We're plenty righthanded on the bench already with Hu, Hairston, Paulino, etc. Maybe the answer for Evans is a trade for someone else's options-poor lefthanded bench masher. Or to learn to switch hit really fast.

[metirish]

Snooze had a thing this morning with Evans seemingly resigned to being an Ex-Met , his missus fretting , not a comfortable time was the gist of things.

[ashie62]

Nick Evans..Welcome to the life of a career minor leaguer.

[Ceetar]

I still say I'd take Evans over Harris, but i imagine there's some personal bias there, I just don't like Harris and don't think he's very good.

I'm not thinking Evans state is any more dire now than it was a week ago really. He's still got an outside shot.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Evans can play more positions better than Muffy...

I think that's debateable. And it's also a key about which positions we anticipate them needing to play.

Rating them on a scale of 1-10:

Pos	Murphy	Evans
1b	8	6
2b	3	1
3b	5	3
lf	2	5
rf	2	5
Sum	20	20

Plenty can disagree with me about where I'm being generous or un-generous there, but it'll probably look like a tossup on most of our spreadsheets. So it's Murphy's lefthandedness, experience, and success at this level trumping Evans out-of-options-ness.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Way too kind to Muffy and/or shortselling Evans there.

I also think "success at this level" tends to be overstated wrt Muffy.

[seawolf17]

I've never been enamored of Evans, but I do get the sense that he's a guy we're going to regret letting go of some time down the road.

[Guest Edgy DC]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Way too kind to Muffy and/or shortselling Evans there. I also think "success at this level" tends to be overstated wrt Muffy.

Where?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Edgy DC wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Way too kind to Muffy and/or shortselling Evans there. I also think "success at this level" tends to be overstated wrt Muffy. Where?

Well, I'm referring to that .313 OBP in his only full season.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Oh sure. Evans certainly isn't wiped out there.

I meant, where I was being too kind?

I mean, Murphy might not be an 8/10 at first, but I think evidence at hand suggests it's reasonable to think he's two clicks ahead of Evans.

Evans has played only about 30 games at third, most of them in the low minors, and condiditons would have to be certainly more dire to put him at second than to put Murphy there.

So I think it remains a tossup as far as useful versatility.

[smg58]

Edgy DC wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Evans can play more positions better than Muffy... I think that's debateable. And it's also a key about which positions we anticipate them needing to play.

But Harris can play more positions than Murphy and play them better. And we're one injury away from needing more than just Hairston from the right side.

The Mets actually have several non-trivial decisions to make this week. It will be interesting to see how things pan out.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Oh sure. Evans certainly isn't wiped out there. I meant, where I was being too kind? I mean, Murphy might not be an 8/10 at first, but I think evidence at hand suggests it's reasonable to think he's two clicks ahead of Evans. Evans has played only about 30 games at third, most of them in the low minors, and condiditons would have to be certainly more dire to put him at second than to put Murphy there. So I think it remains a tossup as far as useful versatility.

the 2B is a huge deal as well, because Ike and Wright are so much more cemented than Emaus. Of course, Evans is theoretically better for RF, which is an injury concern. But there's more depth there in Hairston and Duda and even Martinez.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'd certainly have no huge problems with them stashing Murphy and running with Evans. It'd be gutsy, it would.

Harris better get his keystone skills pumping, though.

[Theoldmole]

I'm guessing the Mets brain trust thinks that Murphy has more of a long term upside than Evans -- that right now Evans is about as good as he's gonna get. Of course, they could be wrong.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Edgy DC wrote: I'd certainly have no huge problems with them stashing Murphy and running with Evans. It'd be gutsy, it would. Harris better get his keystone skills pumping, though.

That's what I'm saying. Let's see Muffy tear it up in Buffalo before we lose a versatile young hitter.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Edgy DC wrote: I'd certainly have no huge problems with them stashing Murphy and running with Evans. It'd be gutsy, it would. Harris better get his keystone skills pumping, though. That's what I'm saying. Let's see Muffy tear it up in Buffalo before we lose a versatile young hitter.

Well, some think Evans will get through on waivers anyway, but I wouldn't want to lose him and I also wouldn't want to guarentee him a spot on the 25man all year (which would have to be the case if they put him on waivers and pulled him back)

[Guest Edgy DC]

If he makes the team and doesn't perform well, it increases the likelihood of him clearing waivers.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Not a terrible idea.

Frankly, I'm not sure I'd stipulate to Evans playing any of those positions, even the OF, better than Murphy-- he just LOOKS more comfortable. Not the same thing.

And by the way: THIS is why the last two months of 2009 really sucked. If the hidden legacy of Minaya's dominion is in guys like Davis and Thole, then Manuel's fingerprints are all over crap like this, where we could have a bunch more major-league information about the Evanses (and less about the Mejias) for decision-making purposes. The Mets aren't just locked down at the corners ahead of Evans/Murph-- guys like Lutz and Ratliff are creeping up behind them.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I submit that the that we don't have more information than we need about Mejia, so much as more than we need about Lucas Duda.

Tejada too, certainly. He was going around and around the rink while Turner and Castillo weren't allowed to put their skates on. But that's (among other reasons) why Jerry is gone.

I think I need to step back from this --- because surely my perspective is skewed --- but I sure felt I was in the midst of as weak a single-season Met managerial performance as I've ever seen.

[Gwreck]

I realize that Evans doesn't really hit right handed pitching but his career ML numbers against lefties: .322/.379/.512 (in 132 PAs); his MiLB numbers are also not shabby.

I guess he gets the squeeze because Harris can hit lefty. Personally, I wonder if Evans is a better choice than Scott Hairston.

[G-Fafif]

I've never been sure what we have in Evans (which I guess is the point) but I do get a bit of a Danny Woodhead vibe should he be cut loose. Maybe not fatal, but I could see a couple of annoying base hits in the wrong-colored jersey.

Murphy's not so much on scholarship, as the GKRism goes, but he does seem to be a legacy. And a lefty.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Hairston is MUCH better defensively than Evans-- or, probably at this point, Harris-- and can play center in a pinch.

I was okay with seeing a little more Duda than perhaps was necessary; what I really didn't need information about was 2009 Sheff and Tatis.

Whether it came to winning games (see: Pyth record) or being a good steward about resources, Jerry's tenure from about late July 2009 through the end of 2010 was probably the worst 15 months of managing I've ever seen, up close and personal-like.

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: I realize that Evans doesn't really hit right handed pitching but his career ML numbers against lefties: .322/.379/.512 (in 132 PAs); his MiLB numbers are also not shabby. I guess he gets the squeeze because Harris can hit lefty. Personally, I wonder if Evans is a better choice than Scott Hairston.

Hairston plays CF. I guess Harris does too, but perhaps not as well?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, we've all got to do out part to temper any fanbase expectations that Harris is going to regularly be putting on an Endy Chavez show out there. I'd hate to see him perform to his more-or-less standard level and be a disappointment to folks.

[Gwreck]

We already have a backup centerfielder on the roster. A guy named Carlos. My guess is that he'd do just fine there in a pinch.

(Yes, Carlos might open the season on the DL but in that case I bet Evans makes the team).

[smg58]

The Minaya strategy with advancing prospects always seemed to put upside over readiness. He badly overestimated Pelfrey's readiness in 2007, deeming Brian Bannister expendable a year before he actually was. In 2008 he called up Murphy and Evans straight from AA to play the outfield, when more experienced outfielders were putting up better numbers in AAA. Murphy's six weeks of playing over his head got him a full time gig in 2009 that he wasn't ready for, while Evans' mediocre six weeks got him shoved through the cracks. In early 2009 Minaya parted with Rule V pick Darren O'Day after three weeks, when Bobby Parnell had less ML experience and all his options. Then at the start of the 2010 season, Parnell was demoted in favor of Mejia despite having established himself as an ML reliever. Minaya was wrong most of the time, but he was generally consistent.

In Evans' case, he paid the price for having a so-so six weeks after being called up from AA and asked to be part of a pennant drive. He got bounced around in 09, then had a very good 2010 in AAA probably because he wasn't bounced around so much. He might not be more than a righty reserve or platoon OF/1B, but that's not nothing. At any rate there are teams that could use him (the D-Backs, for one), so I wouldn't expect him to clear waivers.

I'm pretty sure that Murphy, because he was never on the active Mets roster last year, still has options. I also think that the difference in performance between Murphy and Evans at the major-league level in 08 gives a perception of Murphy having greater upside that might not be accurate.

[Ceetar]

smg58 wrote: I'm pretty sure that Murphy, because he was never on the active Mets roster last year, still has options. I also think that the difference in performance between Murphy and Evans at the major-league level in 08 gives a perception of Murphy having greater upside that might not be accurate.

I think the hardworking attitude/perception of Murphy (and in particular the way the beat writers portray it) works in Murphy's favor whereas Evans took getting passed over by Sheffield (which was the bigger mistake there. They obviously weren't actually comfortable with Murphy in left so went with some sort of bastardized platoon..unless that's just how Manuel interpreted the decision. I wonder if Omar meant jerry to run Sheffieldi nto the ground while Murphy boned up on defense and eventually took over to be possibly rested on lefty st arter days by Evans who would get another month or so of seasoning) took it to hard and slumped so hard he was then demoted from AAA and had to see as shrink.

[Guest attgig]

according to espn, he's been put on waviers

[ashie62]

Evans can't hit

[Gwreck]

Ashie62 wrote: Evans can't hit righties but would be very effective off the bench or as a platoon partner against lefties

Fixed it for you