Wednesday, November 21, 2007

We Don't Have Guillermo Mota to Kick Around Anymore

Three Cheers for Omar!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Hip Hip Hooray!


The cleansing has begun. First, Tom Glavine took his ball (and diminished skills) back to Atlanta. The stench of game 162 went with him. Yesterday, a day that shall live in the hearts and minds of Mets fans forever, Mota was traded for catcher Johnny Estrada. So, in return for an ex-roider, Omar got a potential tag-team partner for Ramon Castro. Add to that the fact that the Brewers will pick up the entire $3.2 million tab for Mota for next season, and it is a win-win.
The best part was this quote from Brewers GM Bob Melvin:

"Mota showed that he was a guy who could pitch multiple innings last year"


Reading that got me to thinking that maybe Omar also sent along some of Willie's post-game comments in the trade as well, since I recall Willie and Omar saying similar things about Mota last year. Of course, what Melvin doesn't realize is that while Mota can pitch 2 innings, they will inevitably be accompanied with a line like this:

2 ip, 5 runs, 5 earned, 6 hits, 3 bb, 3 k's

So, unless the Brewers are planning on scoring 10 runs in games Mota pitches, he ain't gonna help them much. Unless they just plan on losing. A lot.

The initial joy was seeing Mota go. The fact that a catcher (albiet one who has a low OBP, with decent power and decent avg) was able to be brought in was the cherry on top. Reports today say that Omar did this trade in the hope of possibly driving down the cost of better catching options (Ramon Hernandez, Kenji Johjima, Bengie Molina) who may be available via trade. Estrada is arbitration eligible, and could get anywhere from $3.5 - $5 million. If Omar is able to swing a deal, he could just non-tender Estada. Of course, this means giving away Mota for nothing. In my mind, no problem. So long as he is not on the roster.

I wasn't worried that Mota would be in the pen next season. I figured he would come to camp and one of two things would happen:

1. He would suck, and Omar would see this and cut his ass.
2. He would pitch well, allowing Omar to trade him to some unlucky bastard, who would then have to suffer through Mota next year.

Instead, Omar was able to give us reason for thanks tomorrow. Omar's reputation took a hit after last year. Many of his trades did not work out. Some started to not give him the benefit of the doubt. I admit, my faith wavered. But it has been reborn.

Omar still has work to do. The pen needs to be re-tooled. A back-up first baseman would be nice (not Marlon Anderson, a guy who can actually play first. Oh, speaking of Marlon, Willie, I better not see his ass in Center next year, OK?) I don't see a trade for an ace, though you never know. I just hope Milledge is not part of a deal, since that opens another hole to fill.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. If you are travelling, be safe.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Voters, They Be Crazy

The NL MVP Voting results were announced today. Jimmy Rollins wins. David Wright finishes 4th. Let's take a looksee at some stats, shall we?

Jimmy Rollins - MVP
AVG... HR... RBI... OBP... SLG%... Steals... Doubles... OPS... Runs
296,... 30, ... 94,... 344,.... 531, .... 41, .... .. 38, .... 875,... 139


David Wright – 4th in Voting
AVG... HR RBI OBP SLG% Steals Doubles OPS Runs
325 ... 30 107 ...416 ...546 .... 34 . ...42 .. ...962... 113

(please ignore the dots, I can't figure out how to post a table)

Can somebody please explain this to me? How does Rollins win the award despite being behind Wright in nearly every category? Of course he had more runs, he was a leadoff hitter. He had more steals, fine. He had more hits, fine. He also had 49 walks to 94 for Wright.

It all boils down to what seems to be Jimmy talking smack before the season about how the Phillies were the team to beat. Yes, they won the division, but that was more due to the Mets sucking for the last month than anything the Phillies did.

Let’s look at September for a second (AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS):
Rollins – 298, 333, 542, 875 (this following an August of 296, 371, 487, 858)
Wright – 352, 432, 602, 1.034 (this following an August of 394, 516, 657, 1.173)

The ONLY month Rollins outperformed Wright was April (they were close in July.) So tell me, during the stretch, who was more valuable? Wright was hurt by the Mets pitching staff suddenly morphing into a bunch of Jose Lima clones.

And Philly fans, don’t pull out the “well, we made the playoffs” argument. That’s bullshit. Ryan Howard won it the year before over Pujols, whose team made the playoffs.

Jimmy Rollins had a nice season. Yet, it is not even as good as the 2006 season Jose Reyes put up, and Reyes finished 7th in the voting that year.

Matt Holliday put up some sick numbers, but people take Coors Field into account in discounting his stats. Fine, I have no problem with that. But they fails to do the same for Rollins when it comes to his splits, where Rollins only improves his OBP on the road, and everything else is better in the bandbox that is CBP.

So the lesson apparently is this, Wright must make a comment about how the Mets are the team to beat, then put up sub-par numbers compared to everyone else. So long as the Mets win the division and Wright flaps his gums, he should win the MVP.