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February 08, 2005

2005 Forecast: The Starting Rotation

BP's 2005 PECOTA projections for all Major League players are in, and the Mets starting rotation is a mixed bag.

2005 PECOTA PROJECTIONS

                                                        2004
                   ERA      IP    SO   BB   HR   VORP   VORP
Pedro Martinez    2.93   194.2   205   55   19   53.3   51.2
Tom Glavine       4.62   163.1    84   59   20   12.2   42.0
Kris Benson       4.50   152.1   102   51   18   13.6   15.8
Victor Zambrano   4.84   100.2    83   63   11    4.7    0.0
Steve Trachsel    4.74   152.0    85   58   20    9.7   25.8

Eric | 09:00 AM EST | Comments: 0 | TrackBack: 0

January 13, 2005

The Next Bobby Bo?

In the Winter of 1992, the New York Mets were looking to make a big free agent splash. The object of their affection that year was Bobby Bonilla. Bonilla was the big name of the free agent class, and the Mets promptly signed him to the biggest contract ever seen: 5 years/$29 million. He went on to become one of the biggest free agent busts ever and the poster boy for "The Worst Team Money Can Buy" Mets of the early nineties.

... or did he?

* play spooky music *

Bonilla gets a bad rap for his failures as a Met. The problem is he was actually quite productive during his time in New York. Here's what he did in the four years leading up to his free agency with the Pirates:

BOBBY BONILLA 1988-1991

                     AB     AVG     OBP     SLG     OPS
1988 Pirates        584   0.274   0.366   0.476   0.842
1989 Pirates        616   0.281   0.358   0.490   0.848
1990 Pirates        625   0.280   0.322   0.518   0.841
1991 Pirates        577   0.302   0.391   0.492   0.883
1988-1991 Pirates  2402   0.284   0.359   0.495   0.854

Not bad. Nothing spectacular, but pretty solid. He hit free agency after his age 28 season, and played the next three-and-a-half seasons with the Mets. How bad was he?

BOBBY BONILLA 1992-1995

                     AB     AVG     OBP     SLG     OPS
Mets 1992           438   0.249   0.342   0.432   0.773
Mets 1993           502   0.265   0.350   0.522   0.872
Mets 1994           403   0.290   0.368   0.504   0.872
Mets 1995           317   0.325   0.376   0.599   0.975
Mets 1992-1995     1660   0.278   0.357   0.508   0.866

His production on the Mets was very similar to that of his time spent in Pittsburgh. His average, on-base and slugging numbers were all about the same. The real difference between his time with Pittsburgh and his time with the Mets was his health. During those last four seasons with the Pirates, Bonilla played in at least 157 games every season. He never played more than 139 games in any season with the Mets, and was traded to the Orioles after playing 80 games in 1995.

I don't know the extent of Bonilla's injuries during his time in New York, but he's developed a very bad reputation over the years, largely because of his contract and the team the Mets assembled around him. He moved from small-market Pittsburgh to large-market New York, watched his teammates crumble around him, and still managed to maintain the level of production that had established him as one of the more desirable free agents available.

You may blame him for playing cards with Rickey Henderson in 1999 as Kenny Rogers walked in the winning run against the Braves in the NLCS, but his production from 1992-1995 was about as good as could be expected. His performance on-the-field was not his problem; Staying healthy was.

EDIT: Thanks to James for pointing out to me in the comments that:

a) I'm an idiot and
b) MLB was shortened by a strike in both 1994 and 1995, which explains a lot of the games that Bonilla missed.

Eric | 12:15 AM EST | Comments: 12 | TrackBack: 0

September 19, 2004

A Hole In Right Field

When the Mets acquired Richard Hidalgo from the Houston Astros on June 17th for David Weathers and Jeremy Griffiths, it was seen as a very low-risk, high-reward move for General Manager Jim Duquette. Hidalgo was having a miserable season to that point, hitting .256/.309/.412 (AVG/OBP/SLG) in a part-time role with the 'Stros.

Hidalgo, something of a streaky hitter for much of his career, rode a hot streak for the next six weeks, hitting 13 homeruns in his first 37 games as a Met. He hit .294/.379/.637 in July, and the trade looked like a steal. Through the end of July, he had done this:

Astros: .256/.309/.412 (.156 ISO)
Mets: .288/354/.630 (.242 ISO)

Fast-forward seven weeks, and things look a bit different:

Astros: .256/.309/.412 (.156 ISO)
Mets: .243/.310/.493 (.250 ISO)

His isolated power (SLG - AVG) is still way up, but he's actually hitting less overall, and is getting on base at around the same frequency. He only has 23 unintentional walks in 300 at-bats with the Mets, which is not very good.

Part of what makes Hidalgo so appealing to Mets fans is that, despite his shabby OBP, he presents a significant upgrade offensively over everybody the Mets have trotted out to right field. The last ten years break down as follows (listed is the player who spent the most time in right field that season):

1994: Joe Orsulak .651 OPS (70 OPS+)
1995: Carl Everett .788 OPS (107 OPS+)
1996: Alex Ochoa .761 OPS (106 OPS+)
1997: Alex Ochoa .649 OPS (73 OPS+)
1998: Butch Huskey .707 OPS (85 OPS+)
1999: Roger Cedeno .804 OPS (109 OPS+)
2000: Derek Bell .773 OPS (101 OPS+)
2001: Timo Perez .643 OPS (70 OPS+)
2002: Jeromy Burnitz .677 OPS (83 OPS+)
2003: Roger Cedeno .698 OPS (82 OPS+)

Hidalgo's current .803 OPS would be second-best among this group (1 point behind Cedeno's '99 campaign), but still not that great for a right fielder. It would currently rank him 11th (out of 16) among National League right fielders with at least 300 plate appearances. His overall OPS of .768 is 13th out of 16.

Of course, offense doesn't paint a complete picture. Hidalgo was also acquired to shore up the Mets outfield defense, and he's certainly appeared to have done a solid job out there. He's fifth among National League right-fielders with 252 putouts:

                 INN    PO  Team GB/FB
Brian Giles     1276.0  300    1.26
Bobby Abreu     1287.2  292    1.19
J.D. Drew       1121.0  264    1.31
Danny Bautista  1118.1  254    1.26
Richard Hidalgo 1137.1  252    1.14

J.D. Drew is having the best offensive season among these right fielders, and based on putouts has actually done a good job chasing down flyballs. Of course, the table above doesn't account for discrepancies in innings played. The following table extrapolates the above stats to 1300 innings played to give a more comparable picture of putouts:

                 INN    PO  Team GB/FB
Brian Giles     1300.0  306    1.26
J.D. Drew       1300.0  306    1.31
Bobby Abreu     1300.0  295    1.19
Danny Bautista  1300.0  295    1.26
Richard Hidalgo 1300.0  288    1.14

That's a bit clearer, isn't it? Hidalgo still comes in fifth, but Bobby Abreu and Drew have flipped. We're not done yet, however. A pitching staff's propensity for giving up flyballs would certainly give an outfielder more chances for putouts. The National League groundball/flyball ratio is 1.25, and the following table shows the same five right fielders, adjusted to 1300 innings played, and further adjusted to the league GB/FB ratio:

                 INN    PO  Team GB/FB
J.D. Drew       1300.0  320    1.25
Brian Giles     1300.0  308    1.25
Danny Bautista  1300.0  297    1.25
Bobby Abreu     1300.0  280    1.25
Richard Hidalgo 1300.0  258    1.25

Hidalgo's efforts take a hit, here, but this still doesn't tell the whole story. I gave Hidalgo credit for the Mets' 1.14 GB/FB ratio, even though a portion of his putouts came as a member of the Astros, whose ratio is even more pronounced at 1.05.

I didn't go beyond the overall top-five, though there is a good chance that additional players would have performed better than Hidalgo given the above adjustments. This analysis is based on a single stat, though putouts is generally a good measure of an outfielder's range. This is by no means an all-encompasing study, but should serve to give a general idea of Hidalgo's defensive contribution compared to other right fielders.

Of particular interest is Drew, who is a free agent after the season and whose agent, Scott Boras, has a propensity for selling his clients to the highest bidder. Drew's talents have never been questioned, though his durability certainly has come under fire. His advocates have always insisted that, given a full, healthy season, Drew would put up remarkable numbers.

Well, he's been healthy all year, and has been the best hitter on the first-place Braves. His .314/.440/.586 line is certainly drool-worthy, as are his .272 ISO and his .126 isolated discipline (OBP - AVG). He has 108 walks to 107 strikeouts, and is even 12-for-14 in stolen bases. Did I mention that he's only 28? The Mets owe Hidalgo a $2 million buyout for next season, which I think they should jump at. They should then jump at J.D. Drew.

Either that or wait until 2006 when Lance Berkman hits free agency.

Eric | 10:46 PM EST | Comments: 25 | TrackBack: 1

September 09, 2004

Irritating Garcia

Peter Abraham pens an article in today's Journal News about Danny Garcia and his propensity for rubbing other teams the wrong way. He's been hit by nine pitches this season in only 130 official at-bats, which is quite a lot. Teammates and opposing players point to his aggressive play and "dirty" slides as to why he's been plunked so many times.

Garcia is the type of player that you hate on opposing teams (Fernando Vina always comes to mind for me). The article mentions that Garcia often serves his aggressiveness with a side of trash-talk, which is nice to see. And his all-out, balls-to-the-wall play with some personality is one of the many traits this team is lacking (especially since Wiggie was traded), and I for one am glad to see Garcia play that way.

Eric | 11:46 AM EST | Comments: 1 | TrackBack: 307

July 28, 2004

Seo #$%^ What?

If you believe everything you read, this article on Mets.com would lead you to believe Jae Seo has been pitching well over the last month or so.

Jae Seo has pitched very well in July, yet has only a loss and three no-decisions to show for his efforts.

[...]

Once a question mark in the back of the rotation, Seo has solidified his standing, pitching to a 3.65 ERA in 24 2/3 July innings. Though he's still struggling to go deeper into games, he's been very effective in the six or seven innings he does give the Mets.

Here's what Seo has done by month in 2004:

       IP     H  HR  BB  SO   ERA
APRIL  21.1  24   3   7   9  5.06
MAY    20.1  21   2  12   6  4.87
JUNE   26.0  29   5   7  18  4.85
JULY   24.2  29   5   9  10  3.65

Has he really gotten any better? Sure, the ERA has gone down every month since April, but he's been pitching pretty shabbily all year. He's been very hittable, and has been more prone to giving up homeruns as the year has worn on. His control, which was his trademark during a very impressive rookie year in 2003, has eluded him completely this season.

Last year, Seo only walked 2.2 batters per nine innings. This year it's ballooned to 3.4. He's also striking out fewer and allowing more homeruns, key ingredients in determining a pitcher's true and future performance. Sure enough, his DIPS ERA of 5.46 is 19% higher than his actual ERA of 4.58.

Seo has likely been fortunate to stick around as long as he has this season. With Matt Ginter falling off a cliff and Scott Erickson pitching like the Erickson of old (i.e. crappy), Seo might have been the lesser of a number of evils.

He stands a good chance at perpetuating the notion that he's been "effective" of late, as he squares off against the Expos, far and away the lowest scoring team in all of baseball. They've been hitting better of late, but as the line from the great baseball movie goes, "They're still shitty."

Eric | 02:59 PM EST | TrackBack: 1

June 10, 2004

Rocca On

Lawrence Rocca of the Star Ledger, normally a miserable bastard with nothing good to say about the Mets, pens a nice article today about Kaz Matsui's troubles entitled A pothole for now, but soon a pot of gold. This article comes on the heels of Norm's epiphany, and why he won't be booing Matsui any time soon. Rocca urges Mets fans to be patient with Matsui, that his struggles in the field and at the plate are part of a lengthy adjustment period that should be expected. He has some insightful quotes from ex-Met manager Bobby Valentine, who is quite familiar with Japanese baseball:

"He's still getting used to the grass," Bobby Valentine said yesterday. "My guy plays on only one field where there is grass and dirt. On turf, he's a Rey Ordonez-looking guy. When he gets on that (grass) field, he looks like a Little Leaguer. It's amazing how different everyone looks, because it's so different."

Valentine, the former Mets manager who spoke via cell phone while riding the bullet train back to Tokyo after a road trip with his Chiba Lotte Marines, said it's not just the new playing surfaces that are affecting Matsui's defense.

"He's got to learn all the speeds of the runners in the league, which is very difficult," Valentine said. "That's what determines what hop you get it on, how hard you throw it to first. Most errors for young players are due to the speed of the runner. I think it's incredible that he's doing as well as he's doing. It's a tough adjustment. It takes time."

Rocca also does well to compare Kaz's transition to that of Yankee Hideki Matsui:

Through 57 games last year, Hideki Matsui of the Yankees was batting .250 with 16 doubles, three home runs, 18 walks, 34 strikeouts and had earned the nickname "Groundzilla."

Through 57 games, Kaz Matsui was batting .254 with 18 doubles, five homers, 27 walks and 58 strikeouts.

It should be noted that Hideki compiled his numbers batting deep in a far better lineup, in a far better hitter's park.

Right on. Hideki is having a terrific year for the Yankees this season, hitting .298/.406/.507. Valentine even works in a little ribbing of former GM Steve Phillips' trade of Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick in 2000. Check out the rest of the article, it might be the only thing Rocca writes this year that isn't best suited for wiping my ass.

Eric | 11:29 AM EST | Comments: 2 | TrackBack: 0

June 01, 2004

Switcheroo, Part Two

As I mentioned the other day, the Mets are at least considering the possibility of swapping the defensive positions of Jose Reyes and Kazuo Matsui in 2005. It apparently gets weirder, as Sam M pointed out in the comments. In his article today, Peter Gammons gives us the following nugget straight from bizarro world:

Don't be surprised if the Mets ask Kaz Matsui to switch places with Jose Reyes next year. But first they think they can address Matsui's vision problems; part of his problem defensively is that he hasn't been able to pick up the catchers' signs and set himself.

Huh? As Sam was also quick to point out, how was this not a problem when he was winning all of those gold gloves in Japan? This does nothing, of course, to explain his noodle-arm-itis.

Eric | 12:20 AM EST | TrackBack: 0

May 28, 2004

Switcheroo

As there have certainly been rumblings throughout the Mets blogging community, we finally have some "confirmation" that the Mets may also be thinking about moving Jose Reyes back to shortstop next season and sliding Kaz Matsui over to second base. In today's New York Post, Mark Hale notes:

When the Mets signed Kaz Matsui before this season, they moved their incumbent shortstop, Jose Reyes, to second base. But a source confirmed the Mets have had preliminary discussions about switching the duo the other way for the 2005 season.

In a word, Matsui has been underwhelming defensively at shortstop thus far. Two months does not make or break a player, but the consensus seems to indicate that his defense, particularly his range and his throwing arm, are not as advertised. His 10 errors at shortstop are tied for the Major League lead with Jose Valentin of the White Sox.

Eric | 09:50 AM EST | Comments: 6 | TrackBack: 8

May 06, 2004

#1

After months of trying, Mike Piazza has finally passed Carlton Fisk as the most prolific homerun hitting catcher of all time, with 352 taters while playing behind the dish. This record will likely stand for a good long time. Congratulations to Mike. Hopefully this will help him settle down a bit, as he was pressing for much of this season.

Eric | 10:59 AM EST | TrackBack: 1

May 04, 2004

The Glass

Kaley at Flushing Local has a great article today about the Mets crowded outfield picture when Cliff "Glass" Floyd returns to the lineup. Karim Garcia and Shane Spencer, current SaberMets man crushes #1 and #2, are both playing extraordinarily well, offensively and defensively. But the Mets can't very well play four outfielders, with Mike Cameron (the second coming of Whiffy McStrikeout) a staple in centerfield. Kaley thinks they might not have to:

Floyd's bat has to be in the lineup every day. That's non-negotiable. Floyd protects Piazza and vice versa. But does Floyd have to play LF? Perhaps Glass could do like Mikey and dust off his old firstbaseman's glove. He hasn't played the position in a big league game since 1997, but he has played 116 career games at 1B.

I just have to say that I LOVE this idea. As long as Jason Phillips couldn't hit dirt if he fell out of a tree, there's no reason not to try this out. When Piazza needs a day off of catching, then either Spencer or Garcia can sit for a game, depending on the platoon.

Eric | 12:10 PM EST | Comments: 6 | TrackBack: 11

April 03, 2004

Leiter Hit In Head, Mets Finally Win

In a scary moment, Al Leiter took a liner in the head off the bat of Marlins shortstop Alex Gonzalez. The shot didn't draw blood, but Leiter was left with a nice lump.

"I'll be fine. I have a little headache and a little bruise about a half-inch above my temple. I saw it [the ball] and I thought I had it. It was knuckling a little bit and I missed it. I went black, but I didn't black out. But it was very dark."

The injury doesn't appear to be too serious, though Leiter may be questionable for his scheduled start on April 7th against the Braves. In other news, the Mets snapped their six-game losing streak by pummeling the Marlins 21-13. Ty Wigginton went 5-6 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored.

Eric | 10:03 PM EST | TrackBack: 1

March 09, 2004

Leiter's A Met

Joel Sherman of the New York Post actually has a nice article today about Al Leiter and why, despite the fact that Sherman himself is a huge Yankee fan, Leiter has no desire to pitch for the Pinstripes.

Of course, it being a Joel Sherman article and all, it is not completely devoid of Met-bashing. Observe:

Al Leiter actually wants to be a Met. He does not ache to be with all the moneyed guys, with all the beautiful people, within an atmosphere in which you are as likely to bump into paparazzi as sports writers.

[...]

Being a Met in 2004 means playing for a team resistant to doing what is necessary to upgrade its lineup and image by getting Alfonso Soriano. Meanwhile, being a Yankee in 2004 means we already are up to speculating on July deadline trades.

BLLLLLLAAARRRGGGHHH!!! Sorry, I just vomited all over myself. Anyways, if you feel inclined to keep breakfast down, you can skip to the paragraph that begins, "Hello Mr. Leiter....".

Eric | 11:00 AM EST | Comments: 5 | TrackBack: 0

February 29, 2004

Kaz Matsui Hurts Finger

According to ESPN.com, Kaz Matsui injured a finger on his right hand during infield drills.

Matsui needed two stitches near the nail of the middle finger on his right hand after being hit by a grounder, the team said. His fingertip was cut and the nail was bent back.

He will reportedly be sidelined for a week. Jose Reyes will not be playing any shortstop while Matsui recovers. "Average Joe" McEwing will be filling in.

The injury doesn't sound serious, but it's certainly not good news. Matsui had been making great progress adapting to grass fields and was gelling with Reyes, so this will set him back a week or more. It could be worse, but along with Mike Cameron's bone spurs, Spring Training has not gotten off to the start we had hoped for.

Eric | 05:00 PM EST | TrackBack: 1

February 05, 2004

Floyd Healing

Cliff Floyd, on the mend since undergoing sugery to repair a torn achilles last season, has around one month left on his sixth-month recovery timeline. He's running at full speed and will try running in spikes shortly.

Unlike his weight-intensive training regimen from last offseason, Foyd has gone a different route this time around. According to this article in the Post:

To help his cause, though, Floyd changed his workouts this offseason, ditching a plan stressing a lot of weightlifting in favor of a regimen that emphasizes flexibility and core strength. That's meant a lot of running, yoga and pilates. He's also been working with the same Miami therapist, Lisa Kearns, who helped with Mike Piazza's rehab last year.

Despite his injury last season, Floyd went 290/376/518, with an OPS+ of 132, not to mention 18 homeruns and 68 RBI in only 365 AB. He can also steal a few bases, sporting a career 76% success rate. If the Mets are going to be repectable this season, Floyd will have to be a big part of it.

Eric | 10:05 AM EST | TrackBack: 0

December 19, 2003

The Future

For the past three years we had heard the rumblings about a wiry kid from the Dominican Republic who was going to change the face of the New York Mets. They said he had a cannon for an arm. They said he was lightning on the bases. He taught himself to switch hit just a couple of years earlier. He was the most promising Met prospect since Darryl Strawberry. His name was Jose Reyes, and he was the future.

In Spring Training of 2002, an 18 year old Reyes said he would be taking Rey Ordonez' shortstop job. Rey-Rey heard the footsteps ... we all heard the footsteps. As the Mets struggled mightily through that 2002 season, the footsteps were getting louder. The Mets were terrible, a last place team with a first place payroll. They were old, they were underachieving, they were history. There was a glimmering of hope, they said, because the future was on its way.

On June 10, 2003, the future finally arrived. A day before his 20th birthday, Reyes made his big-league debut, going 2-4 with a double and two runs scored. The success was short-lived, though, as he went one-for-his-next-sixteen. The future had hit a bump in the road. He finished June batting .205 with one walk and an OPS of .553. This wasn't the way it was supposed to play out. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

The first chance I had I went to see the kid play at Shea. As the souvenir vendor retrieved my #7 t-shirt from the shelf, he asked, "Why does everybody like this guy? He's hitting .220." My response, all I could think of as it had been etched into my brain, was, "He's the future, as they say."

And so he is. Before an ankle injury ended his season on my birthday (August 31st), Reyes had put together a very solid rookie season. He had a 17-game hitting streak, scored 47 runs in only 69 games, and stole 13 bases in 16 attempts, an 81.3% success rating. His .769 OPS should impress you. It doesn't, you say? How many 20-year old shortstops have put up an OPS that high? Try three.

                  Year    OPS
Alex Rodriguez    1996  1.045
John McGraw       1893   .866
Arky Vaughan      1932   .787
Jose Reyes        2003   .769
Edgar Renteria    1996   .757
Travis Jackson    1924   .754
Tony Kubek        1957   .716
Travis Jackson    1923   .712
Woody English     1927   .690
Garry Templeton   1976   .675

In only 69 games this season, Jose Reyes compiled 12 win shares, which is equal to 4 team wins. Extrapolate those win shares over 162 games and you've got 28. 28! He's 20 years old! 20 win shares is considered an all-star season, while 30 win shares is considered an MVP-caliber season. Here's what the rest of the league's premier shortstops and second-basemen (he's playing second now) did in 2003, pro-rated over 162 games.

                     WS
Alex Rodriguez       32
Marcus Giles         31
Bret Boone           31
Jose Reyes           28
Alfonso Soriano      28
Edgar Renteria       26
Nomar Garciaparra    26
Derek Jeter          25
Jeff Kent            25
Miguel Tejada        25
Jose Vidro           21

Reyes was actually percentage points ahead of Alfonso Soriano. And he's only going to get better folks ... much better. He may never hit 40 homeruns, but he'll hit 20, steal 40 bases, win gold gloves, wreak delicious havoc. The future is now, his name is Jose Reyes. Learn it.

* * * * * * * * * *
If you missed any of this week's blogs, please check them out.

Monday: Catching The Ball ... And Other Great Mysteries Of Life
Tuesday: Rule V Grab Bag
Wednesday: Closing The Deal
Thursday: Johnny Be Good

Eric | 01:00 AM EST | TrackBack: 1

December 18, 2003

Johnny Be Good

Sorry MLB Alumni Association, you're going to have to wait another year for John Franco. It's equal parts class and foolishness that led the Mets to bring Franco back for his 14th season in New York and 20th overall. With my rose-colored glasses safely locked away in their case, I can say with all honesty that John didn't look like he had much left in the tank in 2003. Granted, he had just come back after more than a year out of action recovering from Tommy John surgery. That he made it back at his age is a marvel of science and longevity. However, for the first time, he really looked his age out on the mound.

I'm a John Franco fan. He's never been my favorite player, probably not even close. But I have a lot of respect for the man who has really been a soldier for the Mets. He arrived in New York in 1990 in a swap of two of the elite closers at the time. In exchange for Randy Myers, the Reds sent eastward a 30-year old Brooklynite name John Franco. That year, the Mets were still in decent shape from their late-80's run. The fun didn't last long, though, as the Mets fell apart very quickly thereafter.

Franco was here for the lean years (1991-1992), where the Mets went 142-174, a .449 winning percentage. After that, he was here for the really lean years (1993-1996), where the Mets went 254-326, a .438 winning percentage. He was here for the late-nineties mini-renaissance (1997-2000), where the Mets went 367-282, a .565 winning percentage. And, of course, we'll never forget the downward spiral that followed and continues to this day. Franco has been here through it all and, believe it or not, was a very good pitcher for most of it.

Over the course of his 20 years in baseball, Franco has averaged more than seven strikeouts per nine innings. He sports a career ERA of 2.74 and is second on the all-time saves list with 424 (Lee Smith is the leader with 486). He has a career save percentage of 92%, which is astounding. To put it into perspective a bit, here are some of today's top closers along with their career save percentage:

Player                Sv    BS    Sv%
Rod Beck             286    55   83.9
Jason Isringhausen   130    24   84.4
Ugeth Urbina         206    37   84.8
Armando Benitez      197    35   85.0
Jose Mesa            249    43   85.0
Robb Nen             315    54   85.3
Kaz Sasaki           129    22   85.4
Keith Foulke         143    24   85.6
Billy Wagner         225    38   85.6
Troy Percival        283    45   86.3
Mariano Rivera       283    44   86.5
Trevor Hoffman       352    44   88.9
John Franco          424    37   92.0
John Smoltz          110     9   92.4
Eric Gagne           107     4   96.4

Eric Gagne is off the charts, but Smoltz is considered by many (including myself) to be right behind Gagne in terms of the best in the game right now. Both of these pitchers have been closing games for two seasons (2+ for Smoltz, who saved 10 games in 2001 after, believe it or not, Tommy John surgery), while John Franco has been a closer for two decades. As good as Smoltz has been, he would need to maintain the level of success he's achieved thus far for another 18 seasons in order to equal Franco's feat.

While he was on the disabled list in 2000, his interim replacement Armando Benitez flat-out dominated National League batters. So much so that when Franco returned from the DL he was informed that he wouldn't be getting his job back as he had anticipated (and been told). As usual, Franco handled the demotion with professionalism and dignity that too many of today's players seem to be lacking (think: Jose Guillen). That year and the next (2001), Franco, who was already 40, posted two of the best K/9 of his entire career (9.05 and 8.44, respectively), while picking up 37 holds as the primary setup man for Benitez.

In addition to his impressive career strikeout rate, he has limited opposing batters to 0.57 homeruns per nine innings. As if his pitching wasn't enough to hang his hat on, Franco's altruism is seemingly endless. He works tirelessly for a number of charities, including assisting New York City firefighters since 9/11, and was named honorary "Fireman of the Year" in 2003 by Engine Company 10. He's been a great ballplayer and a better person, and if the Mets want to let him leave this old ball game on his own terms, I don't have any problems with that.

Eric | 12:54 AM EST | TrackBack: 1

October 07, 2003

The Best Of Times

First off, I've added MLB Player Index links to the sidebar. Each one has a "search" option, which will prompt your for either the player's name or last name, and will perform an on-the-fly search of the corresponding player index. If you know of a good player index that should be added, let me know.

There's not much going on in Metsville these days. The Sox/A's series wrapped up in dramatic fashion last night, with Derek Lowe throwing two nasty pitches to backwards-k Adam Melhuse and T.Long. Lowe infuriated the A's bench by make a DX-style crotch gesture after pumping his fists. It didn't look like he was trying to disrespect the A's, but the A's were probably still upset from M-Ram's HR-stylin' earlier in the game. The Damon/Jackson collision was pretty horrific - thanks for showing it from 15 different angles FOX. Nevertheless, it was a very exciting series, and I think the Sox stack up much better against the Yanks, considering the A's may have been down to one-of-their-big-three starters. Go Sox!

Now that the A's are out of the playoff picture, the door will hopefully be open for the Mets to pry Rick Peterson back to his home in New Jersey. I'm of the belief that managers/coaches are typically given too much of the credit when a team succeeds and too much of the blame when a team fails. However, it's tough to argue with Peterson's results. The A's have been at or near the top of the bigs in ERA and WHIP each of the past four seasons. Sure, a lot of that has to do with their stable of big arms, but certainly Peterson deserves some of the credit for that. Peterson is a great coach because the pitchers are good, the pitchers are good because Peterson is a great coach. Regardless of how you spin the specious logic, the Mets should covet Peterson.

Since little else is going on, I present (IMO) the best individual Met seasons at each position over the past half-dozen years. I decided to go with three miscellaneous outfielders instead of one at each outfield position, mainly because the Mets outfield has been slim pickings in recent seasons. I was tempted to use wonderboy Jose Reyes at SS, mostly because Rey-O was so bad. In the end, I went with Boom-Boom and his one-September-homerun-a-year. (The inspiration for this list came from the great Ultimate Mets Database).

POS Player           Year AVG OBP SLG   OPS    R HR RBI SB
C    Mike Piazza      2000 .324 .398 .614 1.012   90 26 113   4
1B John Olerud      1998 .354 .447 .551 .998   91 22   93   2
2B Edgardo Alfonzo 2000 .324 .425 .542 .967 109 25   94   3
SS Rey Ordonez      1999 .258 .319 .317 .636   49   1   60   8
3B Robin Ventura    1999 .301 .379 .529 .908   88 32 120   1
OF Cliff Floyd      2003 .290 .376 .518 .894   57 18   68   3
OF Rickey Henderson 1999 .315 .423 .466 .889   89 12   42 37
OF Roger Cedeno     1999 .313 .396 .408 .804   90   4   36 66

If I left out your favorite, let me know.

Eric | 11:30 AM EST | TrackBack: 1