Who makes the Mets bench in 2009?
With Angel Pagan under the knife, one more name has been eliminated from competition.
If you believe Marty Noble, it will be:
Fernando Tatis, Alex Cora, Ramon Castro, Marlon Anderson and a fourth outfielder, probably Jeremy Reed.
And what of Bobby Kielty and Nick Evans?
Both players have hit well this spring, with Evans coming on of late.
As MetsMinorLeague Blog writes:
Tuesday, in the Mets 5-5 tie with Washington, Nick Evans was 2-4, with a 2B, 3B, BB, and an RBI. Each of his last three hits have gone for extra bases including his slam on Monday. That modest power boost has raised his slugging percentage nearly .300 points in five AB.
I am not a fan of Marlon Anderson. He might look good now, but his 2008 season was horrible.
| 2008 Season Stats | ||||||||||||||||
| SPLITS | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Season | 87 | 138 | 16 | 29 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 27 | 2 | 1 | .210 | .255 | .275 | .530 |
| Career | 1147 | 3200 | 392 | 849 | 174 | 20 | 63 | 371 | 227 | 470 | 71 | 24 | .265 | .314 | .391 | .705 |
I would much rather have Kielty or Evans if the Mets only carry five players. Of those two, Kielty makes the most sense in that he crushes lefthanded pitching (.881 lifetime OPS against LHP) and can provide relief for either Ryan Church or Carlos Delgado.
Should the Mets decide to go with six bench players, a case could be made for Marlon Anderson--the key words here are "could be"--Marlon looked done in 2008.
Moreover, Jose Reyes should once again play every day, so the only realistic non-starter infield at-bats the Mets need to plan for are at second base, and Alex Cora can amply fill that role.
Last year we needed power off the bench, not more Marlon Anderson.
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4 comments:
Just say "No!" to Marlon please.
Very much agreed. Marlon Anderson is done, and frankly on this team there is little to no need for another backup middle infielder, not with Cora and Murphy both on the roster. We'd be much better off with a guy who can hit lefties hard off the bench.
Not sure why all of the hate for Marlon on the internet among Mets fans.
2008 was a washout for Marlon. He had a severe tear of his hamstring in the middle of the season which caused him to miss a large chunk of time and he spent much of the remainder of the season hobbling around.
If you look at his numbers in 2006 and 2007, he was significantly better with a BA in the .290's and a slugging pct. of .463 and .551. No easy feat for a guy who gets a substantial portion of his AB's coming in cold as pinch hitter.
He has been an effective pinch hitter, a role that is difficult to put up good numbers for.
Castillo is likely to need time off. Hes old and gets banged up a lot. So if hes unable to play a game or two and Cora or Reyes gets hurt mid-game then who do you bring in? Theoretically Marlon can at least play MI in a pinch.
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