There was a little girl,
And she had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good
She was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
Who says there’s no culture in the baseball blogosphere?
The first domino to tip over was Travis d’Arnaud who went on the disabled list on April 26th. This came as no shock to Mets fans since we all realize that d’Arnaud has dual residence on the active list and the DL.
Next man down was Wilmer Flores who hit the DL on May 12th. A pleasant change among his Met compadres was that he was able to come off the DL in a reasonable period of time.
Lucas Duda was next as he hit the DL on May 23rd. He had yet to get to one of those Duda-ian streaks where he was mashing the ball so his OPS at the time was a subdued 727, well below his career norm of 794.
The final nail in the coffin was one we all saw coming. David Wright, captain and spinal stenosis sufferer, was disabled officially on June 3rd (retroactive to May 28th).
All these injuries left the team playing Eric Campbell frequently at both corner infield positions. Campbell, a quad-A player if there ever was one, was just awful at all phases of the game. The Twitter hashtag #NeverCampbell started showing up almost as much as the more popular #NeverTrump and #NeverHillary.
Mets fans and probably manager Terry Collins wanted in the worst way to upgrade the cold corner. Sandy Alderson acted and the team did upgrade the position in the worst way. For “monetary considerations” they brought in veteran major leaguer James Loney and handed him the keys to first base.
The 2016 edition of the Baseball Prospectus wrote this in describing Loney:
“It’s a middle infielder’s profile at a power position”
“He is James Loney, the least interesting man in baseball”
Actually perhaps while being depressing a look at the career of Loney is not totally uninteresting.
| Year | Age | Tm | AB | HR | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 22 | LAD | 102 | 4 | 0.284 | 0.342 | 0.559 | 0.901 |
| 2007 | 23 | LAD | 344 | 15 | 0.331 | 0.381 | 0.538 | 0.919 |
| 2008 | 24 | LAD | 595 | 13 | 0.289 | 0.338 | 0.434 | 0.772 |
| 2009 | 25 | LAD | 576 | 13 | 0.281 | 0.357 | 0.399 | 0.756 |
| 2010 | 26 | LAD | 588 | 10 | 0.267 | 0.329 | 0.395 | 0.723 |
| 2011 | 27 | LAD | 531 | 12 | 0.288 | 0.339 | 0.416 | 0.755 |
| 2012 | 28 | LAD/BOS | 434 | 6 | 0.249 | 0.293 | 0.336 | 0.630 |
| 2013 | 29 | TBR | 549 | 13 | 0.299 | 0.348 | 0.430 | 0.778 |
| 2014 | 30 | TBR | 600 | 9 | 0.290 | 0.336 | 0.380 | 0.716 |
| 2015 | 31 | TBR | 361 | 4 | 0.280 | 0.322 | 0.357 | 0.680 |
| 2016 | 32 | NYM | 44 | 1 | 0.250 | 0.298 | 0.341 | 0.639 |
| 11 Yrs | 11 Yrs | 11 Yrs | 4724 | 100 | 0.285 | 0.338 | 0.410 | 0.748 |
What you can clearly see is that for his first 450 or at bats the young Loney looked like a star, superstar perhaps, in the making. That guy put up an OPS over 900 playing half of his games in the pitcher friendly park in Chavez Ravine.
Even in 2008 his offense was pretty much average for an NL first baseman and since he had the reputation then as a Gold Glove caliber first sacker he was still producing acceptably.
But then the skid took hold. The next time he was even an average offensive player for his position was 2013. And since then he has been quite awful considering the position he plays.
Even his defense, once quite elite, is now considered just a tick above average for the position.
It is still early enough in the season that he could bring his batting average, empty as it always is, into the .270s or .280s, but for the most part the team is getting what it paid for. It paid practically nothing and is getting practically nothing.
With the Wilpon owned Mets payroll is always a prime consideration. So while many observers hoped the team would sign Steve Pearce for the original Campbell role his price tag was probably too high. He has been raking for Tampa Bay to the tune of a .345 BA with 8 HRs and an OPS of 990. He did sign for just under $5 million which was undoubtedly too pricey for the Mets.
But the alternative was a more affordable Ryan Raburn who is at .264 with 5 HRs and an 805 OPS for Colorado. He is getting $1.6 million. Perhaps the thin air out there would translate to 760 in Queens but that’s still far better than the Duda pretenders have been.
So the problem is that the Mets brought in Loney to be their first baseman for a good while and that is exactly what they got.
When the Rays, a team with a $66.7 million Opening Day payroll, cuts a guy making $9.7 million dollars, all sorts of warning bells should be going off in your head.
It amazed me how many people were in favor of this.
Yes, sure, the team needed an upgrade. But if you’re going to go through the trouble of making a transaction, they really should have aimed higher than this. This was so 2012 of Alderson.
I still don’t understand the attitude that he’s not good enough so let’s not bother and it was too much of a hassle to get him here.
First we badly needed a replacement. Campbell had a 492 ops for the season and 412 ops since becoming the starter. Loney is currently providing a massive 200 point upgrade.
The second part you keep harping at was the fact that we needed to open a 40 man spot for him. There’s a ton of dead weight on the 40 man and we ended up losing no one. Or were you really that concerned about losing a scrub like Walter’s?
In the end he was free and didn’t cost us anything, so what are you annoyed at? If we find someone better, great, but he certainly has helped us out in the short term
100% correct
Yes, agree with Name and Chris.
You’re not accurately portraying my POV.
It’s not that it was too much of a hassle to get him. It wasn’t hard at all to get him and Alderson took the easy way out. My point has always been that if you were going to acquire someone from outside of the organization — why not get someone worthwhile?
This move was lazy and I’m shocked that the guy who’s never had any problems criticizing Alderson for his laziness, one who has pointed out how often he’s made fruitless transactions with his former employers in Oakland and San Diego, has been so blase about this move.
Loney has a .642 OPS and a .297 BABIP. He’s not been unlucky — this is who he is. There were people who thought that Dilson Herrera was a failure and not ready for Prime Time when he put up a .689 OPS OPS (.250 BABIP). But because Loney is a veteran and was good years ago and can hit an empty .270 — let’s play him for six weeks while Duda’s out.
As I’ve said before, if the Mets were going to go out and get an actual MLB player who was good to fill in for Duda, I would have supported that move. Instead, they got a guy in free fall, one whose hitting this year was nothing special for the PCL and gave him an undeserved six-week trial because he used to be good years ago.
What am I annoyed at? That they pissed away a six-week audition that should have gone to Dilson Herrera. That they valued a guy’s reputation from three years ago over the player that he is now. That they thought an empty .270 guy was a solution. That they went outside the organization to get magic beans. There’s nothing about this that makes sense to me, other than it was easy.
What he said.
Is this where I jump in about getting Kelly Johnson rather than giving their kids a try? It is in the same frame of mind…
It always comes back to Dilson Herrera.
“Giving their kids a try” – I hate to tell ya, thats not Post season baseball.
“My point has always been that if you were going to acquire someone from outside of the organization — why not get someone worthwhile?”
Ok, in a perfect world, but in late May what options does a team really have? I mean, the Twins out are of it. You want Mauer and his contract? The other teams that are way out probably wouldn’t want to trade their current options at 1b unless the Mets were willing to give up something significant.
“This move was lazy and I’m shocked that the guy who’s never had any problems criticizing Alderson for his laziness, one who has pointed out how often he’s made fruitless transactions with his former employers in Oakland and San Diego, has been so blase about this move”
I don’t think it’s lazy, and unlike the previous times where Alderson brought in an Ankiel or Abreu, the current team is in a position to win. It made no sense to bring in those veterans who had struggled for years while the team was losing. Loney is just 1 year removed from a season where, if you got that production for 6 weeks, you’d be content.
“Instead, they got a guy in free fall, one whose hitting this year was nothing special for the PCL and gave him an undeserved six-week trial because he used to be good years ago.”
Like i said earlier, minor league stats for guys who long major league track records should mean nothing. They’re not playing with the mindset that they need to produce or show off. Teams know what they can do and it’s basically just continuing to get reps and waiting for an opportunity.
“That they pissed away a six-week audition that should have gone to Dilson Herrera”
And here i thought you were against players playing out of position which would have occurred if they brought Herrera up.
And because you know my love for September…
2015 pre-September: .607 OPS. He had a 10 PA, 1.375 OPS sample in September that brought his numbers to something more respectable than they actually were.
I expect the veteran argument from Chris. I’m surprised to hear it from you. The idea that a 32 year old who was released and no major league club would give him a roster spot would somehow think there was no need to be “playing with the mindset that they need to produce or show off” is … interesting.
He’s worked out about as well as expected. In the other thread I said I expected .320/.350 and he’s right around those numbers. Early returns show him slightly worse than he was last year, which earned him his release.
Yay veterans!
Up to 774 after his career game.
Yay veterans!
It’s a quick Patch… they’re trying to figure out “The Move” to make.
In a year with a Healthy and Championship Chase Pitching Staff, you would have assumed that JUne/July would be a time for final Honing—- They’ve collaped at 3 positions!…now they’re grappling with a Roster Construction.
Try something else fast!!! This is gonna become a Tale of Quick or Dead.
I think the Mets made a valid short term move with Loney. He was doing ok in the minors, it cost nothing, and we attempted to catch a few weeks of lightening before waiting for more sellers and buyers to take shape in the marketplace.
I have no problem with dealing for Loney either. He didn’t cost anything to acquire, plays a decent first base and can sometimes still hit the ball. Definite improvement over Campbell.