Nationals 7, Mets 5: Chris Carter Deserves To Make The Team Over Mike Jacobs
by James Kannengieser on Mar 22, 2010 7:45 PM EDT
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PrintMike Pelfrey was the main story today. The big guy gave up four home runs, two each to Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham. One of Zimmerman's was apparently wind-aided. At least they were hit by actual major league hitters. He walked just one in 4.2 innings of work, which I guess is the silver lining of an otherwise miserable start.
Jenrry Mejia, Ryota Igarashi and Bobby Parnell combined to pitch 3.1 innings, giving up one run despite allowing eight baserunners while striking no one out.
Henry "Hank White" Blanco smacked a pair of doubles off Jason Marquis, who has really struggled this spring. Chris Carter provided the only other performance of note, going 3-5 with a double, raising his spring training line to .444/.500/1.056. You really have to feel for the guy at this point. Yeah, he can't field all that well but he's just a flat-out crusher at the plate. This is the third preseason in a row in which he's put up a gaudy slash line. Yet all signs point to the apparently beloved Mike Jacobs, he of the career 0.6 WAR/600 and .756 spring training OPS, making the team over The Animal. It makes a person wonder -- if Jacobs didn't hit eleven homers in August/September for the Mets in 2005, and was just a regular jobbernowl off the scrap heap, would he even be close to consideration for a spot on the Opening Day roster? And now there's talk of him starting? Dayton Moore's Royals dropped him and now he might be starting for Omar Minaya's Mets. Good grief. Let's hope Ike Davis continues to improve.
The Mets play the Braves tomorrow at 1:10 PM. SNY will have the broadcast.
In lieu of WPA graph, I'll just relay the news that Wilson Valdez hit a walkoff homer off Phil Hughes to beat the Yankees today. For what it's worth, which is basically zilch, The Spill has a 1.206 OPS this spring.
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Well they both deserve to make the team
over Daniel Murphy. The question is do the Mets have the cajones.
I don't see how Jacobs does
at best he and Murphy will be even, barring a complete collapse of baseball playing ability by Murphy.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
murph will most likely be better than jacobs
by Mike Clemente on Mar 22, 2010 8:11 PM EDT up reply actions
No, not most likely.
I think it’s virtually impossible for Murphy to perform worse than Jacobs (as a first baseman). Jacobs has more power (say, 20-30 HR) over Murphy (say, 10-15 HR), but that’s about the only category where he’s better- in categories that are a good thing, anyway.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 22, 2010 11:31 PM EDT up reply actions
how you figure?
Murphy can field Jacobs can’t. And Murphy gets on base, Jacobs strikes out with the occasional home run. and both stink against lefties so it can’t even be a straight platoon.
The growing anti Murphy sentiment around here continues to baffle me. And yes Chris Carter should be starting.
It IS .331 for his career.
Admittedly, it’s not a very long career (basically, a year and a quarter or so), but I don’t think you can just ignore his 2008 performance.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 22, 2010 11:36 PM EDT up reply actions
That it is not.
It’s sad that the Mets get to choose between the good glove/not much power/poor on-base guy and the DH/some power/no on-base guy, unless they want to go with the guy who’s not ready.
Ah well. Baseball’s almost here, folks!
"He's definitely mixing it into his repertoire. That's French for 'repertoire' " - Keith Hernandez
by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Mar 23, 2010 9:22 AM EDT up reply actions
Ugh
Please please, please tell me this is sarcasm.
by SoCal Metfan on Mar 22, 2010 9:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Murphy Has done nothing
to earn a job and as was pointed out above his OBP was .313 with no power. Jacobs sucks too but I find it hard to believe he’ll suck worse than Murphy has in the past year and at least provides some pop.
He's did more than Jacobs did last year
and after factoring in defense, Murphy was more valuable last year than any year of Jacobs’ career.
Value is value
Whether it comes from defense or offense does it matter? And either way it is irrelevant because there is a good chance Murphy will be a better (not that either will be good) hitter than Jacobs anyway. His OBP was higher than Jacobs the last two year and his slugging was higher last year. Jacobs has gotten worse every year of his career and has the upside of replacement level, Murphy is already better than Jacobs and at least has a chance to get improve from last season.
Correcting myself from before, Murphy’s 2009 was better than and year Jacob has had since 2006, not his career.
I find it easy to believe
Murphy is only 25 years old and still developing as a hitter. I suspect more home runs will come . If anything I am more concerned about his batting eye and the fact that maybe his defense isn’t really as good as it appeared. Nevertheless he is a far better choice than Jacobs who can’t field and can’t even reach a .300 OBP last year. In fairness, I will point out that Ron Shandler and a few other “experts” disagree and are actually bullish on Jacobs this year.
The Mets should have made a bid for Texeria when they had the chance. Their first base options are pretty weak. I am not even that sold on Ike Davis yet although if this season turns sour quickly, I would hope he would be called up and become the starter to see what he could do.
Murphy has done nothing to earn the job
but so far in his career Jacobs has done everything to prove he’s nt a major league starter. Murphy at least hasn’t proven that yet.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
I really feel like any semi competent front office
would be hyping Carter up if he was opsing .800 in spring training considering what we traded for him. Only our front office could make a questionable trade, luck into that player producing, and still royally muck up.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
This carter mishandling
will be my second biggest disappointment of the spring – along with the non-signing of felipe lopez, even more than not signing/trading for a pitcher
first base
I can’t understand why Daniel Murphy is even in the Majors!
-He does not hit for average
-He does not draw walks so his OBA is poor
-HE has no position(If he plays first Wright and Reyes will have 10 more errors apiece)
-He has little power And does not drive in runs
-He has only base to base speed
-He is not athletic as he proved in left field last season (embarassing)
He has changed his stance completely which is an admission of failure
-His at bats consist of grounders to 2nd and soft fly balls to left center
-PLEASE!! send him down or put him in a trade package with gutless Mike Pelfry.
He was one of the best defensive first baseman in the league last year
He is a good player for what we are paying him. There is no reason to give up on him.
Ooo
So are you one of those guys who doesn’t change things about yourself so as not to admit failure? If so, seek help urgently!
by Pack Bringley on Mar 22, 2010 10:17 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Cal Ripken Jr. used to change his stance practically every year
definitely an admission of failure…
2009 Did Not Happen
Scotty would be proud.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 22, 2010 11:33 PM EDT up reply actions
A nice attempt
but, IT NEEDS MOR CAPSA ND MISLPELINGZ
by HotChipWillBreakYourLegs on Mar 23, 2010 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions
I tried.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 23, 2010 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions
Blech
I tried typing more in that response, but ultimately, I felt brevity was best.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 23, 2010 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions
murphy is not a starter he's a utility guy
at least if he was on any other team. But the Mets hyped him up 2yrs ago so they have to keep playing thier hand god forbid they fold and throw Davis in as a starter. i mean what do they have to lose. If he can’t handle it you send him down. Love Murphy’s work ethic but he’s not an everyday player. Too bad he can’t play SS
Bringing Davis up starts his arb clock early
Let him hit his way out of AAA before giving him the job this year.
there are several things wrong with this
1. Who gives a flying one if he hits for average
2. His OBP was better than Jacobs last year
3. He plays first, he’s good defensively, he has no bearing on whether Wright or Reyes makes erros
4. he had a .427 slugging last year,above the major league average. RBI does not measure a player.
5. So what if he isn’t fast? You can say that about Jason Bay, Jeff Francoeur, the catchers and any other first baseman.
6. He’s more athletic than you will ever be.
7. He changed his stance and had a better second half.
8. No they don’t.
9. Mike Pelfrey definitely has guts.
Oh, and flagged.
"We're investigating the investigative procedure of the investigation of Tony Bernazard"---Omar Minaya (he really didn't say it but he would"
by firejerrynow on Mar 23, 2010 6:25 AM EDT up reply actions
those are pretty bad arguments against that list.
Not that I agree with the list completely… I don’t. but you’re going to compare a major leaguer’s athleticism with a dude who’s commenting on sbnation? really?
all that said, murphy shouldn’t be a starting first baseman. does that mean carter or jacobs is better? not saying that at all. but, I think op’s right in that the front office had given murphy way too much credit in handing him a starting left fielder’s job last year when it was painfully obvious he should’ve been in buffalo or maybe even binghamton.
Remember
how everyone around here were so bent out of shape when the Mets got Carter in the Wagner deal? Now you’re all calling for him to make the team and possibly to start.
President of the Ramses Barden Fan Club
Does anyone actually want Carter to start?
I haven’t seen very much discussion of having Carter start from people on this site, though perhaps I have been reading the wrong threads. Murphy’s defense is why he should be the starter at this point, even if the three players are about even offensively.
My preference was for two draft picks for Wagner, rather than Carter, and I will continue to maintain that keeping Wagner and offering arbitration would have been the better play, regardless of what Carter does (process over outcomes, basically). That does not mean that I thought that Carter was a bad pickup. It was merely a worse choice than two first-rounders.
by sjohnson125 on Mar 22, 2010 9:46 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
This comment sums up how I feel
Won’t speak for other members of the community though. I like Carter for the bench, with Murphy starting 1B on Opening Day. And any disapproval with the Wagner trade had less to do with Carter being crappy and more to do with the draft picks.
by James Kannengieser on Mar 22, 2010 11:03 PM EDT up reply actions
I think if anything you could argue Carter could see more starts in RF than 1B
"All energy flows according to the whims of the great magnet
What a fool I was to defy him"
-HST
by Mark Himmelstein on Mar 22, 2010 11:28 PM EDT up reply actions
I'll just be happy if Carter ends up on the roster over Jacobs
It’s a long season, and I’m sure we’ll have several different starters come september then we see on opening day.
Who cares how bad the Bay deal will look in 2013, the world is going to end in 2012 anyway
by Stephen Schmidt on Mar 23, 2010 12:04 AM EDT up reply actions
but...is murphy's defense really that good?
sure, anyone can go find his uzr, but small sample sizes. ridiculously small sample sizes. what I saw on the field was not a good firstbaseman. there was that stupid crazy flip play that he made, but anyone can make the spectacular if lucky enough. this is a guy that’s going to be involved in so many plays throughout the year, and his defense will be exposed by the end of it, if he plays 150+ games at 1b. I don’t see him ending up on top by the end of the year.
What annoys me is that murphy was handed the job from the very beginning of camp. and I don’t understand why they signed jacobs in the first place. a guy who can’t play defense as well as carter, and his strengths are the same as carter’s strengths. they sign a lesser player, but are more willing to give him the job… sigh
It's small, but at the same time, you can't ignore it, you know?
It’s a make-or-break year for him, no doubt.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 23, 2010 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions
Put it this way
One thing worse than trading Wagner for Carter would have been trading him for Mike Jacobs.
I still think it's a dumb move to trade two possible first round picks for him
but that doesn’t make him not better than more than 1 incumbents here, which says more about Omar’s team building than it does the trade. Not to mention it’d be nice to actually get some value from the trade, which we won’t be doing if Carter’s in AAA.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
So...
What’s the problem?
Should we have been happy with the Wagner deal? Should we be mad that Carter doesn’t unequivocally suck, thereby complicating the righteousness of our past grumblings? Should we conclude that he does suck so as not to, to quote the guy above, admit failure?
by Pack Bringley on Mar 22, 2010 10:31 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
There's no way to win.
That’s a good thing, though, in a way, I guess.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Mar 22, 2010 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions
just because
it was a terrible move in the first place doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expect something out of it.
the guy’s here, might as well let him earn the job. its making the best of a shit sandwich.
It was word of the day on that little screen some elevators have in office buildings
Was desperate to use it somehow.
by James Kannengieser on Mar 23, 2010 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions
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