Marlon Anderson Watch

9th April 2009, 14:34

Marlon Anderson, pinch ‘hitting’ for O’day grounds out to pitcher

.000/.000/.000

Marlon Anderson Watch

Marlon is still reaching desperately for the mendoza line, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to grab hold of it and haul himself out of the sinkhole his career has become anytime soon. Pinch ‘hitting’ today for Pelfrey, he struck out with a runner left on base. His 2009 line remains .000/.000/.000

(Statistically speaking, I know it’s a small sample size and everything, but I don’t an improvement coming anytime soon, do you?)

Marlon Anderson rides the Mendoza Line

For some perverse reason, the Mets sent Nick Evans down to AAA to allow them to keep both Gary Sheffield and Marlon ’40 OPS+’ Anderson on the roster. Having Gary Sheffield should mean the end of Marlon’s tenure with the Mets. But it hasn’t (yet?).

So what did Marlon do today? Pinch ‘hit’ for Sean Green. His 2009 line? .000/.000/.000

Bookmark this page, and you too can enjoy the fun of seeing whether Marlon can reach the Mendoza line in ’09.

Bye Bye Marlon?

Advantages of the Gary Sheffield signing:

The Mets can now release Marlon ’40 OPS+’ Anderson. I have no doubt that Gary Sheffield (or me, and I’ve never played baseball in my life) would be more useful to the Mets than Marlon Anderson, but being better than Marlon Anderson really isn’t anything to be proud of. And there is always the danger the Mets feel they don’t have enough gritty veteran presence on the team and decide to keep Sheffield and Marlon, and cut someone (useful) instead.

Disadvantages:

So what else does he bring to the team? Sheffield is an aging Vet, and I am always against the Mets signing the aged.  However, he is being paid league minimum, which is about what he is worth as a player – he had a slightly below league average OPS+ of 90 in 2009. While there isn’t much chance he improves in ’09 (he is 40, and Detroit certainly didn’t think he would get better), the 2008 Gary Sheffield was worth 0.3 wins to Detroit. However he did this mainly as a DH (he started only 6 games in LF, a total of 47 innings), an option unavailable to the Mets. In 2005, the last season he was a full time OF, his fielding cost the Yankees -26.8 runs through 131 games started – now 4 years older, his sucky defence will outweigh his hitting unless he is used only as a pinch hitter and kept out of the outfield as much as possible. As a cheap replacement for Marlon Anderson, he could be a reasonable addition to the team, but allowing him to start in the OF too often will quickly outweigh the value of his bat.

Plus, if he is good there is the risk Omar will give him one of his special contracts for aging vets, a la Marlon or Jose Valentin.

As a Mets fan I look forward to never seeing Marlon Anderson pinch ‘hit’ or play ‘defence’ for the Mets again. Sheffield is a low risk (or at least cheap) signing, with more upside than Marlon, but this is a short term solution that will make the team worse if Sheffield spends a lot/any of time playing the outfield.

How not to choose the Mets 2009 bench, pt I (or release Marlon Anderson pt 234)

This is from the New York Times, a venerable, trustworthy institution. It is worrying, but unsurprising, to see how the Mets think.  With Bench spots up for grabs, who should the Mets keep around? Spring Training, and past performance should give us a good idea. That would mean no space for Marlon ‘Mendoza line’ Anderson, right?

Barring a sudden change of heart, the Mets are inclined to keep Anderson ahead of Evans and Kielty, who have had superb springs.

Oh.

Marlon’s spring was ‘worth’ a sucktastic -0.2 WAR; if spring training WAR is good for anything (small sample size, strange rosters etc), then it should give Evans (0.4 WAR) and Kielty (0.3 WAR) the edge.

Anderson’s pinch-hitting experience and versatility give him the edge over Evans, a right-handed hitter who has minor league options and is limited defensively, and Kielty, a switch-hitter who crushes left-handed pitching but plays only in the outfield.

Yes, Marlon has pinch hitting experience, but there is a difference between ‘experience’ and ‘ability’. He had an OPS+ of 40 last year. That is terrible. In 151 plate appearances, he got 10 RBI and 1 HR, with 93 runners on base. A major league average player would’ve got 17 RBI. Remember, Marlon is being kept around for his pinch hitting ‘ability’.

But let us not forget, Evans is ‘defensively limited’: Marlon had a UZR/150 rating in LF 2008 of 12.6, not terrible. But check out the number of -UZR years Marlon has put up all around the infield and outfield – he is the definition of ‘limited defensively’, and letting him play the field is a disaster).

Now, Nick Evans; in 2008 he wasn’t great (if we are considering him a pinch hitter then 2HR and 9RBI in 110 plate appearances is Marlonesque). But he is less defensively limited than Marlon ‘liability’ Anderson (Nick Evans UZR/150 of 17.5), and he had a WAR of 0.1. Furthermore he is young enough to improve (whether this should be in AAA or the Majors is up for debate).

Bobby Kielty sucked in AAA last year, and is 32. He could be this years Marlon/Tatis/Valentin, but if he is Omar must remember not to give him a contract after the season ends.

In summary, take a flier on Kielty having one last year of ‘crushing’ LHP, or give me a ‘defensively limited’ youngster with potential who’s had a great spring training, over Marlon ‘OPS+ of 40’ Anderson.

The Mets also owe Anderson $1.15 million in 2009, and they are reluctant to give up on him so quickly.

So quickly?! Were the front office taking a leak every time Marlon ‘pinch hit’ last year? He had a year of awfulness (OPS+ of 40!!). Time to cut your losses. Yes, he is owed $1.15 Million in 2009, but sometimes you have to admit your mistakes. And convertion WAR into cash values at fangraphs suggests that Marlon was ‘worth’ -$3.6M last year – it effectively cost the Mets $4.75M to keep him around in 2008. (just for fun, check out the graphs for Marlon here, and see how often they stray into the ‘poor’ region)

Anderson hit .210 last season, when he gained about 15 pounds while enduring two stays on the disabled list because of leg injuries. But he lost 17 pounds during the off-season and strengthened his hamstrings.

But he is in the best shape of his lifeTM for 2009! He’s going to cruise past the mendoza line, and be awesome! Whatever you think of spring training stats, I’d suggest if you suck through all of 2008, turn up to spring training in the best shape of your life, and still suck, well, you suck.

“I know what my job is, and I didn’t do it last year,” said Anderson, who played first base, second and left field last season. “I’m busting my tail off. The day I stop doing my job and working hard is the day I know I’m not good enough to play anymore.”

I hate to be the one to break it to you, Marlon, but I think an OPS+ of 40 is not doing your job, and suggests that as a grizzled veteran, you may now be ‘not good enough to play anymore’, no matter how hard you work.

If Anderson does not make the team, the Mets will begin the season without an African-American on their 25-man roster, an ill-timed development for an organization whose new ballpark, Citi Field, will honor Jackie Robinson with an ornate rotunda.

This is the worst reason to keep Marlon on the roster. The idea of keeping a player on the roster ‘because he is black’ is insulting to Jackie Robinson, and anyone else who fought against discrimination. I don’t think anyone could accuse the Mets (or any baseball team) of being racist – sport is the ultimate meritocracy, where teams acquire the best players available irrespective of race because they want to win, and that is something Marlon simply isn’t good enough to do anymore.

Working in Anderson’s favor is how two of the Mets’ other left-handed hitters, Daniel Murphy and Reed, handle left-handed pitching.

Better than Marlon Anderson, I’d guess?

At least they cut Jose Valentin.

Mets Spring Training Stats (thanks, amazinavenue)

Look: Marlon Anderson Sucks! -0.2 WAR in spring training (for what that’s worth, and if he can’t even be of value in Spring Training, then what hope is there for the season? Over the course of a whole season, maybe he can beat his -0.8 WAR of 2009. Jose Valentin and Alex Cora also suck. When will Omar give up on the aged Vets? The Mets backup infield looks kind of bad. Evans is young and cheap and surely would do better. Pleasantly surprised to see Tatis doing so well; fingers crossed he doesn’t suck in ’09. Of course, it’s all small sample size and everything, but interesting none the less.

The end for Marlon Anderson?

This is brilliant news, by which I mean unconfirmed rumour. Replacing the worse than useless Anderson with a young kid is much more sensible thinking than I expect from the Mets. So fingers crossed that it is more than a rumour or journalistic speculation.

Lock him up and throw away the key

I was very excited when I heard that massively overrated England Footballer Steven Gerrard had allegedly punched a DJ in the face because he refused to play Phil Collins as 1) this is more or less the most ridiculous reason for a fight ever by an adult, and 2) more importantly, if he went to jail, it would seriously hamper Liverpool’s chances of winning anything this season, which is a good thing. As an added bonus it would also stop England trying to play Gerrard and Lampard together in the centre of midfield which DOES NOT WORK. It seems that some of the charges have been dropped.

Nothing to do with baseball, and of no interest to anyone but me, but there you go.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/mar/20/steven-gerrard-liverpool-assault-nightclub

Mets Release Duaner Sanchez

Hmmm, not a very good idea, methinks. And Jerry Manuel agrees. Aren’t pitchers supposed to get better a year after surgery? Let’s assume that no-one wanted to trade anything for him – wouldn’t it  be better to send him through waivers to get him off the roster? And why did the Mets offer him arbitration in the first place, then not give him all of spring training to make the team?

Could it be that the post-Madoff Mets are simply saving  money? If so, the money saved better go towards signing Will Ohman, otherwise, I think the Mets might live to regret releasing a slightly-above-replacement-level reliever (wow, that’s damning with faint praise). I’m going to put my neck on the line now, and say that Rocky Cherry and Conor Robertson, really aren’t going to cut it. And wasn’t Brian Stokes a member of the worst bullpen ever?

Also, please help out the Yankees, and trade them Tatis and his $1.7M salary as cover for A-Rod – maybe for Nady? Just an idea. It’ll save us all watching this years disappointing aging veteran as he comes back down to earth.

A Mets Nostradamus

The return of spring training can mean but one thing – a chance for me to make some spectacularly wrong predictions based on the information coming from Port St. Lucie. So when the Mets win the 2009 world series with a perfect game from Livan Hernandez, and grand slams from Tatis (two, off the same pitcher in the same inning), Murphy, Anderson and Castillo, remember, you read it here first.

Luis Castillo to be Lead Off Hitter

While Luis Castillo may possess the skill set (high OBP, high speed, low power) of an (aging) lead off man, the Mets already have a much better, much younger lead off hitter in Jose Reyes. Is making Reyes bat third so that Castillo can lead off really a good idea?

Firstly, if Castillo bats first, he gets the most ABs of any Mets player, which seems a bit of a waste. Secondly, the last thing Reyes needs is to think he is there to drive in runs; that can only lead to him taking more of those horrible home run cuts at the ball that drastically reduce his effectiveness. Finally, remember all those early inning leads from last year where Reyes got on base, stole second, then was brought home by Wright or Beltran? Do you really think Castillo can do that as effectively? No? Good. Next question.

If you really are enamoured of Castillo’s lead off skills, then bat him 9th, where he can be a quasi-lead off hitter in front of Reyes, without taking away at bats.

Daniel Murphy to be every day left fielder

Declaring Murphy to be your every day left fielder so early in Spring Training seems a tad premature. While I am all in favour of giving the kids a chance, in this case, I think the Mets are overestimating how good Murphy will be in 2009.

Does the phrase ‘unsustainably high BABIP’ mean nothing to Jerry Manuel? While Murphy hit .313 with a .397 OBP last year, he benefited from a .386 BABIP (compensating for his high strike out rate). Even with a more realistic BABIP in 2009, Murphy is far from useless. However, Murphy doesn’t really have the power associated with left field (PECOTA prediction of .263/.327/.405 with 12 homers), and would be far more valuable to the Mets as a second baseman.  More time at AAA seeing if Murphy can play the position could prove a better long term investment.

Not that I expect Tatis to be any better – One of Minaya’s greatest skills appears to be finding washed up old veterans and getting one last good, league minimum wage season from them. His greatest weakness is believing these players will repeat their success once they’ve been signed to a big shiny new contract.

Expect Tatis to be this year’s Jose Valentin/Jorge Sosa/Marlon fucking Anderson (Tatis PECOTA numbers .245/.325/.402 with 6Hrs)

Playing Murphy full time in left field seams to mean that Tatis and Church will share right field duties. But why? If Church still hasn’t recovered from his concussion, he’ll be almost as useless as Marlon. If he has recovered, then his plus defence and pre-concussion hitting suggest he deserves to play full time.  (respect to Church for the I Heart NY T-shirt; Church PECOTA of .254/.335/.421, 10 Hr, although no idea what impact his injury last year has on PECOTA)

Sanchez to be odd man out

As one of the few Mets relief pitchers in 2008 to make a positive contribution (if barely) Sanchez should feel aggrieved if he were released to clear room for some unknown quantity in the All New Mets Bullpen. While trading Sanchez for the right (younger) player is worth considering, the idea that he should be released if a trade can’t be made is ridiculous.

Oh Omar, and your weakness for washed up, useless ex- expos.

Livan Hernandez is old and rubbish. I don’t think I need to show any stats to support this.