The Mets have claimed INF Angel Berroa off waivers from the New York Yankees. In 21 G with the Yankees this year, Berroa was 3-for-22 (.136). Berroa, the 2003 AL Rookie of the Year for Kansas City is a career .259/.304/.376 hitter in 2776 MLB PA. Lest you forget, Jeff Francouer is a career .266/.308/.424 hitter in 2632 MLB PA. It’s not easy in two days to pick up two guys who have made an out in 70% of the time and who each have more than 2,600 MLB PA.
Berroa, for all of his failings and flailings, could well be an upgrade on Alex Cora who has hit .211/.294/.250 in 147 while playing nearly every day since June 1. Cora’s leadership, a big story angle a few weeks ago, is great, but at some point, leaders need to produce. According to UZR, Cora has been -3.8 runs this year defensively, or -16.1 over 150 games. Berroa was -4.6 in 79 games with the Dodgers last year, or only -9.3 over 150 games. Yup, that’s a win below average, but it’s also half a win better than Cora.
I can’t remember the last time I booed a Mets player. But, if you’re going to Saturday’s game, please boo Francouer. Boo him not because he’s bad, or a former Brave, but for what he represents – a front office that doesn’t get how to construct championship caliber baseball teams. Just a simple boo will be enough. No personal insults, just a nice loud boo. That might wake up the folks upstairs, but it probably won’t.
To make room for Frenchy, the Mets assigned Nick Evans to AAA. Evans was hitting .250/.298/.409. To make room for Evans, the Bisons placed LHP Arturo Lopez on the temporarily inactive list.
Binghamton and St. Lucie swapped relievers. RHP Stephen Clyne (1-0, 7.31 in AA) and RHP Edgar Ramirez (0-2, 6.66 in AA) were sent down from AA to the FSL while RHP Jose De La Torre (3-3, 2.77) and RHP Emary Frederick (2-5, 3.32) were promoted from St. Lucie to Binghamton. Ramirez, in 21.2 innigns to begin the year at St. Lucie did not allow a run and gave up just 11 hits while fanning 18. Frederick has fanned 27 and walked 20 in the FSL. It will not end well for him in AA.
Church wasn’t staying here anyway, Im sure everyone knew he would be dumped on by the front office eventually.. i just expected it to come after this season.
Does this trade improve the Mets for this season? No, but I really have a tough time seeing this team going anywhere this year… if anything they should be sellers at the deadline, being buyers would be stupid when pretty much everyone is out until august or september, and i cant wait to hear everyone whine when delgado is hitting like .200 with 1 or 2 homers over his first few weeks back.
If worse comes to worst, and Francoeur is terrible, they could easily trade him next off-season to a team willing to try and fix him (or they could non tender him) .. and then they can go out and pick up a true power hitting OF’er to man RF.
plus, i dont know what the mets could’ve gotten in return for church, but it probably wouldn’t be a top prospect… only 1 team traded 1 of their top prospects for church, and we all know who that team was…
A top prospect is not needed to put Church to better use in a trade. Even if it was for Rios or anything other than a straight positional downgrade really…
and when i say sellers, i mean trade the little pieces.. like livan hernandez to a contender that might need an innings eater at the back of their rotation.. maybe even wagner, i know the rays need a closer.. although i rather the mets keep wagner and get draft picks in return next year.
Both Berroa and Evans are in the lineup this afternoon for the Bison. Kind of surprising on both accounts. I guess Evans can use all the time he can get to improve on his sub .100 BA in AAA. Jon Niese made the start, leaving him out of the picture for the Mets until after the AS break.
Everything else is later, Carson is probable for Savannah, as is McHugh for Brooklyn, with Kaplan or Shaw for St. Lucie.
Neise wasnt going to bump Pelfrey or Santana anyway. But, hoepfully when they meet over the break to revamp the linup and rotation, he gets penciled in.
Unless, of course, they insist on seeing afew more Livan starts?
well Adam Rubin is reporting that Livan has been told he will start the 5th game after the break. This amounts to skipping him for a turn so at least they are doing that much. And he’s fared well against the Nationals so maybe he’ll get back on track against them.
rios is a great talent… he would have been a better pickup, true, but church for him straight up would not come close to getting it done.. even with his salary (which isn’t bad) the mets would need to toss in prospects.
of course, I meant in a package for Rios.
If you’re AT tonight’s game, the front office couldn’t care less whether you boo or not. They’ve already gotten what they want from you.
The Mets definitely got the short end of the trade, but if it kept them from doing something even more stupid, like dipping into the farm and dealing a Jon Niese or Jenrry Mejia for an Adam LaRoche or Nick Johnson, well, I guess this move is the lesser of two evils.
Maybe I’m reaching, but I’m really trying to see a silver lining.
Marte hit his 5th HR of the year, niceee
Welch hitting well for St Lucie again, solid outing for Kaplan .. Carson pitching a gem for Savannah and Marte is having a strong game with the bat.
CG shutout for Carson, only 3 hits allowed.. 8 K’s
Francisco Pena comes through with a big HR for St Lucie in the 12th, his 4th of the year, tonight hes 3-6 with a pair of runs scored and a pair of RBIs.
after spending the better part of 2 weeks talking about how awesome ike davis is, he betrays me by having 2 bad games.
this is bullshit.
Cmon, you can’t base anything on 2 games. A baseball season is way too long for that.
A 9 inning no-hitter by committee for the GCL Mets yesterday. I’m loving Jhonathan Torres, the 19-year-old righty who pitched the bulk of the game. He’s dominated the GCL so far, with a season line of:
4-0, 0.82 ERA, 22 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 5 BB, 22 K, .085 BAA
Also loving 17-year-old SS Wilfredo Tovar, the GCL Mets leadoff hitter, who was 2 for 4 and picked up his 3rd triple of the year while driving in the game’s lone run yesterday. His season line so far:
.339/.393/.482, 2 2B, 3 3B, 9 RBI, 9 SB, 3 BB, 2 K in 14 games
The Mets 2 biggest new international prospects, perhaps? Can’t wait to learn more about both of them!
meh its too early for me to get excited. but theres no question they are off to nice starts.. the catcher they drafted, Zapata, is off to a nice start as well for the GCL Mets.
If it were just the popular stats (ERA, W, AVG, SLG, etc), I’d agree, but the peripherals also look good. Like, if Torres had given up a lot of hits, or were striking out fewer guys, or if Tovar had a bunch of strikeouts or was hitting all singles. Still, you’re right in that it may be too early to dive in head first on these guys. Call it a hunch, I suppose.
off topic, but, does anyone know if the Futures’ Game is on TV today? MLB Network perhaps?
I believe ESPN usually carried that game live in the past.
yeah your right, thanks.. for those interested – its on ESPN2 at 2:00PM ET. I’ll be watching Mets’ game but I’ll definitely be flipping back and forth.. I hope I get to see Mejia pitch.
i’ll bet you 30 grand mejia won’t throw a single pitch, not even in the bullpen.
…right?
he’s injured?
he won’t pitch?
i saw he’s still on the roster, so now i’m excited.
knowing the mets, even though mejia is hurt, they’ll say “yeah hes OK to pitch its ok let him pitch.. we love international competition and screwing up our pitchers! woo”
Berroa better than Cora not according to OPS+
Berroa last 4 years 52 / -30 / 62 / -6 (2009)
Cora last 4 years 56 / 75/ 87/ 73 (2009)
& Cora is playing with a torn ligament in his hand.
Which stats should I look at first.
My question is when does Berroa replace A. Reyes on the roster.
The thing I come back to with Cora is that he hasn’t hit at all since he’s been playing everyday as his stats his June 1 attest. I don’t think Berroa’s good, actually, I know that he’s bad, but my point is that Cora at this point, with a torn ligament, might be a worse option as an everyday guy.
I would hope Berroa starts the second half on the Mets.
He had been mostly sitting around since being called up to the Yanks and then waived, so he could use the time in the minors to get going. Of course, the Bisons are off for the next three days as well…
Pelfrey and Perez are going to make me lose all my hair if I have another 2.5 years of this to look forward too…
The current Reds pitcher, Robert Manuel was traded by the Mets for Dave Williams back in 2006. Always good to see a former Mets minor leaguer reach the bigs. This is the kind of player the Mets can pick up by trading Redding or Livan, so is it really worth it?