Reese Kaplan -- How's Your Ex Doing Without You?

It’s time to take a trip down memory lane and see how some former Mets are faring thus far this Spring with their new organizations.  Many have seemingly flourished once leaving Queens, but like any small sample size, take the numbers with at least a grain (if not a full silo) of salt.  Actual mileage may vary.

Hitters

• Marlon Byrd – a late signing by Cleveland, Byrd has started out on fire with a .360 average over his first 25 ABs.  With the injuries to Indians’ outfielders he should see a lot of playing time in the early going.
• Darrell Ceciliani – the man the Mets DFA’d to open a slot on the 40-man roster for the late addition of Yoenis Cespedes has been on fire for his new team in Toronto.  For the Spring he’s hitting .417 with 4 HRs and 10 RBIs while playing his usual stellar defense. 
• Juan Centeno – a guy known more for his glove than his bat, the diminutive Puerto Rican backstop is nonetheless hitting over .400 in 22 ABs for the Minnesota Twins
• Matt den Dekker – the slick fielder centerfielder is having a nice Spring for the Washington Nationals, batting .308 over the course of 39 ABs.
• Jeff Francoeur – Frenchy has come full circle, making the roster of the team where started his pro career – the Atlanta Braves – after posting a .309 average over 55 ABs.
• Daniel Murphy – joining Matt den Dekker with the Walgreen’s crew (look at their logo) is the post-season homer-happy Daniel Murphy.  He’s hitting a solid .273 but hasn’t yet put one over the wall.
• Kirk Nieuwenhuis – after a very slow start Captain Kirk has put it altogether with a surprising .288 average to go along with a homer and 7 RBIs.  However, the Mets fans have seen this movie before and the big red flag on him continues to be his 22 Ks in 52 ABs. 
• Angel Pagan – after a down year in 2015 having some people think he’d run out of gas, the now 34 year old is having a terrific Spring, batting .395 for the Giants
• Cesar Puello – perhaps Jenrry Mejia ought to look to this man for an example of how to reform yourself (or better mask what you are doing).  The Yankees are seriously considering him for a backup outfield role based upon his .303 Spring average to go along with solid defense and what Joe Girardi termed “solid approach at bat”.
• Anthony Recker – already farmed out in Cleveland, it makes you scratch your head a bit to think that he couldn’t even crack the roster of a second division team in a reserve role, yet the Mets doled out over 400 ABs to this career .185 hitter over the past few years.
• Ruben Tejada – he started off well enough for the Cardinals hitting a surprising .273 but Thursday was lifted from the game with a severe enough quadriceps injury that already has them planning to start 2016 on the DL
• Wilfredo Tovar – the minimum wage gloveman the Mets once cut to retain the services of multi-millionaire Ruben Tejada is batting .292 for the Minnesota Twins this Spring.
• Justin Turner – the man the Mets cut to save $800K on a bench player has gone on to start and excel for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  This Spring he’s absolutely on fire, hitting .565 with an OPS of 1.833.  For that kind of production I’d put up with a few pies in the face.
• Eric Young, Jr. – the fleet footed outfielder is working hard to make it with the Milwaukee Brewers in a reserve capacity.  He’s hitting over .300 and stealing bases.  Betting on him to sustain this level of production is probably foolish, however.

 Pitchers

• Chris Capuano – he’s been stellar this Spring with a .217 BAA and a 1.42 ERA over 9 starts for the Brew Crew.
• Tyler Clippard – although he started out with resounding success for the Mets last year, he faltered late and in the post- season.  He’s picked right up where he left off, posting a rather unsightly 5.40 ERA and 1.68 WHIP for the Diamondbacks.
• R.A. Dickey – while a lot has been written about Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud and even Wuilmer Becerra that came to the Mets in this trade, not much attention has been paid to what the Blue Jays received.  Dickey has not been the type of pitcher they’d hoped to get, and this Spring is no better with a 5.02 ERA
• Dana Eveland – a sore-armed pitcher who had some success for the Mets, he’s off to a terrific start in his bullpen career for the Tampa Bay Rays with a perfect 0.00 ERA, a miniscule .105 BAA and a WHIP of just 0.60.
• Gonzalez German – the much traveled reliever has an odd stat line for the Colorado Rockies.  His ERA is an impressive 1.93 but his BAA is .306 and his WHIP is 1.50.  That means he’s constantly getting into trouble but thus far managing to get out of it.  Methinks the law of averages will catch up to him rather soon.
• Jon Niese – while Neil Walker may not have started out a house afire, Niese has been pretty brutal for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Over his first 15 IP he’s got an 8.40 ERA and a .290 BAA. 
• Bobby Parnell – as Mack documented yesterday, Parnell was cut loose by the Tigers and then re-signed to a minor league deal.  Apparently he can throw hard but not control it and his 9.90 ERA led to his initial release.