It's time to just put Angel Pagan on the Opening Day roster. Done deal. Pagan is playing out of his mind this spring and is doing it again today against the Red Sox. Guy never makes an out. In the first inning, Pagan hit a laser off Tim Wakefield that Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis barely managed to snare with a great lunging catch toward the line. Normally, that's a double.
In the third inning, this time with two runners on, Pagan launched a triple into the left-centerfield gap to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. And to top it off, Nelson Figueroa owes him dinner for the saving grab he made to end the third. With two runners on, and two outs, Pagan made a charging, diving catch to rob Jed Lowrie. He's doing it all.
Comments (10)
Cool, can't wait until Willie plays him in a corner OF spot every day long after it becomes apparent he's not an everyday player.
Whoa, Ryan, easy there big fella. No one said anything about him becoming an everyday player. But he's looking like a good extra outfielder, especially now that we know Carlos Beltran will have sore knees for the rest of his life.
I agree, Pagan is an excellent fifth outfielder, and could probably start in center on a bad team. And as much as I'm enjoying his current play, I can also envision the Mets starting to treat him like "the solution" in LF just as the bloom starts coming off the rose.
Unless we think Pagan is truly emerging (I have my doubts), Omar shouldn't stop looking for someone who can play every day in Alou's absence and not hurt the team with his bat (ideally somebody who can play some first base, too).
Relax, guys. Pagan deserves a shot at the 5th outfielder on this team, but I'm not sure they have room for him, Valentin, Easley, Anderson, and Chavez on the bench once Alou comes back. As for Beltran, wasn't the point of the surgery to relieve the pain in his knees, and isn't it expected that there would be some lingering effects of the surgery for a period of time? If anything, we should be expecting/hoping to see Beltran mostly pain-free by the time summer comes around. Let's go Mets!
Ryan - why should Omar continue to empty our already shallow minor league system when we have two competent back-up outfielders who can cover LF for the first six weeks of the season that Alou is going to be out? The timing to make an trade is awful - this isn't the stretch run in September here. It's the beginning of the season. It's way too early to panic.
Omar is in a terrible bargaining position right now. Any negotiation is going to be percieved as a panic move by Minaya and the organization would have to significantly overpay for, at best, a mediocre solution who will then ride the pine a significant amount of the season once Alou returns.
Let's take the season game by game, evaluate where the team is at in June, and then decide what moves, if any, could be made.
I agree David. Pagan, thus far, has earned the right to play. I think he should be given the opportunity to fill-in in LF until Alou returns.
On a different note, could you tell me if there is any truth at all to this rumor floating around:
‘The Mets have contacted everyone on their media distribution list announcing a surprise. Team officials advised the press to be at Shea Stadium at 10 a.m. on Thursday, although they won’t say any more until Wednesday.’
It’s from a fellow Mets fan, but someone I have always known to be credible.
Thanks,
Mr Met
Does it occur to anyone else that, before they were everyday players, most if not all major league position players were minor leaguers trying to break in. Deciding what a guy can do in the future by "looking at his baseball card" is stupid. I see no reason to believe that Pagan can't become a productive every day player. He's a great athlete by any standards, has size, speed, and can hit. At some point, every player was unproven in the majors. If the Mets don't give him a chance, somebody else will have a chance to discover him as a solid or better player.
He could be the Mets' Robinson Cano... if they'll give him the chance to make them so lucky.
AstoriaMetsFan - two competent backup outfielders? Are you talking about Endy Chavez? 2006 was a long, long time ago.
Listen, there is always some talent that shakes loose or gets traded at the end of spring training. Unless Minaya thinks Pagan is going to continue to hit over .400, he should do his job and see if he can land a real fourth outfielder.
I'm comfortable with Pagan/Chavez in the role of backup outfielders and Anderson/Easley further down the depth charts. I'm not comfortable paying a 41 year old outfielder 8.1 mil for 100 games (no matter how great he hits in September) . The money could have been spent, with 2-4 mil added, on a younger outfielder this past winter. If Alou keeps going down (which everone expects) all summer long then leftfield will be an exposure.
It will be interesting to see, if Beltran is not 100% on opening day would the Mets consider starting him in left and playing Chavez or Pagan in CF??