Francisco Rodriguez has 14 saves in 14 opportunities with an ERA of 0.73 for the New York Mets. But this one hurts more...
Mark Texeira started off poorly, like he always does, batting .200 in April with 3 home runs and 10 RBIs, but in May he hit .330, with 13 home runs and 34 RBIs. Still think he's not a first rate player?
In all fairness, I actually wasn't keen on re-signing Frankie either, and Fuentes was about half as cheap, and has only blown 3 saves. His ERA is a ginormous 5.30, but that's exaggerated because he has so few innings to work with. And we were never going to be able to sign Tex...but that guy is good. He's gonna finish the season batting over .320, 30+ home runs, and 120+ RBIs, and win a Gold-Glove. I guarantee it.
2 comments:
dear chris,
i dont like the fact that i think you enjoyed writing this post. as a true angels fan, you shouldnt be so excited to pick apart a guy that was just trying to support the present team. i guess that's not entirely true since i was saying we shouldnt keep both of these guys even while we still had them.
so they are both having decent seasons. look, i know as a true angels fan you honestly wouldnt want k-rod on the team for the price tag he has. closers are overrated and he was demanding too much money. plus, he may be 14 for 14, but lets not be quick to forget how many blown saves he had in anaheim and how many heart attacks he gave us every time he came out on the mound. i think his resurgence is a lot in part to going to the mets. i dont think his numbers would be as good if he stayed. even if they were as good, i still dont think he's worth the money he was demanding. we are a third into the season and he has pitched 14 innings. 14! if he was a starter we would be ripping him to pieces for only pitching 14 innings. im happy to pay a fraction of the price for a pretty good guy that isnt quite as good, but usually gets the job done. i'll stand by my remarks about k-rod. i dont think you can ever change me on that one.
maybe you could on tex. look, i dont know that i ever said he wasnt a first rate player. maybe i did. i cant remember. i know i for sure didnt think he was worth the money he's getting in new york. i guess that is debatable since his numbers are picking up.
he's getting 20 million a year from the yankees. we just cant compete with that. our payroll is only $113m. he's not worth 1/5 of our payroll, which is what it would have cost to keep him here. granted, he is doing well, i might have to admit he's 'first rate,' but worth 20 million/year? i still cant agree, unless our payroll was that of the yankees.
look at his replacement. kendri morales. batting .280, 8 home runs, 30 rbis. not quite as good as tex, but we only pay him $1.1 million a year. is tex's extra 10 home runs and 20 rbi's really worth the added 19 million that he would cost? i mean, if he is really the difference between us winning a championship or not, then the added 19 million would be worth it, but i dont think he would be the difference in us winning or not winning a championship. whether or not we win a championship pretty much depends on whether we can figure out our bullpen problems. torii has come alive and is having a career year offensively and other guys are hitting well.
tex is good. your predictions are bold and probably true, except for maybe the .320 batting average. he might be a first rate player (im too proud to completely admit that he is). it would be nice to have him. but i sincerely dont think he is what we need to win a championship, and since i dont think that, i really dont think he is worth the $20 mil he would have required.
I love how personally you seem to be taking this post. Closers are overrated, until your bullpen turns out to be the greatest weakness of your team. Or no? Yeah, Frankie has only pitched 14 innings, but he's been nearly flawless. But I think Fuentes will pan out and we'll be okay. It's that middle relief and setup that I think we need to worry about. But I just saw yesterday that Escobar is coming back to the rotation, so maybe Palmer (who's been awesome for us, 5-0) will be an asset in the bullpen.
You know what? We're 10th in the AL in scoring, and having another middle of the lineup guy would make a huge difference. Our run differential right now is -10. You don't think having Tex would swing us the other way at least 10 runs, and that's only talking about his defense. Nowadays what everyone is raving about is how he's transformed the Yankees because of his defense. Having him could be the difference between 1st and 2nd in the AL West. I think that might be worth shelling out $20 million.
But essentially what we're back to is the same problem we've had for the last several years - more middle of the lineup help. Right now we're a mediocre team, and won't be elite until we find someone who can anchor that lineup.
Yes, I like Morales. Yes, Torii has been awesome. Awesome awesome. But if we stay .500 through the season, expanding the payroll to accommodate a big time player will seem worth it if we're not playing in October.
I just wish you'd admit that Tex is an elite player. In a 162 game season, he averages 37 HRs, 122 RBIs, and .290 batting average. That's over his ENTIRE career, and he's only been improving the last few years. He's strolling into his prime right now. Not to mention his defense. Just admit it! The guy is top tier.
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