Interesting Signing: Frank Catalanotto

Nothing wrong with giving a guy a look and a spring training invite.

He's a longshot to make the team, but Frank can still hit a bit and is a solid citizen.

One thing is for sure, if he does get any at-bats this year with the Mets it will be against righthanders only.

Catalanotto is one of the worst lefty on lefty hitters in the game, and in the last 3 seasons he has hit .167 against them in only 36 at-bats, while hitting .274 against righty's in over 680 at-bats.

Career: Batting |
SEASON	TEAM	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1997	Det	13	26	2	8	2	0	0	3	3	7	0	0	.308	.379	.385	.764
1998	Det	89	213	23	60	13	2	6	25	12	39	3	2	.282	.325	.446	.771
1999	Det	100	286	41	79	19	0	11	35	15	49	3	4	.276	.327	.458	.785
2000	Tex	103	282	55	82	13	2	10	42	33	36	6	2	.291	.375	.457	.832
2001	Tex	133	463	77	153	31	5	11	54	39	55	15	5	.330	.391	.490	.881
2002	Tex	68	212	42	57	16	6	3	23	25	27	9	5	.269	.364	.443	.807
2003	Tor	133	489	83	146	34	6	13	59	35	62	2	2	.299	.351	.472	.823
2004	Tor	75	249	27	73	19	1	1	26	17	33	1	0	.293	.344	.390	.734
2005	Tor	130	419	56	126	29	5	8	59	37	53	0	2	.301	.367	.451	.818
2006	Tor	128	437	56	131	36	2	7	56	52	37	1	3	.300	.376	.439	.815
2007	Tex	103	331	52	86	20	4	11	44	28	37	2	1	.260	.337	.444	.781
2008	Tex	88	248	28	68	23	1	2	21	20	29	1	1	.274	.342	.399	.741
2009	Mil	77	144	18	40	6	3	1	9	14	23	2	0	.278	.346	.382	.728
Total	--	1240	3799	560	1109	261	37	84	456	330	487	45	27	.292	.358	.446	.804

Mets Add Jeff Francoeur in Terrible Trade

I am just stunned by this.

Francoeur has a .282 OBP this year, and a career OBP of .308.

Moreover, he has 5 HRs this year on over 300 at-bats, and an OPS+ of 68.

Last year, in 599 at-bats he hit .239 with an OPS+ of 72.

Let's see....

CAREER: 560 games, 77 HR, .307 OBP, cannon arm, 12 SB, 8 CS.

Wait a sec, that's actually Wily Mo Pena.

CAREER: 631 games, 78 HR, .309 OBP, cannon arm, 14 SB, 12 CS.

That's Frenchy.

But wait, there's more!

Jeff Francoeur, RF
1 year/$3.375M (2009)

Ryan Church, RF
1 year/$2.8M (2009)

Fire Omar...really.

Career: Batting | Fielding
SEASON	TEAM	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2005	Atl	70	257	41	77	20	1	14	45	11	58	3	2	.300	.336	.549	.885
2006	Atl	162	651	83	169	24	6	29	103	23	132	1	6	.260	.293	.449	.742
2007	Atl	162	642	84	188	40	0	19	105	42	129	5	2	.293	.338	.444	.782
2008	Atl	155	599	70	143	33	3	11	71	39	111	0	1	.239	.294	.359	.653
2009	Atl	82	304	32	76	12	2	5	35	12	46	5	1	.250	.282	.352	.634
Total	--	631	2453	310	653	129	12	78	359	127	476	14	12	.266	.308	.424	.732

Arod vs David Wright vs Chipper Jones

Yes, it's begun: fan vs fan in the "my player is better than yours" battle royales.

I was having a chat with some baseball buddies yesterday, and they happen to be Yankee fans.

The discussion turned to "best third baseman". This is a typical Yankee fan "argument"--they take the best players on their team and then compare them to everyone else using specious logic. Another of these arguments would be like, "best young power pitcher with a Native American heritage". My point to them was that ARod isn't even a third baseman, but rather the best hitting shortstop of all-time.

So anyway, we get into it a bit over third baseman, and my thoughts were that David Wright, over the last 3 years, has been near equal with ARod, and that ARod's 2007 skews the total numbers a bit in his favor.

That sent them into a tizzy, and they proceeded to say how it was ARod by such a wide margin that the real discussion was who was second. A few placed David Wright fourth behind Chipper Jones and Evan Longoria.

Now while Longoria isn't really in the discussion, Chipper, of course, is. When I look at the three I place DW ahead of Chipper because of his ability to play every day, while Chipper plays in about 70% of his team's games.

So let's look at the 3-year splits and see what the stats tell us:

ARod (2006-2008) Batting Splits
Overall	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Total	1665	360	503	90	1	124	380	250	43	376	57	11	.302	.403	.581	.984

Chipper (2006-2008) Batting Splits
Overall	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Total	1363	277	466	94	8	77	263	233	2	209	15	2	.342	.435	.592	1.027

David Wright (2006-2008) Batting Splits
Overall	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Total	1812	324	566	124	8	89	347	254	15	346	69	15	.312	.396	.537	.933

Each of the three are top hitters. ARod obviously has the most power, Chipper the best eye, and DW the most speed, consistency and durability.

The discussion continues and I tell these guys that my preference is the 26-year old that is just entering his prime vice the 37-year old Brave that can't stay on the field very much, and the soon to be 34-year old primadonna who, despite being one of the greatest hitters of any generation, can't win the big one and is hated wherever he goes.

And what does FanGraphs say?

Chipper Jones, 7.6 value wins, $34.3M value in 2008 against an actual salary of $12.3M.
David Wright, 7.2 value wins, $32.5M value in 2008 against an actual salary of $5.3M.
ARod, 6.2 value wins, $28.2M value in 2008 against an actually salary of $28M.

As far as fielding goes, Chipper is the best of the three, followed closely by DW, with ARod third.

All three have superb numbers, but I wouldn't trade David Wright for anyone, he's the youngest, most consistent, and easily the least expensive of the three. He is the face of the franchise, gritty as hell, and he is going to continue to get a bit better as he makes his way toward Cooperstown.

And God forbid you tell a Yankee fan how much better Jose Reyes is than "past a diving Jeter".

Meet the Mets!

Feeling the winter and post holiday blues?

Well, please enjoy this video of the greatest sports theme song ever with a veritable plethora of wonderful scenes from the Mets early days.

The best part is at the end we hear the venerable Bob Murphy announcing the starting lineups for the Mets very first game. You'll chuckle when he says, "Felix Maaaan-teee-ya"...man, I miss the Murph!

And remember: pitchers and catchers next month!