5/30/11

Could Pagan Be Traded To Make Way For Nieuwenhuis?

Is Angel a trade candidate?
Yesterday's game was an eye opener. Angel Pagan was going with the pitch to opposite field. Less pull and more taking what is given = the Pagan of last year. Which got me thinking. Yes! Terry Collins is the eternal optimist. BUT, lets be real! Are the Mets really contenders for the Wild card this year? Will the Mets be the center of the trade deadline this July? Barring a ten game winning streak the answer is, yes. So back to Pagan, if he becomes the Angel of 2010 the rest of the way, is he a trade commodity? More importantly, can Kirk Nieuwenhuis (Captain Kirk) replace him? I say yes and here is why:

A new Captain in flushing this year?

1) .407 OBP%. He is leading Buffalo in this category. (For all the hitting Jose Reyes has done thus far, his OBP is still only .382)
2) .521 SLG% He is leading Buffalo in this category.
3) 88 total bases.  He is leading Buffalo in this category.
4) 29 walks. He is leading Buffalo in this category.
5) 1 error

At 23 years old it would appear he has nothing else to prove in the minors.

2 comments:

Mack Ade said...

Good to have you back on the site, Derek.

Nieuwenhuis will have the same problem Lucas Duda, Fernando Martinez, and a 1000 AAA guys before them had.

Very few get handed an opportuinty to start every day, which is the only way we'd ever find out what these guys can do in the majors.


Trust me, Ike Davis might still be in AAA if Daniel Murphy wasn't injured before the start of last season, not because Murphy would have been better than him, but just becaose Ike would have never been given the right platform to display his talent.

Carlos Beltran will be gone soon and there will be an open position in the outfield. It would be nice to see the Mets pick one of the guys I mentioned above and give them a shot for the remainder of the season.

Technically, it is Kirk's turn.

derekshowerman said...

Agreed. The thing is with Kirk is the higher walk totals this year. Pitch selection was not where it should be last year, where as this year he had 41 walks all year. Already 29 this year and it isn't even June. If Sandy and company pay attention to this site, they should know that they could be onto something with this kid if he is given a fair shot. If they truly are an analytics driven organization, the analytics suggest Kirk gets the call.