He is Not a Crook

by Eric Simon on Jun 14, 2008 12:00 PM EDT

The Mets acquired Trot Nixon from the Diamondbacks late last night for cash and/or a PTBNL. Nixon is "only" 34, but he hasn't been a useful major league outfielder since 2005 when he hit .275/.357/.446 with the Red Sox. He hit an anemic .251/.342/.336 with the Indians last year and has spent all of 2008 with the Tuscon Sidewinders of the Pacific Coast League.

To Nixon's credit, he has hit .309/.437/.558 with the Sidewinders, but he has been plagued by the same severe platoon split that made him so frustrating during his glory years with the Sox. His batting line against righties is a robust .337/.474/.640 (136 AB), but he has been feckless against southpaws to the tune of .244/.340/.341.

He still may be a safer bet against righties than any of Endy Chavez, Marlon Anderson and Fernando Tatis, and his plate discipline is better than any of the above. I don't know enough about Nixon's medical history to say whether his power outage in recent years was due to injury or ineffectiveness, but he seems to have regained that stroke somewhat this year in Triple-A, so if he can provide some walks a bit of pop he could have some use.

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Well....

look at me, I am the first…. nah, I’m not gonna do it.

This is an example of the kinds of acquisitions will be the norm for the Mets the rest of this season, barring anything blockbustery and stupid (like trading Reyes, for example). With their depleted minor-league system there’s not a whole heck of a lot they will be able to do. This doesn’t mean they can’t find something useful. This should be an interesting mid-season for Minaya and the scouts. Will they be able to find those players in the shadows that other teams might miss? It’s going to take a little intelligence and a bit of luck.

"We praise or blame as one or the other affords more opportunity for exhibiting our power of judgment." Friedrich Nietzsche, "Human,All Too Human" (1878)

by wgarrett on Jun 14, 2008 1:40 PM EDT reply actions

Better than nothing

Trot’s a good clubhouse guy, if I recall. Fresh ~~meat~~ blood can’t hurt at this point.

"It's Father's Day today at Shea, so to all you fathers out there, Happy Birthday." -- Ralph Kiner

by dissento on Jun 14, 2008 2:17 PM EDT reply actions

I like this move.

Though Cancel, not Aguila, should be demoted.

Nixon would be a good corner outfield platoon with Val Pascucci. This is the kind of thing the Mets should be doing with Church and Alou out, not playing Chavez, Tatis and Marlon Anderson.

by JohnPeterson on Jun 14, 2008 2:19 PM EDT reply actions

This is the kind of move

that the Minaya should have made before the season started. Everyone knew Alou was an injury risk, and while Nixon is not the hitter he used to be, he can still hit righties pretty well. It would have been nice to replace all those wasted Nick Evans and Damion Easley at bats with his. Against righties the last three years his numbers are:

2005 – .288/.364/.483 (323 ABs)
2006 – .288/.385/.420 (288 ABs)
2007 – .256/.352/.345 (258 ABs)

So last year wasn’t great, but Trot showed enough consistency in the 2 seasons before that to make Joe Morgan proud. And as Eric pointed out, Trot rebounded pretty well in Triple-A this year. He isn’t great, but Trot Nixon a more than acceptable stopgap while Church and Alou are out.

by ams258 on Jun 14, 2008 3:17 PM EDT reply actions

Also, Omar thinks Trot is a gamer

So we’ve got that going for us, which is nice.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3442881

by ams258 on Jun 14, 2008 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Trot Nixon

The Mets have spent the entire year so far worried to death about being able to hit left-handed pitching. The result has been that they are hitting lefties OK while failing miserably against righthanders. With Church on the DL, it is good to have an outfield bat that can hit a rightie.

by where's george theodore? on Jun 15, 2008 2:23 PM EDT reply actions