Like the rest of you, “The Bad Guys Won” author Jeff Pearlman has read speculation surrounding the Mets’ interest in free agent OF Matt Holliday, but strongly urges Omar Minaya to turn his attention in the direction of….a third-baseman?
If I know the Mets (and, sadly, I know the Mets), they™ll make a major play for Holliday, envisioning him protecting David Wright (or vice versa) in a revamped middle of the lineup. But this would be foolish. If Omar Minaya is wise, he takes his (offensive) money and goes straight to the house of Chone Figgins, the Angels™ splendid third baseman. Yes, there™s the defensive alignment problem”the Mets are locked at third with Wright, at short with Jose Reyes and at second with (good God) Luis Castillo. But Figgins has shown an ability to play anywhere, including the outfield.
So why sign him? Because the Mets, being the Mets, constructed a ballpark that sucks the power from most boppers; that will only reward speed, speed and more speed. I™m not saying it™ll certainly work, but if I™m in charge of the 2010 Mets, I™m thinking of the mid-80s Cardinals of Vince Coleman, Willie McGee and Tommy Herr. Run, run, run, run, run”and hope the old-school generation of offensive somehow works.
Indeed, the Wilpons built a field with a very specific team in mind. Sadly, that team was the 1985 Cards.
Monday’s announcement that Florida’s Chris Coghlan had been named the National League’s Rookie Of The Year just happened to come on Dwight Gooden’s 45th birthday — a quarter century after the former Mets starter was named 1984’s NL ROY. Congrats to Doc on narrowly beating me to 45 and here’s hoping he continues to do so for a long, long time.
Doc may have a year on you but I’m sure you have at least a couple thousand lines on him.
Can you just physically pass out nooses or guns before linking this sort of thing?
Bez,
here’s a short list of persons who’ve done way more cocaine than me between 1984 and the present day :
Dale Berra
Andy Gill
Dakota Fanning
Senator Jim Bunning
Everyone alive between the ages of 18 and 75.
Cocaine is for yuppie tools. I see GC more as a Meth tweaker, myself.
Figgins is not a bad fit on the Mets. Depends on how you see it. If it means the end to the Luis Castillo Era, then it’s an upgrade. If they can still pull off the Castillo for Overbay trade, then excellent. Don’t bring back AARP cardholders like Delgado and don’t go out and sign Pedro Martinez and don’t overspend for a Scott Boras client and the future becomes a little brighter. Sign John Lackey.
Oh, wait, Minaya’s still the GM. So, I guess El Dookie’s phone is going to be ringing any minute.
Even if they were able to trade Castillo (& assuming they wouldn’t have to eat any of the contract), signing Figgins would be a Castillo-sized mistake. Even larger, actually, if the talk about him getting seven figures for four years has any truth to it. Short of stocking up on Geritol and bringing in / back more broke-ass old farts, inking Figgins is the worst thing Minaya could do.
Which is why I’m not surprised that a cross-eyed mope like Pearlman would think it’d be a great move for the Mets.
One reason why Pearlman just does glorified tabloid books on easy target athletes/organizations and not real analysis.