My wife maintains that my columns were unduly harsh to “poor” (her adjective not mine, but it fits) Eric Campbell when he was on the Mets’ active roster. My explanation was that he was not a strong enough player to be on a major league roster, let alone one that had pennant and playoff aspirations.
The Alejandro De Aza situation is a bit different. As you may know De Aza was signed as a free agent in the off season by the Mets to a contract worth $5.75 million. The plan at the time was for him to platoon in center field with Juan Lagares. Many fans and media types were skeptical since De Aza had played little center field in his career and had a reputation (which we now see as justified) for taking creative routes to fly balls even in the outfield corners.
De Aza had always been an acceptable hitter when restricted to facing right handed pitching. His career batting average against righties is .270 and his career OPS vs. them is 746. In 2015 the BA was right in line at .278 and his OPS was 800 even.
But let’s now look at two depressing hitting lines.
| Age | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 110 | 8 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 33 | 0.164 | 0.227 | 0.318 | 0.545 |
| 32 | 108 | 7 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 37 | 0.176 | 0.252 | 0.269 | 0.521 |
Looks like the same horrible hitter, right?
Actually the 31 year old was last year’s John Mayberry, Jr. The 32 year old is the current Alejandro De Aza. Mayberry was released last year and De Aza looks like the same player only hitting from the other side of the plate, a side which the team has adequately covered.
Unlike Campbell who in this writer’s humble opinion does not belong in the majors it is certainly possible that De Aza, in the right situation, might still be able to contribute. Clearly where he is in Flushing is not the right situation or even a passable one for him.
Perhaps if he were with a team that needed a platoon corner outfielder De Aza could get his stroke back. On the Mets he is behind Curtis Granderson, Brandon Nimmo, Kelly Johnson, and Michael Conforto on the depth charts. Reports are that Conforto has just about refound his stroke and figures to exchange roles with Nimmo shortly.
It is likely that GM Sandy Alderson has asked around to find out if there is any interest at all in De Aza. We have to assume there have been no interested parties.
We know the Mets, probably more than most teams, absolutely loathe eating contracts. Meanwhile they employ Jose Reyes while Colorado is paying him a total of about $40 million for this year and next. Also on the payroll is James Loney who makes $9.67 million almost all of which comes from the Tampa Bay Rays’ checkbook.
The big things necessary for the Mets to compete this year included the health of the young starting pitchers and that of the key starters like Cespedes, Lucas Duda, David Wright, and Travis d’Arnaud. Clearly the Mets are not rowing with all the oars in the water. Having a totally unproductive De Aza hanging around isn’t helping a bit. It’s time to DFA this player.
I’m not a big one for having management ” make a statement” with a personnel move. The thought of designating De Aza for assignment might be an exception.
Such a move would free a roster space that could be better used; it would reinforce the premise that a player needs to produce to hold a roster spot; and if the Mets actually did something productive with that roster spot, it would show the players that the front office hasn’t given up on 2016.
Unlike the move to promote Seth Lugo in other words. Lugo is said to have a decent curveball; he has been and continues to be very hittable. Cutting him from the 40 man roster would risk losing him, something I would be happy to chance. Promoting in his place Gilmartin, or Gabriel Ynoa, or even Darin Gorski, would all be better choices than Lugo.
Now, Sonny Gray would be an even better choice, but perhaps that’s too much to ask.
Darin.Gorski??????
As to who the Mets should bring in to take De Aza’s spot should they DFA him my vote goes to 27 year old Travis Taljeron who is currently 5th in OPS in the PCL. If he could come up and even put up a 700 OPS in the majors he would be a big improvement as the last hitter on the bench. The team really could use more help from the right side since Conforto and Granderson are awfully weak versus lefties.
Surely Alderson can find a trading partner if he’s willing to eat say 40-50% of what’s left of De Aza’s contract? Aren’t the Mets past the half way mark so that’s less than 3 million remaining on the books. C’mon Sandy. Time for a blockbuster trade.
Why would anyone trade for him? Just wait till the Mets release him ( assuming they do) and get him for practically nothing!
Just like Alderson does? But this time its only about 2.8 million the Wilpons will be eating.
Like it or not, DeAza has an important role on the Mets – he can play centerfield against righthanders when Cespedes is unavailable for an extended time – say now. Nimmo would be the next best choice but he should be playing every day right now or close to it and he’s not a proven ML center fielder. So once Conforto is back, he’s gone.
Ideally, you would have someone else in this role, someone who was a good pinch hitter with a little speed would be great. However, that mistake was made in the offseason.
This brings me to one of my big complaints with the hitting and fielding sides of this team – they are very very inflexible in their skill sets, particularly compared to the Royals of the Cubs.
That the Mets have reduced Lagares to a strict platoon player is monumentally stupid, and negates all the progress that he’s made. Not saying that he’s the long-term answer as a full-time player, but given the imaginary scenerio of Yoenis out for two weeks, the Mets are way better off with Lagares out there full time than having De Aza fumbling around in CF. Guy can’t catch baseballs, not a CFer. Soon Lagares will be earning $9 million per. If he only plays in this narrowly defined role, it will be the new worst-contract ever.
I don’t think the Mets should release De Aza right now — I hated the signing from the beginning, and despised it ever since the Mets got Yoenis back — but the idea that he’s our backup CF while we keep Lagares on the bench is just insane to me.
Sorry but you appear to be overvaluing Lagares. If you watch him at the plate, his approach is wildly inconsistant. He hasn’t progressed at all so far. I do agree that ultimately he’ll need to play every day to prove he’s an everyday player however it may not happen here.
Not one young player came up and improved on the major league level much. If players don’t play often, they can’t develop. The Mets have been a veteran team for six years. Even when they sucked, they played veterans.
I don’t think I am over-valuing Lagares. For a two-week stretch, I’d much rather see him in CF than De Aza. Defense matters. And again, I think it’s a mistake to reduce a young, developing player to a super-strict platoon role. It’s robotic and, ultimately, damaging to that player’s progress (and value). I think Juan showed up ready to play this Spring, but has not gotten enough opportunities to build on it.
Its interesting listening to MLB tv and radio, with guys the follow all the teams and compare to all we think about our team. It just made me chuckle to think one of the matters we need to consider is how to manage a guy so poor that he has no business in the Bigs, while other teams, say the Nats, are talking about league MVP (Murphy), Manager of year (Baker), leading the league in HR, and having a fierce line-up from the 2 guy to 7. They are 18 over and running, while we are 6 over, tied with the Marlins, cannot hit consistently to save a life, and have a pitching staff in disarray. It was sad watching the Nats and Cubs on out own All Star team shame, not to mention the Royals hand Collins his arse when the spotlight was on. Im glad Jay Horwitz got so much camera time in the dugout. Its definitely a disappointing place to be, especially with reports that deGrom turned down Collin’s offer for the ASG because he is “beat”.
So sure, lets DFA De Aza, its a no brainer. But replacing him with anybody in our pipeline is putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. Too little, too late. Lets hope Syndergaard is right – “we are a second half team”.
Concentrate!!!
This is all about the Pitching.
Is this really the best time to DFA DeAza two weeks before the trade deadline? The Mets need a right handed hitting outfielder for the bench. Campbell is not a viable option to replace DeAza and in the past two weeks DeAza has actually been hitting some. In the next two weeks a player may be obtained through trade. That is when you consider DFA for DeAza.
Taijeron is not on the 40 man roster so if they bring him up and then in the next two weeks have on opportuniy to trade then they will have a roster problem. If they don’t trade by the deadline maybe Taijeron is an option on August 1st.
This is not an endorsement to keeping DeAza and the authors Mayberry comparison is excellant. DeAza right now has the most value as roster flexibility.
I could get behind this if I had more faith in Travis Taijeron. But that .421 BABIP and the 29.4 K% are two pretty big warning signs. We’ve already got an all-or-nothing RH guy on the bench in Rene Rivera. Plus, I’m not sure if I’m ready for Taijeron in CF if push came to shove.
Glad someone else feels as strongly as I do about Campbell. He’s versatile, he can sing and dance and speak Japanese! Who cares. He can’t hit at all.
De Aza and Bastardo turned out to be terrible signings and a waste of millions.
One thing I would say on de Aza’s behalf is that he has never been a good pinch hitter or part-time guy. That is, he needs to play more often, even though he was barely adequate even then. While that may not be available, he signed with an opportunity promised but he has not made any waves about not getting it. The role the Mets have for de Aza is not one he has ever been good at, and besides, it’s not his fault Alderson offered him $5.75MM.
Great perspective Gus. He is not choosing to perform badly. It is unfortunate something we fans endure. From that angle, its worth only booing uninspired performances and not results. Lack of hustle, careless play are not good. I dont see that in De Aza. Alderson needs to be booed for offering that kind of cash. Like Chris Young last season, it was a poor move (oddly enough, post Mets CY has been pretty good).
My recollection was that of the logical candidates to platoon in CF with Lagares (e.g. Parra and some others) DeAza was the only one willing to take a one year deal.
This was well before they opened the vault for Cespedes and were still in their usual penny-pinching mode. The $5.7 million is normal money for a regular platoon outfielder these days. The only thing that makes it look so bad is that the player has been a total offensive zero.
Wow, speaking of second guessing and parsing your words ever so closely. Ssndy needed a LH option in CF. What was he supposed to do? It’s still up to the player to perform and I’m pretty sure his disappointment spilled over into his play.
Larry and Eric, as Chris said: “Alderson needs to be booed for offering that kind of cash”. De Aza was released once in 2014 and twice(!) in 2015. So, you go and offer Alejandro de Aza $5.75MM? The Alejandro de Aza? Was there a bidding war? LOL!
It a good thing that Alderson makes some good moves too to offset these clunkers. It’s a shame these guys are all caught up in their left/right BS because a good player is a good player regardless, and a stiff will be a stiff no matter what hand he throws with or what batter’s box he stands in.
Slightly off topic, as it was written in the off season and tells you how foolish projections can be. Had it been written today, we a couple of Mets are top candidates, one of them being de Aza.
http://www.fangraphs.com/plus/2016s-biggest-bust/