Off Day WAR: The Best And Worst Seasons By Mets Right Fielders

by James Kannengieser on Jun 15, 2009 2:00 PM EDT

The final installment of the positional player Off Day WAR series takes us to a position which was dominated by 1 man in the 1980s and by no man in the 2000s. Here are the top 10 seasons by Mets right fielders, per Sean Smith's WAR database:

Rank	Year	Player	WAR
1	1990	Darryl Strawberry	6.4
2	1987	Darryl Strawberry	6.3
3	1988	Darryl Strawberry	6.0
4	1985	Darryl Strawberry	5.0
5	1989	Darryl Strawberry	4.4
6	1979	Joel Youngblood	3.8
7	1986	Darryl Strawberry	3.7
8	1993	Bobby Bonilla	3.7
9	1975	Rusty Staub	3.3
10	1980	Joel Youngblood	3.1

And the bottom 10:

Rank	Year	Player	WAR
38	1966	Al Luplow	0
39	2002	Jeromy Burnitz	0
40	1982	Ellis Valentine	-0.1
41	2006	Xavier Nady	-0.1
42	2004	Richard Hidalgo	-0.2
43	1962	Joe Christopher	-0.3
44	1965	Joe Christopher	-0.4
45	1981	Ellis Valentine	-0.4
46	2001	Timo Perez	-0.4
47	1994	Joe Orsulak	-1.2

Some quick notes:

I think I've cracked the case regarding the Mets' struggles the last few seasons. The Mets right fielder with the most productive season in the 2000s was Derek Bell in 2000. The Big Pimpin' man posted 1.2 WAR. Since then, we've been treated to replacement level performances from Timo Perez, Shawn Green, Richard Hidalgo, Jeromy Burnitz, Roger Cedeno, Xavier Nady and Victor Diaz. Barring a midseason trade, this trend should continue as 2009 Mets right fielders have an OPS of .667 in aggregate.
TotalZone didn't love Darryl Strawberry's defense, except for 2 huge years from 1989-1990. Can anyone remember Darryl during those seasons? Was he doing anything differently in that stretch?
"Mighty" Joe Orsulak is one player who was probably happy about the strike in 1994.

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Wow

Was Nady’s glove really that bad? It never seemed like he was anything special, but below replacement? Hard to imagine. And worse than Jeromy Burnitz?

Daryl was ridiculous.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Jun 15, 2009 2:11 PM EDT reply actions

Nady

Smith’s WAR has him at -0.2 for the full season in 2006, with -8 defensively (TotalZone and OF arm). UZR agrees and has him at -8.9. He was decent offensively that half season (a SLG-heavy .813 OPS) but outside of his 2008 season he’s been a marginal major league player. Yet somehow I find myself thinking he’d still be a great fit in the Mets’ OF. Perception says one thing, reality says another.

by James Kannengieser on Jun 15, 2009 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

It's not just you

People clamor for Nady all the time — like last year around the deadline. I don’t get it.

by jasondg on Jun 15, 2009 2:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

I mean, I don’t think he’s anything special enough to desperately want him back or anything, but still, I had no idea he was such a butcher. He really didn’t have an arm though, and his range and routes were not really any good.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Jun 15, 2009 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Good bat at the bootom of the lineup

Since he left who’s even usually in that 5th spot (Cliff Floyd and for a time Delgado" seems to have struggled. Wright is prospering there but because those in the 6,7 and 8 spots are not that great it’s not like anyone cares to walk him.

Basicly that’s why Nady is missed by a lot of folks. I wouldn’t mind having him back. I don’t exactly pine after the guy though.

by Chickendirt on Jun 15, 2009 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions

We still get the occasional Google visit

from folks searching for “Joel Youngblood”.

Also, Bobby Bonilla: he’s better than you remember.

by Eric Simon on Jun 15, 2009 2:15 PM EDT reply actions

Straw

Straw came up when I first started to follow baseball and the Mets. More than anyone else on the team, his at bats got my attention every time. Because my parents didn’t have a tv in the house (filthy hippies) I don’t remember watching, just listening. He was a skinny man, too.

Grission and Husart - that is either the non-union Mexican equivelant of "Starsky and Hutch" or the key to winning the World Series.

by IanB in MD on Jun 15, 2009 2:40 PM EDT reply actions

Joe Orsulak!

Brings back memories. Too bad no Mark “The Vulture” Carreon sighting.

by metsjetsnets on Jun 15, 2009 3:21 PM EDT reply actions

Why doesn't Omar get more flack for trading Mike Cameron for Nady?

Maybe because he’s done so many more spectacularly stupid things , but the crowd that still defends him (Johan Santana! John Maine!…crickets chirping) has to be counterweighed by all the stupid things.

Cameron/Keppinger/Bell/Lindstrom/Flores/Randolph/Castillo/Milledge-terrible process move in spite of half-decent results-/Conine—seriously, Jeff Conine??/Marlon/Perez/Putz/Castro

I will not allow the denigration of the life essence

by GenJackRipper on Jun 15, 2009 6:44 PM EDT reply actions

I think its more about how bad Nady really was

And the disparity between his perceived and actual value. The idea between trading Cameron, a guy best utilized as a CF, for a more traditional right fielder had some merit. Cameron was never going to be as valuable to the Mets as he would to a club that didn’t have Carlos Beltran. Omar just picked the wrong trading partner, and no one ever noticed.

"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet

What a fool I was to defy him"

-HST

by Mark Himmelstein on Jun 15, 2009 8:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Ah Richard Hidalgo

His 5 homers in consecutive games, along with the Mets sweep of the Yankees at Shea had to be the best moments of that season. And David Wright coming up and doing well, of course.

Trying to believe is my full-time occupation.

by Preach19 on Jun 15, 2009 11:03 PM EDT reply actions

Strawberry

1989 was the year everyone soured on Strawberry. He stopped stealing bases, he loafed, he had a “bad attitude”. 1990, of course, was his resurgent contract year, after which he signed with the Dodgers.

Don’t know why they’d both represent great fielding years for Straw.

by Lunkwill Fook on Jun 16, 2009 9:32 AM EDT reply actions