Off Day WAR: The Best And Worst Seasons By Mets Second Basemen

by James Kannengieser on Apr 20, 2009 2:30 PM EDT

Continuing the wins above replacement (WAR) series, here are the best seasons by Mets second basemen per Sean Smith's WAR database:

Rank	Year	Player	WAR
1	2000	Edgardo Alfonzo	6.5
2	1999	Edgardo Alfonzo	6.1
3	1986	Wally Backman	3.5
4	1973	Felix Millan	3.3
5	2006	Jose Valentin	3.3
6	1990	Gregg Jefferies	2.9
7	1994	Jeff Kent	2.9
8	1964	Ron Hunt	2.8
9	1995	Jeff Kent	2.8
10	1963	Ron Hunt	2.7
Tied	1966	Ron Hunt	2.7
Tied	1988	Wally Backman	2.7

And the bottom 10:

Rank	Year	Player	WAR
38	1962	Charlie Neal	-0.3
39	1998	Carlos Baerga	-0.3
40	2008	Luis Castillo	-0.4
41	1977	Felix Millan	-0.5
42	2005	Miguel Cairo	-0.5
43	1972	Ken Boswell	-0.6
44	1974	Felix Millan	-0.6
45	1981	Doug Flynn	-1.2
46	1978	Doug Flynn	-1.7
47	1979	Doug Flynn	-2.0

Quick thoughts:

That's a huge dropoff between the top two Alfonzo seasons and third place. Backman picked the right time to have a career year.
The biggest gap between best and worst season belongs to Felix Millan. Amazingly, they were in back to back seasons.
Contributions from the likes of Valentin made all the difference for the 2006 Mets. Replace the 2008 trio of Castillo/Easley/A. Reyes with 2006 Valentin and the Mets likely would have made the playoffs.
Doug Flynn, yikes.

For more on Mets second basemen, check out Alex Nelson's retrospective at Mets Geek: Part 1 and Part 2. Finally, enjoy this picture of our current and future(?!) second basemen exchanging an awkward fist pound:

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Jeff Kent

I definitely did not appreciate his value during his tenure here.

by ams258 on Apr 20, 2009 2:52 PM EDT reply actions

I always did.

For some reason, I had a small portion of my heart go to Jeff Kent. I always liked the way he played. He was a massive douche, but I liked his game.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 20, 2009 3:52 PM EDT up reply actions

That Baerga Trade

sure didn’t work out.

Someone should do a piece on the worst trades in team history (if one has not already been done).

"Since we became accelerated readers, we never leave the house." - Los Campesinos

by Shomov on Apr 20, 2009 6:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Second Base

for some reason I’ve always had an affinity for Mets 2B. Ron Hunt was the first Mets “legend” (does he qualify) I ever met. I was in the minority of fans who loved Jeff Kent, and Fonzie was, is, and always will be my favorite Met. Heck, I’m even willing to forgive Luis, provided he keeps hitting ~.400

by cjmulrain on Apr 20, 2009 3:04 PM EDT reply actions

I know it's just a coincidence

But those top five seasons coincided with some pretty memorable years for this franchise (OK, I mean I wasn’t around for ’73 but we all know the stories).

'Oh yes, I know all about that duty-of-a-citizen stuff. It doesn't go. There are exceptions to every rule, and this was one of them. When a man risks his liberty to come and root at a ball-game, you've got to hand it to him. He isn't a crook. He's a fan.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Apr 20, 2009 3:09 PM EDT reply actions

Interesting, didn't even notice

I guess we should root for Castillo to have a big year then, huh? Keep it up Luis…

by James Kannengieser on Apr 20, 2009 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions

fonzie: yea!

flynn: barf!

those are three ass-tastic years. glad i wasnt alive for most of it.

HELLO HELLO MR WILPON. WE WANT THE MANSION NOT THE CONDO.

by kendynamo on Apr 20, 2009 3:45 PM EDT reply actions

I just checked his page on the WAR database.

How in holy hell he had 11 years in the majors is beyond me, as he averaged -1.0 WAR a year. We didn’t even count 1977, when he had <300 PA and still managed to be -2.2 WAR.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 20, 2009 3:56 PM EDT up reply actions

maybe he was gritty

and had heart, and knew how to win, and was consistently ITBSOHL…these things are puny stats cannot measure

by englishgrey on Apr 20, 2009 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Flynn

hung with the Mets so long b/c he was part of the Seaver trade. Those teams from 77 on were so bad Those were the days.

And I’ll second squid right below: Make some room for Reese Havens on the top WAR list. That boy looks like he’s going to be our 2B for a decade.

by whynot on Apr 20, 2009 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions

'77 to '83

Was a black hole for this team. Totally forgettable teams. The Keith Hernandez trade was the beginning of 8-10 years of great teams. ’73 was an unbelievable last two months preceeded by 4 1/2 months of awful baseball, but they were a couple of big hits away from beating Oakland in the Series. Totally unbelievable turnaround.

by zmanmetfan on Apr 22, 2009 12:21 AM EDT up reply actions

Flynn

In retrospect, it’s impossible to fathom him playing that long, because he was a miserable hitter and nothing that special as a fielder when you look at his career numbers.

However, there are four reasons Flynn stuck around:

(1) He was a well-regarded young player in Cincinnati. They had no need for him in Cincy with guys named Morgan, Rose, Concepcion, and Driessen hanging around the infield, but he wasn’t nearly as terrible there as he was with the Mets. Frankly, the Mets kept hoping he’d turn it around.

(2) His defensive reputation was likely better than what the TotalZone stats say. Baseball Prospectus’ numbers are a little kinder, placing him around average as a Met. Regardless of whether his actual defense was truly better, he was perceived to be a very good fielder-he even won a gold glove (and might have deserved it) in 1980.

(3) He was a gritty player who was well liked by coaches and teammates alike.

(4) The Mets didn’t have anyone decidedly better to hand the position off to.

All of these things obviously do not make him a good player, but just explain why the Mets kept marching him out there when it was clear he couldn’t play.

One interesting fact about Flynn: before the 1977 season, his sister Melanie had been romantically involved with a narcotics cop in Lexington, Kentucky. While the cop was undercover, he started actually smuggling a tremendous amount of coke. Flynn’s sister went missing while all this was happening, and was never found. The family always blamed the cop for her disappearance, and there was always the suspicion that the Lexington PD helped cover it up. While, I’m sure Flynn wasn’t much of a hitter regardless of what was going on in his personal life, having a sister be kidnapped or murdered sure doesn’t make things on the diamond go any easier.

by Alex Nelson on Apr 20, 2009 7:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Yikes. I did not know that.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Apr 20, 2009 8:03 PM EDT up reply actions

interesting stuff

terrible about his sister. I think all 4 are solid points, and I think whynot’s point also adds to that – he was part of the Seaver trade so they probably didn’t want to just give up on him, they wanted him to turn it around and be productive so that trade wouldn’t look as completely awful as it actually was.

by cjmulrain on Apr 21, 2009 12:25 AM EDT up reply actions