Paul Articulates - Misery Loves Company

We (OK, mostly Steve) paid a lot of money to bring one of the premier shortstops in baseball to the New York Mets.  He had a great spring followed by a lousy first year and Mets fans let him hear about it in every media outlet imaginable.

After a lost season, we all healed over the winter, and then watched Francisco Lindor light it up during the abbreviated spring training season.  A hot start in April had Mets fans beaming; feeling like last year was just an anomaly.  He was driving the ball, running the bases aggressively, and generally playing baseball with a high IQ.

Then May happened.  Lindor has slashed .176/.292/.270 in the month of May through Saturday night.  If last year didn’t happen, we would call it a slump.  If it wasn’t for his super-sized contract, we would dismiss it because the rest of the team has been hitting enough to win more than the rest of the NL.   He is now sporting a sub-par stat line for 2022 that looks like .241/.337/.389. The Citi faithful are not happy.

But wait; do I hear misery elsewhere in baseball?  Yes I do.  The last few years have seen a plethora of high profile shortstops take on big new contracts with new teams.  Few, if any, have had the kind of season that their teams “paid for”.  Let’s look at some of the high-profile “SS” names that have signed big contracts in the last two years:

Trevor Story: Currently playing 2B with Boston, slashing .230/.314/.444 after a very poor start.

Corey Seager: Currently making $$$ with Texas, slashing .248/.319/.436 but with 8 HR so far.

Javy Baez: Glad we passed on this contract – now slashing .200/.238/300 with Detroit.

Carlos Correa: Took a smaller contract with the Twins, and is currently slashing .271/.330/.393.

Trea Turner:  Hitting the best of the bunch at .281/.347/.405 as the Dodger’s second baseman.

How about Marcus Semien who everyone wanted to sign with NY? An unimpressive line of .184/.246/.237.

So I guess misery loves company – all those fan bases are complaining about the value they are getting for their dollars on these big name free agents just like we are.  I suddenly feel a lot better.  Lindor may not be hitting like Mister Smile used to in Cleveland, but he is at least playing solid defense, running the bases with abandon, and playing smart baseball.  None of these other guys has a fielding percentage above .977 except Semian who is playing 2B.

There are some shortstops in the league who are performing.  The top two are Sox: Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox is slashing .350/.393/.493 and Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox is slashing .325/.381/.457.  JP Crawford of the Mariners is also playing well.  

Bogaerts is making some good bucks, staying home with the Red Sox for 6 years/$120M.  Anderson and Crawford make less than $10M/yr.  Should we mention to Eric Chavez (Mets batting coach) and the analytics team that a fat wallet alters the hitting stance and affects the $/hit metric? 

I know that the mental game plays a huge factor in athletic performance, and guys that get big contracts are under pressure from their fans to perform well.  But it just seems odd that there are so many busts this year among those two storied classes of free agent shortstops in 2021 and 2022.  Maybe it will straighten out by year end.  Maybe one or two go on a tear.  

I hope Lindor is one of them because NY fans want the best, and are relentless with criticism if they don’t get it.  I also think that if he does go on a tear, it will help the team through this pitching crisis until our two aces return.  No pressure, Mr. Smile – I’m just sayin’.