Welcome back Scott Hairston

[ashie62]

Taking physical today.

http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2012/01/mets_to_re-sign_reserve_outfie.html

[Edgy MD]

Ended last season early with a pulled oblique. So I guess the physical is necessary.

[Edgy MD]

Tracky says a reunion with Willie Harris is unlikely.

[Guest attgig]

i thought harris' versatility would've been better than hairston's power.

[Ceetar]

attgig wrote: i thought harris' versatility would've been better than hairston's power.

Hairston's versatile enough, bonus points for actually being usefully versatile whereas Harris is mostly useful for making sure they don't get penalized for only having 8 guys on the field or batting out of order.

[TransMonk]

The stadium changes wouldn't help Harris as much as Hairston.

[smg58]

We needed a righthanded outfielder, and I honestly think the difference in ability between Hairston and somebody like Cody Ross is negligible compared to the difference in contracts they're likely to get. Hairston had a rough start last year, but he did all right ultimately and has a very good chance of getting regular ABs against lefties. Torres has splits like Pagan, and while Duda appeared to be greatly improved against lefties last year, it's fair to ask if he hits them well enough at this point to make his glove tolerable.

[G-Fafif]

Well, there was that home run he hit off Brian Wilson, and...

Oh wait, he's coming BACK? Never mind.

[Gwreck]

Hairston had two big clutch homers last year, and I thank him for those, but I'm not enthused by this move. 0.5 oWAR and -0.3 dWAR in 2011 -- I hope Sandy got him for cheap.

[TransMonk]

$1.1M if I recall correctly.

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: Hairston had two big clutch homers last year, and I thank him for those, but I'm not enthused by this move. 0.5 oWAR and -0.3 dWAR in 2011 -- I hope Sandy got him for cheap.

reasonable. I think the .6 over league minimum is worth it. .5 oWar is actually pretty good for a backup no? It means he's adding value! the dWAR is so useless anyway, but not even worth looking at given his playing time.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, Sandy's made clear he's not getting anybody unless he comes cheap.

Hairston had a relative lack of at-battage, and any disappointment in his backup productivity can at least summat be taken in the context of sample size. Hit a bunch of shots down the line early in the year that hooked just shy of the foul pole. One or two of those stay fair, and his percentages spike a little.

If we didn't get Hairdo, it'd be a variation on him. Needed a righthanded outfielder who could play a little center. And I speak as one who advocated giving his pinch-hit appearances to Evans in the second half.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

smg58 wrote: We needed a righthanded outfielder... Torres has splits like Pagan...

Torres vs. RHB, career: .244/.317/.402, 92 XBH in 1032 PA
Torres vs. LHB, career: .246/.321/.412, 35 XBH in 388 PA

[smg58]

The splits were pretty dramatic the last two seasons, although Torres was barely given any chance to hit righthanded last year.

[Fman99]

Hello interleague DH!

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

smg58 wrote: The splits were pretty dramatic the last two seasons, although Torres was barely given any chance to hit righthanded last year.

In essence, then, the split existed in 2009, and was reversed in virtually every other year he has played professional ball.

[Vic Sage]

i have no problem with this; we needed a RHed bat / CF backup, and he comes cheap.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Despite being shitty at the beginning of the season and hurt at the end of it, he was a pretty good addition to the family.

[smg58]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: smg58 wrote: The splits were pretty dramatic the last two seasons, although Torres was barely given any chance to hit righthanded last year. In essence, then, the split existed in 2009, and was reversed in virtually every other year he has played professional ball.

2010 is the only year he's had full-time at bats, and he had an .881 OPS vs righties and a .659 OPS against lefties. In the first stretch of his career (2002-2005), he was better against lefties but not particularly good against anybody. In his return to the majors in 2009, he had 71 very good ABs against lefthanded pitching, but since then it's been the other way around. You could argue that getting 301 ABs vs. righties last year, but only 47 ABs vs lefties, implied that his manager had very limited confidence in Torres' ability to hit lefites (and he only had a .550 OPS against them). At any rate, he's not a good bet to do better against lefthanded pitching than Hairston will, although he's probably not a good bet to hit well either way.