Coming into tonight’s game Frank ‘little cat’ Catalanotto is hitting .125, .176, .125, .301 in 17 PA. He has played 5.2 innings of 1B and 2.2 innings of LF.
Chris Carter, who also plays 1B and OF, is batting.306, .358, .565, .923 in AAA.
Nick Evans who also plays 1B and OF, is batting.318, .387, .591, .978 in AA.
Jesus Feliciano who also plays OF (has played a little 1B) is batting.368, .415, .474, .888
Mike Hessman who plays every position (badly) is batting.293, .358, 586, .944
Russ Adams who actually plays multiple positions is hitting.324, .351, .382, .734
By comparison Oliver Perez, Johan, GMJR, Pelfrey and Valdez all have a higher OPS.
The counter point has always been that Catalanotto is an experienced bench guy who can play multiple positions. None of the other candidates have his experience with riding the bench as a PH. In my opinion, while it’s early now is the best time to give some of these other guys a chance to produce in that spot. Can the Mets continue to play basically one man down? It’s hard to believe but on the current roster the Mets using GMJR tonight to spell Frenchy is actually the best move. Even GMJR has better numbers.
41 comments
njstuckintx
4/26/2010-3:31pm at 3:31 pm (UTC -4)
But he’s from NY…
Carter should be in Cat’s spot, but that’s a tune most have been playing here.
trs86
4/26/2010-3:33pm at 3:33 pm (UTC -4)
My question is how long do the Mets give him? They even jettisoned Marlon after a while.
trs86
4/26/2010-3:34pm at 3:34 pm (UTC -4)
And Julio.
njstuckintx
4/26/2010-3:36pm at 3:36 pm (UTC -4)
If you are pegging me to a date, I’ll say when Murphy gets off the DL.
trs86
4/26/2010-3:43pm at 3:43 pm (UTC -4)
Good point. That’s a much larger discussion. Will the Mets bring Murphy bat to the MLB team right away or have him start working on utility guy?
njstuckintx
4/26/2010-3:50pm at 3:50 pm (UTC -4)
I would think they would plop him in the minors for a week to get up to speed, but knowing that he plays 1B semi-adequately, and OF badly, and can do 3B in a pinch, and most importantly has shown he can hit MLB pitching, I can most definitely see him coming up to be a bench bat. His bat is better than Cats. I can’t see them starting the Super Utility thing until next year. Only real positions that will be up for discussion are 2B and C (if you assume they either pick up Frenchy or start up Fmart) and he could put his self in line for (as well as back up 1B).
njstuckintx
4/26/2010-3:53pm at 3:53 pm (UTC -4)
Should read “put himself in line for 2B and backup 1B”.
ceetar
4/26/2010-3:36pm at 3:36 pm (UTC -4)
Cat’s such a small sample size though too. It’s hard to kill him after such a small size
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-3:40pm at 3:40 pm (UTC -4)
agreed
trs86
4/26/2010-3:42pm at 3:42 pm (UTC -4)
True, but is it such a small sample because he is so bad? Would a guy that was hitting better have more PA? Example, again tonight. GMJR ends up getting the AB’s vs a RH pitcher instead of the left handed Cat.
trs86
4/26/2010-3:44pm at 3:44 pm (UTC -4)
Of course most of us, including me, are crushing GMJR and he only has 32 PA.
stickguy
4/26/2010-4:57pm at 4:57 pm (UTC -4)
to be far, many of us crushed GM before he arrived, and all the way through ST. So a much bigger sample size, including 2008 and 2009!
cat also did nothing over the last few years, best as I can recall.
hard to think anyone one else would be worse coming off the bench. And if they actually had some talent (like say Carter),they could even get an occasional start.
gategem
4/27/2010-1:32am at 1:32 am (UTC -4)
+1000
Cats career OPS is .802 and last year he was .728. As a point of reference Daniel Murphy’s OPS last year was .741.
prismo
4/26/2010-3:43pm at 3:43 pm (UTC -4)
Not to mention Gary Matthews Jr who also needs to be gone…
trs86
4/26/2010-3:45pm at 3:45 pm (UTC -4)
Hey I did mention GMJR. I said it was unfortunate that he actually has better numbers that the little cat. Yes both should be gone and Pridie and Carter should be up in my opinion.
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-3:51pm at 3:51 pm (UTC -4)
LoL Francesa is talking to Frenchy and Wright is yelling in the background.
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-3:53pm at 3:53 pm (UTC -4)
Frenchy agrees with Prismo doesn’t look good for a game tonight.
Kingman 26
4/26/2010-3:59pm at 3:59 pm (UTC -4)
Cat DOES compare unfavorably to a totally horrible player like Russ Adams; to a career minor leaguer; or to Nick Evans, who would probably be an MVP if he could just get sent down one more level.
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-4:01pm at 4:01 pm (UTC -4)
So Howard signs a 5 yr extension, Phillies09 over at PhilliesPhandom called it a redonkulous deal.
http://www.nleastchatter.com/philliesphandom/2010/04/26/phillies-gameday-the-ryan-howard-gets-paid-edition/
GravediggerHebner
4/26/2010-4:11pm at 4:11 pm (UTC -4)
The problem I have with comparing any of these guys to Cat is the “numbers” they are putting up are being put up against minor leaguers, and in almost every case they are being put up by guys who are repeating a minor league level. So none of those “glowing” numbers are really very glowing.
I’d prefer to see the numbers of veteran major league pinch hitters for comparison than those of these veteran minor leaguers who are starting regularly and who are repeating levels.
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-4:14pm at 4:14 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed sir, Also to try an infer that these guys that are playing on a regular basis can somehow continue to hit well averaging less than one at bat per game just doesn’t seem right.
GravediggerHebner
4/26/2010-4:18pm at 4:18 pm (UTC -4)
Cat as a “starter” is 1 for 3, his line is .333/.500/.833.
As a pinch hitter he’s 1 for 13 .077/.077/.154, which I cannot paint in any way to say is good. But it’s such a small sample, given it’s irregularity I can’t kill him for it.
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-4:18pm at 4:18 pm (UTC -4)
No argument here.
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-4:16pm at 4:16 pm (UTC -4)
You’d think the Mets could post better quality photos on their twitter account.
http://twitpic.com/photos/NewYorkMets
ceetar
4/26/2010-4:20pm at 4:20 pm (UTC -4)
well it’s a cellphone camera likely, given taht it’s Twitter. can’t kill ‘em for it. Although someone should buy whoever it is one of the nice new Droid Incredibles with a 8mp camera.
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-4:18pm at 4:18 pm (UTC -4)
On another note it’d be nice if the Mets could have a live 24hr webcam of the front of Citi Fields. It sure would help gauge what the weather looks like out there.
ceetar
4/26/2010-4:21pm at 4:21 pm (UTC -4)
I would love a live webcam of like the scoreboard or something. Be able to actually check the lineup ourselves when it’s posted, follow along on silly in-game stats and the like. Would be so easy to get a sponsor for it, would get crowd noise, etc.
metsfan4decades
4/26/2010-4:26pm at 4:26 pm (UTC -4)
Now that’s an excellent idea. Make it happen Jeff…..
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-4:28pm at 4:28 pm (UTC -4)
It’d be nice if one could Tweet the Mets on the idea and see if they respond.
metsfan4decades
4/26/2010-4:25pm at 4:25 pm (UTC -4)
If they play tonight, it would be a good time for GMJ to show he really belongs here…
Listening to WFAN. Trying to decide what could possibly be worse than listening to Francesa and Steve Phillips analyze various teams and players. Or maybe I should say entertaining.
They must be doing something right as they sucked me into listening…
GravediggerHebner
4/26/2010-4:36pm at 4:36 pm (UTC -4)
Better comps for Cat IMO:
Greg Dobbs – 0 for 7 as pinch hitter, .000/.222/.000. As a starter, 4 for 11, .364/.364/.818.
Ross Gload – 3 for 10 as a pinch hitter, .300/.300/.300. 2 for 5 as a starter, .400/.400/.400.
Wes Helms – 4 for 11 pinch hitting, .364/.462/.455. 5 for 8 as a starter, .625/.625/.750.
Mike Lamb – 2 for 10 pinch hitting, .200/.200/.200. 0 for 3 as a starter, .000/.000/.000.
Eric Hinske – 4 for 10 pinch hitting, .400/.400/.800. 2 for 8 as a starter, .250/.400/.250.
That’s just guys in the NL East. Some are faring better as pinch hitters, others not so much compared to Cat. All but Lamb have been given more time as a starter than Cat. I think the samples are so small it’s tough to make any strong statements about any of them, but I will add I think Cat would benefit from having had more than 1 start so far this season.
Mr North Jersey
4/26/2010-4:56pm at 4:56 pm (UTC -4)
Grave this is what ESPN has as far as pinch hitters in the NL so far.
I am listing the players with at least 9 at bats
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/split/87/league/nl/sort/atBats
Frank Catalano NYM 13/AB 0/R 1/H 0/HR 1/RBI 0/BB 4/SO .077/AVG
Garret Anderson LAD 10/AB 1/R 2/H 1/HR 2/RBI 1/BB 1/SO .200/AVG
Mike Lamb FLA 10/AB 0/R 2/H 0/HR 1/RBI 0/BB 1/SO .200/AVG
Ross Gload PHI 10/AB 1/R 3/H 0/HR 1/RBI 0/BB 0/SO .300/AVG
Eric Hinske ATL 10/AB 2/R 4/H 0/HR 3/RBI 0/BB 3/SO .400/AVG
Cory Sullivan HOU 10/AB 1/R 1/H 0/HR 2/RBI 0/BB 2/SO .100/AVG
Nick Stavinoha STL 10/AB 1/R 3/H 1/HR 2/RBI 0/BB 4/SO .300/AVG
Matt Stairs SDG 9/AB 1/R 1/H 0/HR 0/RBI 0/BB 4/SO .111/AVG
Miguel Cairo CIN 9/AB 1/R 1/H 0/HR 1/RBI 0/BB 1/SO .111/AVG
Jody Gerut MIL 9/AB 1/R 3/H 1/HR 3/RBI 1/BB 1/SO .333/AVG
Tony Abreu ARI 9/AB 1/R 2/H 0/HR 0/RBI 0/BB 4/SO .222/AVG
GravediggerHebner
4/26/2010-5:05pm at 5:05 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks for the link. So basically in very small samples 4 guys are having noteworthy success and 7 are not, and of the 4 guys that are succeeding 2 (Gload, Hinske) have more at bats as a starter than Cat does and the other 2 (Stavinoha, Gerut) might but I don’t have time to look right now. Food for thought.
stickguy
4/26/2010-5:10pm at 5:10 pm (UTC -4)
just looked at the details on the Howard deal. I admit I am surprised they signed him up like this. No way he was giving them a discount, so the phils probably overpaid to start with.
But, why now? He was already signed through next year. so why the rush? And 5 years at huge $$, starting at age 32?
I doubt another team would have wanted to give a 32 year old 1B a 5 year 125MIL contract like this.
Well, the phils are really rolling the dice that they don’t become the tigers or worse, with a bunch of mid-upper 30s guys signed to huge contracts that aren’t being earned.
Hell, since it is the phils, I hope they regret this before the new money even kicks in!
A Gon must be having an orgasmatastic day over this.
DNDJohan aka kistics
4/26/2010-5:24pm at 5:24 pm (UTC -4)
I wonder what Pujols would get paid….
stickguy
4/26/2010-5:27pm at 5:27 pm (UTC -4)
we should know pretty soon when the Cards try and extend him.
DNDJohan aka kistics
4/26/2010-5:40pm at 5:40 pm (UTC -4)
Amaro Jr has been overpaying a lot of players.. what is the reaction in your area?
also, this means that the Phillies are not going to sign Werth.
stickguy
4/26/2010-5:48pm at 5:48 pm (UTC -4)
panned on MLBTR.
just watched the local news. they just got excited that the big guy was going to be here for a long time. Hopefully in David Ortiz mode!
the real interesting thing will be to see what they say in the papers tomorrow.
njstuckintx
4/26/2010-9:52pm at 9:52 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t think I’ve read one thing that is positive about this for the Phils. Bye Bye Werth for sure.
stickguy
4/26/2010-11:09pm at 11:09 pm (UTC -4)
i have stopped trying to figure out the phils plan. But, they seem to have some money.
actually, this deal doesn’t kick in for 2 more years, so by then, ibanez is gone. And maybe palanco (unless he got 3 years?) But unless werth goes, the way they are trying to get the current team together until they all hit 40, their payroll is going to be through the roof.
He, lots of old guys, massive payroll. they really do want to become the Yankees!
gategem
4/27/2010-1:46am at 1:46 am (UTC -4)
Now if they could duplicate the Yankees success both on and off the field they will be more than fine from a baseball and a financial viewpoint. If they don’t the team will be hamstrung by these decisions.