Lucas Duda Aims To End The RF Rotation For The Mets

From 1983 to 1990, Darryl Strawberry was a staple for the Mets in right field.  In fact, for seven consecutive years (1984-90), no other rightfielder appeared on the Opening Day lineup card but the Straw Man.  But my, how things have changed over the past 22 seasons.

If Lucas Duda is given the start on Opening Day in right field - and from all indications, it appears as if this will be the case - he will become the 15th different Opening Day rightfielder for the Mets since Darryl's Dodger defection following the 1990 season.  In fact, since Strawberry's last Opening Day assignment for the Mets, no rightfielder has gotten more than two consecutive Opening Day starts.

Let's look at the list of players whose names were listed next to position No. 9 on the Opening Day lineup cards for the Mets over the past 22 seasons.  (For argument's sake, I'm including Lucas Duda as the 2012 Opening Day rightfielder.)

• 1991: Hubie Brooks
• 1992: Bobby Bonilla
• 1993: Bobby Bonilla
• 1994: Jeromy Burnitz
• 1995: Carl Everett
• 1996: Butch Huskey
• 1997: Carl Everett
• 1998: Butch Huskey
• 1999: Bobby Bonilla
• 2000: Derek Bell
• 2001: Darryl Hamilton
• 2002: Jeromy Burnitz
• 2003: Jeromy Burnitz
• 2004: Karim Garcia
• 2005: Eric Valent
• 2006: Xavier Nady
• 2007: Shawn Green
• 2008: Ryan Church
• 2009: Ryan Church
• 2010: Jeff Francoeur
• 2011: Carlos Beltran
• 2012: Lucas Duda 
  

Lucas Duda has to do plenty of this to get more Opening Day starts in right field for the Mets.

Only two rightfielders have gotten as many as three Opening Day starts since the departure of Strawberry (Bonilla, Burnitz) and both of them needed to be re-acquired by the Mets to earn that distinction.  The only other players to get the Opening Day nod in right field on more than one occasion over the past 22 seasons are Carl Everett (1995, 1997), Butch Huskey (1996, 1998) and Ryan Church (2008, 2009).

If 15 different Opening Day rightfielders in 22 seasons seems like a lot to you, that's nothing compared to the list of rightfielders who were the most common starters at the position over the past two-plus decades for the Mets.  Let's peruse that list as well, along with the players who played the second-most games at the position in those campaigns.

• 1991: Hubie Brooks (97 starts), Howard Johnson (30 starts)
• 1992: Bobby Bonilla (121 starts), Dave Gallagher (16 starts)
• 1993: Bobby Bonilla (83 starts), Jeromy Burnitz (54 starts)
• 1994: Joe Orsulak (48 starts), Jeromy Burnitz (41 starts)
• 1995: Carl Everett (67 starts), Ryan Thompson (31 starts)
• 1996: Alex Ochoa (72 starts), Butch Huskey (40 starts)
• 1997: Butch Huskey (68 starts), Alex Ochoa (51 starts)
• 1998: Butch Huskey (94 starts), Lenny Harris (27 starts)
• 1999: Roger Cedeño (89 starts), Benny Agbayani (39 starts)
• 2000: Derek Bell (136 starts), Darryl Hamilton (7 starts)
• 2001: Matt Lawton (46 starts), Timo Perez (44 starts)
• 2002: Jeromy Burnitz (131 starts), Joe McEwing (15 starts)
• 2003: Roger Cedeño (100 starts), Jeromy Burnitz (36 starts)
• 2004: Richard Hidalgo (81 starts), Karim Garcia (44 starts)
• 2005: Victor Diaz (74 starts), Mike Cameron (67 starts)
• 2006: Xavier Nady (70 starts), Endy Chavez (32 starts)
• 2007: Shawn Green (107 starts), Lastings Milledge (25 starts)
• 2008: Ryan Church (81 starts), Endy Chavez (41 starts)
• 2009: Jeff Francoeur (74 starts), Ryan Church (52 starts)
• 2010: Jeff Francoeur (109 starts), Angel Pagan (29 starts)
• 2011: Carlos Beltran (91 starts), Lucas Duda (38 starts)

Over the past 21 seasons, a whopping 17 different players have owned the team lead in games started at the right field position in an individual season.  Let's delve into this information a bit more.

Only Bobby Bonilla (1992, 1993), Butch Huskey (1997, 1998), Roger Cedeño (1999, 2003) and Jeff Francoeur (2009, 2010) have led the team in right field starts in more than one season.  No player has been the team leader in this category more than twice since Darryl Strawberry's departure.

Since 1990, only Bobby Bonilla (1992), Derek Bell (2000), Jeromy Burnitz (2002), Shawn Green (2007) and Jeff Francoeur (2010) have started in over 100 games in any one season in right field.  For three of those five players (Bell, Green, Francoeur), those seasons were their only full seasons as Mets.

And once the 21st century began, the merry-go-round in right really took off, as ten different players in the ten seasons from 2000 to 2009 led the team in right field starts.  Jeff Francoeur (2009, 2010) was the first player since Butch Huskey (1997, 1998) to lead the team in right field starts in consecutive seasons.

The backup rightfielder for the Mets has gotten plenty of action since 1990.  In fact, there have been only three seasons since Darryl Strawberry's departure in which only one player received more than 25 starts in right.

In 1992, Dave Gallagher was second on the team in right field starts with 16.  Eight years later, Darryl Hamilton started seven games in right field in place of Derek Bell, the man who started the most games in right field in any one season since 1990.  Finally in 2002, Joe McEwing was second on the Mets with 15 right field starts.  Over the past decade, there has been at least one backup rightfielder in each season to make at least 25 starts at the position.

There was a time when third base was considered to be the musical chairs position on the Mets.  Since Darryl Strawberry left as a free agent following the 1990 campaign, right field has taken over for the hot corner as the position where the vacancy sign is always flashing.

In 2012, Lucas Duda will attempt to make the position his own after getting a 38-game trial run in 2011.  As of now, there is no one waiting in the wings should Duda fail to produce on the field.  Could this finally be the end of the right field rotation that has plagued the Mets since 1990?  Or will a player who's not even on the team right now end up replacing Duda in right before season's end?  (The latter scenario has not been uncommon for the Mets, as Matt Lawton (2001), Richard Hidalgo (2004) and Jeff Francoeur (2009) all began the seasons in which they led the Mets in right field starts on other teams.)

After a strong finish to the 2011 season, more production will be expected from Lucas Duda coming into 2012.  But the one thing the Mets should be expecting from Duda is stability in right field.  It's been a long time since the position was filled for more than two seasons.  Hopefully, Duda will produce in a way that will finally allow the Mets to put up the "no vacancy" sign that has been collecting dust for over two decades.

Dan Uggla To Atlanta; Castillo Still A Met

On Tuesday, the Florida Marlins traded their second baseman, Dan Uggla, to the division rival Atlanta Braves. In return, the Marlins received utility player and questionable All-Star Omar Infante and pitcher Mike Dunn.

The Mets, on the other hand, still have the one-armed bandit (Luis Castillo) playing second base.

Let me get this straight. The Florida Marlins were having difficulty signing Uggla to a multi-year deal, so they traded him to a division rival (one that finished ahead of them in the standings) and all they got in return was Omar Infante and Mike Dunn? Let's do a short analysis of this deal.

Daniel Cooley Uggla is the only second baseman in history to have four seasons of 30 or more home runs. Only four other second basemen had compiled three such seasons in their careers and none of them did it for three consecutive seasons. Uggla has had four straight seasons of 30-plus home runs, hitting a career-high 33 HR this past season.

Over his first five seasons, Dan Uggla has been incredibly durable, playing in least 146 games every season. In those five seasons, this is what an average Uggla season looks like:

155 games, .263 batting avg., 100 runs, 34 doubles, 31 HR, 93 RBI.

The man considered to be the premier second baseman in the National League is Chase Utley. Over Utley's six full seasons in the majors, his offensive numbers look quite similar to Uggla's:

145 games, .298 batting avg., 105 runs, 36 doubles, 27 HR, 95 RBI.

Despite the similar numbers (other than batting average), Uggla has always been a distant second to Utley in discussions about who the best second baseman in the National League is. It seems like the photo below is the only way Uggla can get close to Utley in anything.

Photo by Jennifer Zambri-Dickerson

Uggla has been a two-time All-Star and won his first Silver Slugger Award in 2010. Although he is a human windmill, striking out 149 times last season and averaging 152 strikeouts per season over his career, he always draws his share of walks, averaging 82 walks per year since 2008. During the same three-year time period, his on-base percentage was .361. By comparison, Mets' leadoff hitter Jose Reyes, whose primary job as a leadoff hitter is to get on base, has never had a single season on-base percentage higher than .358.

Here's one other important fact about the man whose parents gave him a middle name of "Cooley". His favorite ballpark to hit in is Atlanta's Turner Field.

In 45 career games in Atlanta, Uggla has absolutely raked. He's a .354 hitter at Turner Field, picking up 16 doubles, 12 homers and 36 RBI there. Since he will now be playing 81 games in Atlanta, that projects to 29 doubles, 22 HR and 65 RBI for the 2011 season, which would be a good full season for a second baseman, let alone half a season's worth of games.

Basically, Uggla could have a monster season playing half his games in Atlanta, especially considering that he will be eligible for free agency after the 2011 season.

What about the guys Atlanta gave up for Uggla? How do they stack up against the Cooley Man?

Well, Omar Infante has been in the major leagues since 2002. Only once has he reached double figures in home runs (he hit 16 HR in 2004 for the Detroit Tigers). In that one "magical" season, Infante also reached his career high in RBI, with 55.

Considering that so many people were talking about Infante in 2010 when he "earned" his first All-Star appearance, he only finished the season with eight home runs and 47 RBI. Uggla had reached those numbers by the All-Star Break.

Yes, Infante hit a career-high .321 this past season, but that lofty batting average only raised his career mark to .274. Prior to the 2010 season, Infante's career batting average was .264, or one point higher than Uggla's .263 career average. Also, Infante has never met a pitch he wouldn't swing at, as evidenced by his career .319 on-base percentage.

Before the 2010 season, Infante's career OBP was .310, a number that should be familiar to both Mets fans and Braves fans, for that is the same career on-base percentage of a Mr. Jeffrey Braden Francoeur.


So clearly, Infante is an inferior offensive player when compared to Dan Uggla. That must mean the other player in the trade, Mike Dunn, must be a stud pitcher, right? Not quite.

Most people reporting the deal made note of the fact that the left-handed Dunn was 2-0 with a 1.89 ERA in 25 games for the Braves. He also struck out 27 batters in 19 innings. When you look at those numbers, he looks like a promising young pitcher. But there's one thing they neglected to mention.

Mike Dunn makes Oliver Perez look like a master of control.


In those same 19 innings, Dunn walked 17 batters. In four innings with the Yankees in 2009, Dunn walked five batters in four innings. Therefore, in his brief major league career, Dunn has walked 22 batters in 23 innings, which averages out to 8.6 walks per nine innings. That's actually worse than Oliver Perez's walks per nine inning ratio over the past two seasons (7.9 BB/9 innings in 2009 and 8.2 BB/9 innings in 2010).

In fact, Dunn looks like he's getting worse as he gets older. His control was actually very good in the minor leagues in 2007. He walked 45 batters in 144.2 innings playing A-ball for the Charleston River Dogs (a Yankees affiliate). His average of 2.8 walks per nine innings would be an excellent ratio in the major leagues. However, from season to season, that number has gone up at an alarming speed.

In 2008, Dunn pitched 18.1 fewer innings than in 2007, but walked 14 more batters (4.2 BB/9 innings). In 2009, he pitched in Double-A, Triple-A and briefly in the major leagues with the Yankees. Combining his minor league and major league numbers, he pitched 77.1 innings and walked 51 batters (5.9 BB/9 innings). Then came his 2010 season, where we walked almost a batter per inning for the Atlanta Braves.

So basically, this is what the trade boils down to. The Atlanta Braves are trading away a player who gets on base at a Jeff Francoeur rate with similar power numbers to Jason Bay's 2010 season, along with a pitcher that has studied and graduated with honors from the Oliver Perez Pitching Academy. In return they get the only second baseman in major league history to hit at least 30 HR in four consecutive seasons, who is coming off his best season in the majors, with career-highs in batting average (.287), home runs (33) and RBI (105). This is also a player who has always performed well at his new home ballpark, Turner Field.

Why am I making such a big deal about this? Because the Mets still have Luis Castillo as their second baseman.

Neither Uggla nor Castillo are great defensive second basemen, although Castillo used to be. But surely, the run-production contributed by Uggla more than makes up for his Hole-In-The-Glove caliber defense he provides. What can Castillo contribute offensively? He gets hit by pitches occasionally.


In 2007 and 2008, the Marlins put the final nails in the Mets' coffins. The Mets nailed their own coffins throughout the entire 2009 and 2010 seasons. Now it looks like the Marlins are doing it to the Mets again, this time in the off-season, by sending one of the best offensive second basemen in recent history to their division rivals for Jeff Francoeur and Oliver Perez clones.

The Marlins traded away Luis Castillo to the Minnesota Twins after the 2005 season to make room for Dan Uggla. It's too bad the Mets couldn't think to do the same in 2010.

What Would Keith Say To Sergio Romo And Brian Wilson?

By now you've seen the Bosom Beardies from the San Francisco Giants. I'm talking about Giants' relievers Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson, both of whom are sporting a facial forest. If not, perhaps the photos below will help.

Sergio Romo is the pitcher who is not in the Witness Protection Program, or is that Brian Wilson?

The hirsute heroes from the Bay Area formed a solid one-two punch in the Giants' bullpen this season, combining for 136.2 innings, striking out 163 batters and giving up only 108 hits. However, they became even more unhittable in the NLCS, where together they pitched 7.1 scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and striking out ten Phillies.

How did they manage to dominate the league this season? Perhaps Keith Hernandez would like to offer his opinion. Keith?

Thanks so much for inviting me to guest-write on your blog, although I have no idea who you are and why you would want my opinion. I'll make this brief so I can beat the traffic home.

I think the reason Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson have pitched so well is because they're hiding something in their beards.

Romo had never pitched more than 34 innings in a season before this year. Then all of a sudden he grows a beard and pitches in 68 games for the Giants. That's not a coincidence. I think Romo is hiding an emery board or petroleum jelly in his beard. Since the umpires are afraid to check it for fear that they won't be able to find their way out of it, Romo has been getting away with it.

Similarly, I recently read that Wilson, despite his affiliation with the Beach Boys, is not from the state of California. In fact, he was born and raised in Londonderry, New Hampshire. What's New Hampshire most known for? That's right, kids. Being next to Vermont. That means Wilson had a ton of maple syrup at his disposal. It would be quite easy to hide some of that maple syrup within his massive beard. The spitball might be illegal in baseball, but there's nothing in the rule book that prevents pitchers from throwing a syrupball.

I'm not saying that Romo and Wilson are cheating, but when two relief pitchers on a team start growing their beards out, then tell all the members of the media that it's because they're starting a ZZ Top cover band that will tour during the off-season, let's just say that I'm willing to bet a box of Tootsie Pops that something fishy is going on there.

If Romo and Wilson really wanted to get the media to believe them, they should have just dropped my name. In five easy minutes, they could have just told them that they were the new spokesmen for Just For Men and everything would have been kosher.

After all, Emmitt Smith couldn't continue to shoot more Just For Men commercials with Walt Frazier and yours truly because he's far too busy right now. (Like winning on Dancing With The Stars and being elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is more important than appearing with me in a commercial.)

We wouldn't even have had to shoot any new commercials. The producers could have just digitally removed Emmitt Smith from his scenes and inserted Romo and Wilson. Of course, we'd also have to change any football reference to a baseball reference and I'd have to re-do my line and say "your beards are weird", but that wouldn't have taken very long to memorize.



It's so sad. Romo and Wilson have done so well this season. I hope the news of their beard-assisted cheating doesn't ruin their careers. If only they had asked Jeff Francoeur how he got away with growing a beard without any speculation of wrongdoing, perhaps I wouldn't have blown them out of the water like I just did.

That's all for now. Hope everyone can still enjoy the World Series, despite the Romo/Wilson follicle follies. It's time for me to go back to my six-month vacation. Why do I get six months off as opposed to other people? The answer is simple, really. After all, I'm Keith Hernandez.

A Texas Toast To Jeff Francoeur

Jeff Francoeur was an interesting character on the Mets. Personality-wise, he was great. He gave candid interviews and made no excuses for lousy performances.

Francoeur also didn't feel the need to speak in cliches, like a certain local baseball player who claims to have an edge. (To protect his identity, we will use an alias when referring to this edgy player. For now, let's call him "Derek Jeter" to protect the innocent player.)

Frenchy held himself accountable for his actions. If he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, he would man up and not blame it on a runner leading off first distracting him at the plate. If he overthrew the cutoff man, he'd be the first to say it was his fault.

Despite his low on-base percentage, he was still the type of baseball player you'd want on your team. He was aggressive (sometimes too much so at the plate) and was not afraid to play hard. He was a gamer who accepted whatever role he was given, such as when Carlos Beltran returned and Angel Pagan became the everyday rightfielder.

Although Frenchy knew his time at Citi Field was limited, he never badmouthed the team and never punched any fathers-in-law. He was classy all the way, even after he was traded by the Mets to the Texas Rangers for the ugliest man in baseball since the days of Willie McGee.



While Joaquin Arias, the man with fewer career home runs than Johan Santana, fades into Mets obscurity (we hope), Jeff Francoeur is having a Texas-sized good time in Arlington.

With last night's 6-1 victory over the New York Yankees, Frenchy and his Texas Rangers advanced to their first ever World Series. The team that was born as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961 and moved to Texas in 1972 finally won the pennant with something that had eluded them for what seemed like the entire history of the franchise - pitching.

I mean, considering that Kenny Rogers is second on the all-time Texas Rangers list for wins and only five pitchers in Washington Senators/Texas Rangers history have picked up more than 68 career wins in 50 seasons, clearly pitching has never been the focal point of this franchise.

To this day, David Clyde might be one of the best pitchers who ever put on a Rangers uniform when he went straight from high school to the big leagues. How many wins did he pick up as a Ranger? Seven.

Now with an ace like Cliff Lee anchoring the staff and a better than average rotation, featuring Colby Lewis, C.J. Wilson and Tommy Hunter, teams can no longer depend on outslugging the Rangers. They have to outpitch them as well.

Jeff Francoeur has now joined this eclectic mix of star athletes (Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero, Nelson Cruz), flashy speedsters (Julio Borbon, Elvis Andrus) and the aforementioned pitching staff. Although his role has been limited, he performed well enough at the end of the regular season to be included on the post-season roster.

Now he is moving on to his first World Series, where the Rangers will be playing either the San Francisco Giants or that other team. After playing on a less than mediocre team in New York for a year and a half, Frenchy is now heading to the biggest stage of them all, the World Series, where he hopes to be at the bottom of another celebratory pile.


For everything he had to go through in New York, for all the complaints that Mets bloggers made about him, for having to live with Oliver Perez being his teammate for over a year, we'd like to offer a toast to Jeff Francoeur.

Frenchy may not have been the best player to don a Mets uniform. He might not have even been the best player to wear #12 in Mets history (clearly that honor belongs to Alvaro Espinoza). But Jeff Francoeur played the game hard and played it with a smile. He shrugged off all the negativity that was thrown his way and still played to the best of his ability every day he took the field.

Good luck to the Jeff Francoeur in the World Series. He may have taken the long road to get there and he may not play as much as he used to, but he is now a champion. It's too bad his former teammates in Flushing (the ones who make far more bread than anyone on the Rangers do) haven't learned how to be winners themselves.

Hello And Goodbye (Part 2): Duda Hustle!

When the Mets traded rightfielder Jeff Francoeur to the Texas Rangers for infielder Joaquin Arias earlier this week, it opened up a spot for Lucas Duda to play every day. Wait. Lucas Who-da?

Before this season, Lucas Duda wasn't considered one of the Mets' top prospects. In fact, in this year's Maple Street Press Mets Annual, Duda wasn't even listed as one of the top 25 prospects (for position players). When you look at his performance at AA-Binghamton in 2009, it's easy to see why he was overlooked. Last year, Duda played 110 games at Binghamton and managed a .281 batting average. His 9 HR and 53 RBI was a slight decline from his 2008 numbers at St. Lucie, when he produced 11 HR and 66 RBI. Neither year was spectacular.

However, one thing that few people noticed was his doubles production. It is said that with age, doubles turn into homers, and an increased amount of doubles usually leads to a power surge once a player gains valuable experience.

At Brooklyn in 2007, Duda hit 20 doubles. That number rose to 26 in 2008 at St. Lucie and 29 in 2009 at Binghamton. Then came his 2010 season.

Duda began the 2010 season again at Binghamton, where he started hitting double after double, picking up an amazing 17 doubles (along with 6 HR) in only 45 games. That earned him a promotion to AAA-Buffalo, where the doubles continued, but the homers finally arrived as well. In 70 games at Buffalo, Duda hit 23 more doubles, but also added 17 HR.

Between AA and AAA, Duda hit a combined .304, with 40 doubles, 23 HR and 87 RBI, numbers that are very similar to what David Wright has produced for the Mets in 2010 (.292, 32 doubles, 22 HR, 87 RBI entering today's game against the Cubs).

That earned Duda a promotion to the Mets, where he has played every day since being called up on Wednesday, the day after Jeff Francoeur's spot in the outfield opened up due to his trade to Texas.

What will the future hold for Duda? That remains to be seen. But should he do well, the headlines of the New York tabloids will be splashed with "DUDA HUSTLE" and "DUDA RIGHT THING". If he is seen in public wearing the outfits that the veterans force rookies to wear during their hazing, the headlines might say "DUDA, LOOKS LIKE A LADY" after the Aerosmith song with the similar title.

Speaking of music, his entrance song when he makes his first appearance at Citi Field might end up being "Lucas With The Lid Off" , the 1995 kinda-sorta hit by one-hit wonder Lucas.

One thing is for sure with new Mets outfielder Lucas Duda. He has improved from year to year, going from a non-prospect to a major leaguer virtually overnight. His progress in the minor leagues looks very similar to David Wright's year-to-year progress, especially in the extra-base hit department:

Lucas Duda:
2008: .263 average, 26 doubles, 11 HR, 66 RBI
2009: .281 average, 29 doubles, 9 HR, 53 RBI
2010: .304 average, 40 doubles, 23 HR, 87 RBI

David Wright:
2002: .266 average, 30 doubles, 11 HR, 93 RBI
2003: .270 average, 39 doubles, 15 HR, 75 RBI
2004: .320 average, 52 doubles, 32 HR, 97 RBI (combined between minors and majors)

The homegrown movement has begun for the Mets. With Lucas Duda joining Ike Davis, Josh Thole, Ruben Tejada and Jonathon Niese, the Mets have proven that they had a better farm system than most experts gave them credit for. Before this year, the farm system had only produced Jose Reyes, David Wright and Mike Pelfrey (Angel Pagan came up through the Mets' farm system, but made his major league debut for the Cubs before coming back to the Mets in 2008).

Once the Mets shed themselves of the cancers in the clubhouse (El Perez-idente, Frankie Knuckles) and the bad contracts given to gimpy players (Luis Cast-"E"-llo), their youth movement will shine.

Lucas Duda is just the latest in a string of young players who will do his best to carry this team back to respectability. The future will be bright at Citi Field, so long as "the Duda abides" and takes the rest of the young Mets stars with him.

For Part 1 of "Hello And Goodbye", please click here.

It's A Dirty Job, But Carlos Beltran Can Do It

The Beltran is coming! The Beltran is coming! After missing the entire first half of the season, Carlos Beltran will be making his season debut for the Mets on Thursday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

According to Adam Rubin for ESPNNewYork.com, Beltran will be batting cleanup for the Mets in their first game after the All-Star Break, which is also their first game of a season-long 11-game road trip.

By batting Beltran in the cleanup spot, the Mets will be able to move the slumping Ike Davis (.186 over his last 16 games) and Jason Bay (his power has been spotted on the side of milk cartons under "Have You Seen Me?") down a spot in the batting order, while keeping David Wright in the three-hole.

Angel Pagan will not be relegated to the bench with the addition of Carlos Beltran. He will be playing right field and batting second in the new Mets lineup.

This means Jeff Francoeur will be losing playing time to Angel Pagan. Pagan will probably get some starts in center field when Beltran needs a day off during the first few weeks after his promotion back to the major leagues.

Francoeur has definitely not been playing like an everyday player recently, hitting .135 over his last 11 games. His OBP and slugging percentage is .179 and .162, respectively, meaning that Johan Santana has been a more reliable power source recently than Jeff Francoeur.

As for Beltran's past experience in the cleanup spot, he's actually been more effective there than in any other spot in the lineup that he has seen regularly. He has accumulated 876 at-bats as a cleanup hitter over his career, mostly over the 2007 and 2008 seasons for the Mets (627 at-bats over those seasons). These are his numbers as a cleanup hitter and at other spots in the batting order over those two seasons:

2007 (cleanup hitter): .310, 13 HR, 45 RBI in 168 at-bats (12.9 AB/HR)
2007 (other spots): .262, 20 HR, 67 RBI in 386 at-bats (19.3 AB/HR)

2008 (cleanup hitter): .290, 22 HR, 91 RBI in 459 at-bats (20.9 AB/HR)
2008 (other spots): .265, 5 HR, 21 RBI in 147 at-bats (29.4 AB/HR)

Overall, Beltran has hit .299 as a cleanup hitter over his career, as opposed to .280 in all other spots in the order. His career OBP and slugging percentage of .383 and .524 as a cleanup hitter are also better than his percentages in other spots in the batting order (.356 OBP, .493 slugging pct.)

The first half might have ended with a poor homestand, but the Mets have quite a bit to look forward to in the second half. With the return of Carlos Beltran, the Mets offense has taken a big step in the right direction and gives the team more offensive flexibility that should produce positive results throughout the rest of the season.

A Stunning Look Into The Mets' Offensive Woes

There are many question marks surrounding the Mets' offense this season. Why isn't Jose Reyes hitting? Why is David Wright striking out so much? Why can't Jason Bay get a clutch hit? Where did Jeff Francoeur's bat disappear to? Why isn't Luis Castillo on crutches yet?

It's enough to make a Mets fan go crazy when the team puts men on base only to strand them by striking out, popping up or grounding into a double play. Many fine pitching performances have been wasted because the offense decided to hit the snooze button on those days.

Sure, it's easy to point the finger at certain players. For example, David K. Wright has struck out 42 times in 32 games, putting him on a pace to strike out over 200 times. He recently struck out in nine consecutive at-bats, which is a mark usually held by graduates of the Al Leiter Hitting Academy, not a former Silver Slugger.

Jason Bay has not shown the 36-homer power he exhibited in Boston last year, although he is a notoriously streaky hitter. Jeff Francoeur lost his hitting shoes around the second week of the baseball season and Jose Reyes has been underwhelming in the #3 hole.

If you were to tell me that Rod Barajas and Ike Davis would be the hitting "stars" on the Mets after 32 games, I'd ask you to share your Kool-Aid with me. But that's exactly what they've been this year, as Barajas is already only three homers short of the 12 HR hit by team leader Daniel Murphy in 2009 and Ike Davis has been an OBP-machine, reaching base almost 43% of the time since being called up to the major leagues.

Unfortunately, Barajas and Davis are only two of eight regular hitters in the lineup. A team that is only getting production from 25% of the order surely cannot expect to win more often than it loses, so the Mets must consider themselves fortunate to be above .500 and only three games behind the division-leading Phillies.

What must the Mets improve upon at the plate to strike fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers? For one thing, they must make better contact, especially when they have a runner standing 90 feet away from the promised land.

With runners on second and third this year, the Mets are hitting an anemic .167 (3-for-18). In these situations, the batter is not apt to hit into a double play and is a single away from adding two RBI to his totals. However, the Mets have been more likely to strike out in these situations than get the timely hit (five strikeouts and three hits with runners on second and third).

What about when the Mets bat with the bases loaded? This is even more jaw-dropping than the second and third scenario. The Mets are hitting .185 in these situations (5-for-27) with six strikeouts. You may have heard of the old baseball adage, "a walk is as good as a hit". Well, with the bases loaded, that is most definitely the case, as a walk would drive in a run. However, the Mets on-base percentage with the bases loaded is only .250, as they have only drawn three bases-loaded walks this year. Even more stunning is their slugging percentage with the bases loaded (.259), as the Mets have picked up only one extra-base hit with the sacks full all season.

Here's one final stunning note on the Mets' offensive woes. It doesn't take a quantum physicist to know that once a batter has three balls on him, it becomes easier to hit. A pitcher doesn't want to walk the batter, so the pitches after ball three are usually more predictable. Translation: There's a better chance you see a fastball after ball three than on any other count. So how do the Mets fare after the opposing pitcher has thrown three balls? How about a .211 batting average?

That's right, Mets fans. In 152 at-bats this year where the opposing pitcher has thrown three balls to the batter, the Mets have only picked up 32 hits. Even knowing that the odds of seeing a fastball have greatly increased after taking ball three, they still have trouble hitting it where they ain't. And yes, in case you were wondering, the Mets are more likely to strike out after taking ball three than they are to pick up a hit (38 strikeouts, 32 hits).

The Mets have struck out 237 times in 2010, which puts them in the middle of the pack among National League teams (8th out of 16 teams). However, it's not the number of strikeouts that's most alarming; it's when they're striking out. In addition to the untimely whiffs, the Mets are not producing in situations where most batters salivate, namely situations with multiple runners in scoring position. Until they turn things around in those departments, can we really expect the Mets to be more than a .500 team?

Don't blame the inconsistent play on one player. It's been a team effort. And it's going to take the entire team to turn this ship around if they're going to remain in the hunt.

How The Mets Can Hit Into A Quadruple Play

Please note: This blog was originally written after Jeff Francoeur hit into a game-ending unassisted triple play on August 23, 2009. In that game, Angel Pagan led off the first inning with an inside-the-park home run that became an inside-the-parker when Shane Victorino did not pick up the ball after it was wedged under the left field wall, thinking the ball was dead.

In today's Late Winter Training game against the Washington Nationals, speedster Omir Santos hit an inside-the-park grand slam when leftfielder Willy Taveras did not attempt to pick up the ball Santos hit down the left field line.

So now I bring back this blog from August. In honor of freak plays, this is a hypothetical situation in which the Mets can hit into a quadruple play. Please try not to get a headache reading it. Enjoy!

So far this season, the Mets have lost a number of games in bizarre and improbable ways. From failing to touch third base at Dodger Stadium to dropping a potential game-ending pop-up at the new Yankee Stadium, Mets fans everywhere have been forced to revise their "I've never seen that before" lists. After Sunday's stunning game-ending unassisted triple play, I've been thinking about new ways the Mets can lose ballgames. There is one thing worse than ending a game on a triple play. They could actually hit into a "quadruple play" to end a game. If my knowledge of the baseball rule book is correct (and please correct me if I'm wrong), here's how it would work.

Say the Mets load the bases against the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth inning. For argument's sake, let's put Luis Castillo on third, Daniel Murphy on second and Jeff Francoeur on first. (I feel bad for the guy. There's no way I was going to make him the hitter in this scenario.) Let's also say they're losing 6-5, with Gary Sheffield batting and waiting on a no-out, 3-2 pitch from Brad Lidge. Sheffield lines a ball to the Cryin' Hawaiian in center field, who takes his foot out of his mouth just in time to make a highlight-reel, over-the-shoulder catch before tumbling to the ground. The umpires haven't made an out call yet because Victorino is seeing hula girls circling his head due to the impact of his diminutive body against the center field turf. As a result, the baserunners are still running the bases. Once the umpires make the out call, Raul Ibañez takes the ball out of Victorino's glove (leaving his customary tissue in the ball's place) and throws to Victorino's fellow member of the Lollipop Guild, Jimmy Rollins, who tags Murphy trying to get back to second and then tags Francoeur.

This looks like a triple play with the game ending once Francoeur is tagged out. However, Castillo scored from third base long before the second and third outs were made. Once Rollins tagged Murphy, the force was removed on Castillo. Therefore, his run would count since it scored before the third out was made. Of course, in between bites of a chocolate bar, Charlie Manuel notices that Castillo also left third base early. Therefore, he instructs the team to go back onto the field for an appeal play at third. When Pedro Feliz steps on third, the third base umpire calls Castillo out for leaving the base too early. This is the "fourth out" of the inning and prevents the Mets from tying the game. Had the "fourth out" not been made, Castillo would have scored a legal run and the game would have gone into extra innings with score tied 6-6.

I expect this bizarre play to occur at some point in September, if not earlier. If it does, please do not ask me for my thoughts on lottery numbers. That information is on a need-to-know basis and you don't need to know.

Just for fun, I'd like to ask the readers for their opinions on unusual ways to lose ballgames. Is there anything you can think of that could rival Sunday's ending? Not including this season's odd endings, what's the most bizarre way you've ever seen the Mets lose a game?

David Wright Would Like A PB & J With Extra Power, Hold The Ks

When David Wright signed his six-year, $55 million contract during the 2006 season, he could afford to have the finest filet mignon for every meal and still have millions coming out of his hoo-hah.

So what does he choose to eat whenever hunger strikes? How about a nice peanut butter, honey and jelly sandwich?

According to an article by David Waldstein in the New York Times, that's exactly what the Mets' third baseman eats...constantly.

It appears that when David Wright watched Sesame Street as a child (particularly the episodes sponsored by the number "5" and the letter "K"), he took special interest to the segments featuring the magic of The Amazing Mumford. As a young Mets fan watching Sesame Street during the heyday of the Amazin' 80s teams, he enjoyed that there was a Sesame Street character with "Amazing" in his name and automatically gravitated towards Mumford. Whenever Mumford performed a magic trick, he'd say the magic words "A La Peanut Butter Sandwich". Unfortunately, something would usually go wrong with the trick, making Mumford as amazing as the '93 Mets.



In watching Mumford's tricks go haywire, his catch phrase seeped into David Wright's mind and he began to crave peanut butter sandwiches. As he got older, jelly was added to the mix (perhaps to use in a trade with classmates for other sandwiches) and then honey was added as the final ingredient.

His friend and teammate, Jeff Francoeur, has noticed that David tends to eat his sandwich of choice quite often (by Wright's own admission, he consumes at least one of these sandwiches approximately 75 to 80% of all days. For non-math geeks, that's between five and six days a week) and offered this tidbit about his observation:

"He eats them non-stop, sometimes even for dinner."

David Wright has said that he spent the off-season lifting weights and developing better eating habits. These eating habits seem to include items from the peanut butter, jelly, honey and bread food groups.

In light of this observation about David Wright's fav'rit sandwich, perhaps this will create an opportunity for a deli or another fine eatery to create the David Wright sandwich, which would be filled with the ingredients originally inspired by The Amazing Mumford.

It did wonders for Mo Vaughn's Met career when the Carnegie Deli named the Mo-Licious sandwich after the rotund former first baseman. Vaughn went on to collect 29 HR and 87 RBI after being honored with his own sandwich at the world-famous deli. Of course, those numbers were collected over his two-year Met career, but who's counting?

I can see the ad campaign right now. A smiling David Wright taking a big bite out of his PB, H & J sandwich, uttering the catch phrase that will go down in history:

"Peanut butter sandwiches filled with other goodies. It's not just for Elvis anymore."

Studious Metsimus is hoping that David Wright can increase his power numbers from his abysmal 2009 levels to the levels we once expected of him. Peanut butter sandwiches or not, he's too good of a talent to continue hitting only ten home runs per season.

Slap on a little extra power and hold the Ks and David Wright can help the Mets go from a pretender to a contender. Then again, any sandwich artist could tell you that.

Show Us Your Tatis! Fernando Re-Signs For 2010

According to Mike Puma's blog for the New York Post, Fernando Tatis has re-signed with the Mets for the 2010 season. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is believed to be less than the $1.7 million he earned during the 2009 season, although incentives could allow him to come close to that figure.

In 340 at-bats with the Mets last season, Tatis hit .282, with 21 doubles, eight HR and 48 RBI. In two years with the Mets, Tatis has accumulated about a full season's worth of at-bats (613). In those 613 at-bats, the utility man has hit .289, with 37 doubles, 19 HR and 95 RBI.

The signing of Tatis will likely end the Mets' pursuit of Carlos Delgado. The brittle first baseman has been doing his best to hide a limp while playing winter ball in his native Puerto Rico, but just like Takeru Kobayashi at a fasting convention, he's failing miserably.

Tatis can now be used in a first base platoon with Daniel Murphy. He can also fill in at every other infield position when needed and can give Sgt. Bay of The Yukon and Jeff Francoeur a rest whenever Jerry Manuel decides to give either outfielder a day off.

Fernando Tatis has been an important part of the Mets bench since 2008. He has performed well when called upon in a pinch-hitting role and filled in nicely as an everyday player when David Wright succumbed to Matt Cain's head-seeking missile last August.

Welcome back, Fernando! Studious Metsimus thanks you for re-signing with the Mets so that you can "Show Us Your Tatis" once again in 2010!

Angel Pagan Could Help The Mets In More Ways Than One

Last year was Angel Pagan's breakout season with the Mets. In approximately half a season as an everyday player, Pagan hit .306, with 22 doubles, 11 triples, six home runs and 14 stolen bases. He also scored 54 runs and drove in 32.

The Mets' membership in the Injury of The Week Club forced Pagan into everyday duty in 2009. Now with the recent news about Carlos Beltran's arthroscopic knee surgery, Pagan will be forced into action again.

Assuming that the Mets don't acquire an interim centerfielder, Pagan will most likely play the position for about a month. Another good performance by Pagan could help the Mets now and in the long term.

When Beltran returns from his injury, he will take over in center field again, relegating Pagan to the bench. Therefore, with the recent acquisition of Jason Bay and with Jeff Francoeur playing every day in right field, Pagan will get few opportunities to play in the outfield. Because of the offensive prowess of the three outfielders, Jerry Manuel would probably not take any of them out of the game in the late innings unless if the game was a blowout.

Also, Sgt. Bay of the Yukon is under contract for at least four years, Beltran's contract doesn't expire until after the 2011 season and Francoeur is also under team control until 2011 when he becomes eligible for free agency. That would leave Pagan on the bench for two seasons.

If Pagan has a strong start for the Mets when he fills in for Beltran at the beginning of the 2010 season, the Mets might be inclined to trade him at maximum value. Once he moves to the bench, his value will certainly go down. Of course, he'd be the first player to take over in the outfield should Bay, Beltran or Francoeur go down with an injury, but we can't expect every season to be like 2009, right?

The Mets could package Pagan and a prospect for the pitching help they desperately need. Anytime a team can add to their pitching staff without trading away an everyday player, it must be looked into.

I enjoyed watching Angel Pagan play in 2009. He was exciting, aggressive (sometimes overly aggressive) and went all out to help the team win. He also allowed the Mets to plug in a player in the outfield without trading away their entire farm system to get another outfielder when they were still relatively close to a playoff spot in July.

However, he may not get many at-bats in 2010 after Carlos Beltran is deemed ready to play by his doctors or the Mets team doctors. (who knows where the final say will come from these days?)

A good start by our Angel in the outfield will certainly help the Mets in April. But more importantly for the long term success of the team, a good start might end up helping the Mets at the trading deadline.

Beltran And Francoeur To Receive Awards

The Mets might not have been inspirational on the field in 2009, but off the field, they remain inspirational to many of their fans. According to Marty Noble, two-thirds of the Mets' outfield will be honored with well-deserved awards in January at a dinner held by the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Carlos Beltran will receive the Joan Payson Award for his community service. His philanthropical efforts, which include his contributions to the Harlem RBI Foundation and his own Carlos Beltran Foundation will be rewarded with this prestigious award, which was named after the Mets' first owner.


Jeff Francoeur will be presented with the Ben Epstein-Dan Castellano Good Guy Award at the Dinner. The award, which is named after two former sportswriters for the Yankees and Mets, respectively, is given to the player who's...well...a good guy. Or in this case, it goes to the best good guy of all the good guys who are qualified to be the best at being good. Is that good enough?

Members of the Yankees will also be presented with three awards at the Dinner, but that's not important right now. They've gotten enough attention recently. We wouldn't want all that attention to go to their overpaid heads, would we?

Congratulations to Carlos Beltran and Jeff Francoeur for their great play on and off the field. Enjoy your awards. They are well-deserved. Hopefully next year, you can both share one, perhaps in the shape of a World Series trophy!

Oldies Aren't Necessarily Goodies

When Julio Franco was a Met, he vowed to play until he was 50. That didn't happen, but the way Omar Minaya has put this team together, the Mets might have a few AARP members before too long.

When the 2009 season began, more than half of the 25-man roster (13 players in all) was on the wrong side of age 30. Of those 13 players, only three of them made it out of the 2009 season alive (where alive is defined as not having been placed on the disabled list) and still on the 25-man roster. Those three players were Luis Castillo, Fernando Tatis and Pedro Feliciano.

The Mets did well to trade one of the members of the over-30 brigade for a younger player when they sent Ryan Church to Atlanta for 25-year-old Jeff Francoeur. They must continue to get younger if they don't want to break down again next season.

Over the past few years, Omar Minaya has tried to make splashes in the offseason through trades and free agent acquisitions. The problem with the moves Omar has made in the past is that he's gotten players who were past their prime, players who might help the Mets early on, but fall apart before their contracts end (see Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado and Billy Wagner). These players were under contract until they were past their mid-thirties.

When the Mets put together their back-to-back playoff teams in 1999 and 2000, the core players were Edgardo Alfonzo, Mike Piazza and Robin Ventura. Alfonzo was entering his prime and Piazza and Ventura were in their prime.

Those teams did well because they depended on the senior citizens to be role players and guidance counselors, not EVERYDAY PLAYERS! The Mets have depended too much on the elder statesmen over the past few years and as a result, they have broken down physically.

Generally speaking, a player is considered to be in his prime from the ages of 28 to 32. If the Mets sign someone to a long-term deal (i.e. at least four years), he cannot be older than 32. Should they sign a player who is already over the age of 32, it should only be as a role player and it should be a short-term deal. Surely, the Mets have learned from the mistakes they made in the past. Let someone else sign a player past his prime to the long-term deal and watch as they struggle to replace him when he breaks down.

If the Mets want to get back on the winning track, they should follow the program they used in 1999 and 2000, when they signed and traded for players in their prime (Piazza and Ventura) and used the veterans in smaller roles where they could be more effective (Rickey Henderson). Stay young, stay healthy, stay competitive. Is that so hard for Omar to understand?

Maine's Return Not Enough As Mets Drop Game 1

John Maine made his return to the Mets after a three month absence from the team following the world’s longest rehab stint. Although he was limited to a pitch count of 60 pitches, he took the loss when the bullpen failed to keep the Phillies in the park. The efforts (or lack thereof) of Tobi Stoner and Lance Broadway prevented the Mets from pulling off another late-inning comeback, although they did try valiantly to do so. Nevertheless, the comeback was all for naught as Brad Lidge gave up as much of the lead as he could without blowing the save in the 5-4 Phillies victory in game one of Sunday’s day-night doubleheader.

Maine came into the game with a 5-0 career record against the Phillies and only gave up one run and two hits in his three innings of work. However, since the demolition team of Stoner and Broadway gave up four runs on eight hits in their five innings, the late rally by the Mets was not enough, even with Armando Benitez-in-training Brad Lidge pitching the ninth inning.

Perhaps if Lance Broadway hadn’t given up an insurance run to the Phillies in the eighth inning, we’d be talking about another great Mets comeback, but alas, that run ended up being the difference of the game.

Maine did pitch well. Although he still has to work on keeping his pitch count low (he averaged 19 pitches per inning today), he threw strikes (only one walk) and did not appear to feel any discomfort. It’s unfortunate that he had to pick up the loss in today’s game, considering he pitched the best of the three pitchers the Mets trotted out to the mound. Alas, the rules of major league baseball say that he has to get the loss and so he shall.

Other highlights for the Mets included the shocking two-run HR to center field by light-hitting second baseman Anderson Hernandez in the eighth inning, although that ball probably would have been a pop-up in the vicinity of second base at Citi Field. You know how crazy Citizen’s Bank Park plays! Even the Cryin’ Hawaiian himself, Shane Victorino, could not believe Hernandez could hit a ball that far to that part of the ballpark. As the photo to the right suggests, Victorino remained frozen at the top of the fence, perhaps in disbelief, that the ball carried out. Fortunately for him, Mr. Shades was standing behind the wall and helped pry Victorino off the fence.

If Jeff Francoeur continues to hit like this, he might always want to play with an injured thumb. He picked up three more hits for his third three-hit game in the last four days. He now has 10 hits in his last 17 at-bats, raising his batting average to a season-high .275. Since his trade to the Mets, he is hitting .311 (68 for 219).

Last but not least, how can we forget Josh Thole? By going 4 for 4, he continued his hot start in the majors, raising his average to .444. If Brian Schneider was already saying that he’s preparing to be playing elsewhere in 2010, today’s performance by Thole did nothing to make him want to retract his statement. Thole just missed his first major league home run in the ninth inning when he hit a long single off the top of the right field wall.

It won’t take long for the Mets to try to take the finale from the Phillies, as Game 2 of the day-nighter will begin at 8:05 PM. Pedro Martinez will face Tim Redding in the nightcap. As a reminder to you, the game will be televised on ESPN so please do your best to increase WFAN’s ratings. After all, Jerry Manuel already said in the SNY post-game show that Carlos Beltran will be starting the second game. We don’t need to hear Jon Miller call him Bel-TRON throughout the game, do we? The mute button. Best. Invention. Ever.

Useless stat of the day (but I’m telling you anyway): With today’s win in Game 1, the Phillies have now defeated the Mets 11 times this season. All of the wins have been credited to different pitchers (Jack Taschner, Chan Ho Park, Scott Eyre, Rodrigo Lopez, Rip Van Winkle (Jamie Moyer), Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ, Pedro Martinez, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Kyle Kendrick). We don’t need to see a 12th name tonight…

Useless stat of the day (because one useless stat just isn’t enough): If the Mets lose tonight’s second game, they will be mathematically eliminated from the playoff race, as they would have lost 81 games while the division-leading Phillies would have 82 wins. That is the same amount of wins the wild card-leading Rockies have entering today’s games. On a positive note, the Mets magic number to eliminate the Washington Nationals from fourth-place contention is now down to 7.

Note: Studious Metsimus ripped this recap off from MetsMerizedOnline. Why am I not worried? Because I wrote it for MMO. Therefore, I'm plagiarizing myself. Is there no journalistic integrity left in this world?