Willie Harris played five positions -- six, including designated hitter -- but spent most of his time in left field. He is a point of contention amidst the alleged sabermetric groupthink that is Amazin' Avenue. Harris was a leading vote-getter for the AA Mets' Worst Hitter Award, yet I don't think he was as horrible as alleged. He posted a .351 OBP as a reserve while playing, in my estimation at least, solid defense. Yes, his power was Tholian and he probably played a bit too often but Harris wasn't the catastrophe that many made him out to be. That said, securing a Harris return in 2012 should not be an offseason priority. - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/10/25/2494933/2011-postmortem-left-field
Josh Thole: Young, inexpensive with more potential than production. Thole did not perform to expectations and wouldn’t draw attention from a team wanting a starting catcher. Teams needing a catcher have more experienced options in the free-agent market. It’s hard to believe anybody would trade for him to be a starter. http://www.newyorkmetsreport.com/2011/10/25/mets-have-precious-few-pieces-to-trade
In an era when 40 home runs might lead a league, Dave Kingman stood out. The 6-foot-6 slugger, nicknamed Kong for his larger-than-life displays of power, was a prodigious longball threat, bashing 442 homers over the course of a 16-year career from 1971-1986. He led his league just twice, but only Mike Schmidt (495) and Reggie Jackson (448) went yard more often during that timeframe. And while HitTracker had yet to be invented, few people produced the distance that he did with his homers; his April 14, 1976 shot is said to be the longest in the history of Wrigley Field; it left the Friendly Confines and struck the third house beyond Waveland Avenue, some 530 feet away. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15364
You can generously say the Mets' timetable for returning to division-title contention is 2013, when pitching prospects Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Jeurys Familia might be legitimate major league contributors. But it is not until the following season that the Mets get true liberation from their weighty contracts, when Johan Santana is off the books and Jason Bay may be cleared off as well (assuming what may be a controversial vesting option based on plate appearances over the next couple of seasons does not kick in for 2014). Too often in the past the Mets made decisions based on public perception. That's how they got into the predicament of their cumbersome contracts in the first place. Rather than make pure baseball decisions, they signed big-ticket players to appease the fan base and sell tickets with little consideration for the down-the-road ramifications of those payroll commitments. www.espn.com
10-26-11: - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/mike-newman-prospects-chat-102511 - Comment From Robert Carson - Is my fastball and slider enough to be a MLB middle reliever? Mike Newman: Fastball has enough giddy-up, but the slider still falls short. I guess I can mention this now since it was a couple of years ago, but near the trade deadline, I was specifically asked if he could be a guy who sat at 94 out of the pen as an adrenaline reliever. I thought he could at the time and still think he'll get a big league shot at some point.
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