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March 22, 2006
The Forgotten Battle
While there are many stories in the Mets Spring Training that were expected, the one that seems to have disappeared is the battle for rightfield between Victor Diaz and Xavier Nady. The reason why? Nady pretty much has the job wrapped up.
This is not that shocking to me. The Mets gave up a solid player to get Nady and he has played well this spring. Still, I expected the Mets to go with some type of platoon here, allowing both to play about 3 times a week. Instead, after a hot spring, it seems this job is all Nady’s. But, as Adam Rubin points out, that might leave Victor Diaz, who has options, in Triple-A. And to me, that’s a mistake. Victor Diaz can rake. He doesn’t need to go back to Triple-A to get at bats to work on that. He doesn’t have great plate discipline, but I don’t think that will change much at this point. What he does have is great power and that’s something that could be very useful on the Mets bench. He doesn’t play much defense, but the Mets are carrying one of Tike Redman and Endy Chavez for that reason already. There is no purpose in, as Rubin suggests the Mets might, carrying them both. The Mets can find Diaz at-bats (A couple of starts in RF, a start for Cliff Floyd in leftfield to help keep him healthy). The point is, Diaz is a major league caliber hitter and there is no reason to not have him available to Willie, especially when your best option to replace him has the same skill set (i.e. being mostly useless) as your other backup outfielder. But what is more interesting to me in this situation is what it means for Victor Diaz’s future in the organization. With Lastings Milledge shooting up the farm system, he can easily replace Cliff Floyd, if he doesn’t come back, in the outfield next year. And, if Xavier Nady is truly “part of the future” and Victor will be at Triple-A to start the season, it seems like Victor Diaz would be squeezed out of any future plan. I hope Diaz gets a shot at the major league level this year to prove to the organization he belongs in the future plan, but right now, it doesn’t look that way. He has his defensive shortcomings, but his bat is so electric that I believe the Mets need to find a part of the plan that involves him. 126 Responses to “The Forgotten Battle”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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This reminds me of this time last season, when you were saying, “Great, a 1-2-3 inning for Roberto Hernandez.”
Oh… wait… no, it doesn’t!
Ouch, Garciaparra looks bad at 1B.
Many regulars still in the game here in the sixth.
Delgado is on fire this spring.
Siafa’s a gamer. And a fan of Mets Geek.
Good interview with Heilman.
Everyone who has SNY you guys are soooo lucky. Stuck listening to it on the radio here :( Any way looks like Heilman pitched very well tonite. Hopefully they do it right, let him start the season as the 5th starter and if the bullpen does not do well send him back in there and call up Bannister.
I really hope Cablevision gets SNY real soon
Im listening on radio too…………got the mlb extra innings package………sucks they dont show ST games tho.
Heilman looked real good at times… when he gets that changeup down he reminds me of a righthanded Tommy G!
Also, Nady is looking horrible. Regardless of who starts in RF, I have finally decided what I think the Met lineup should be. I reserved judgment for a while, but after watching, I think Wright needs protection.
He’s so willing to take a walk when given it, he’s not enough of a run producer at this point in his career to have all the garbage batting behind him.
“The 2006 Mets. It’s got so much flavor.”
I’m thrilled to have SNY (thanks Time Warner), but is it just me or does the network need some sort of lead personality? I’m thinking someone like a Fred Hicks type when he was on YES. The Mets telecasts are good so far (although Darling needs to be less monotone IMO), but the sportcasts seem so generic and rather dull. I’m also hoping we’re not bombarded with lacrosse and golf lessons when there’s no Mets programming. Like I said, this network is lacking some element, can’t quite put my finger on it….
And PLEASE lose those dumb TV-head-guy promos!!!
Aaron did a very nice job tonight getting out of jams.
The guy eating the sandwich is really starting to grow on me.
“Electric” bat? Am I the only one who thinks Diaz is overrated?
The SNY picture and sound also leaves a lot to be desired.
But hey, I’m not complaining.
MILLEDGE WINS IT!
Heard it on the radio, how you like Milledge with the game winning hit, ahhh the Future Looks BRIGHT..
That was pretty cool to see Milledge come back and double off a high heater when he had been blown away by one in the last at bat. After facing Gagne, that last fastball probably looked like a changeup.
“The 2006 Mets. It’s got so much flavor.”
He ain’t too bad, cause that’s my boy!
See… it’s not merely the outcome that impresses me. Instead of simply taking first base with Joe No-Stick on deck, the kid is aggressive and wins the game.
I’d actually like to see a follow-up to the girl coming home and catching TV Head Guy with a female Yankee fan…..
Very cool! At first glance, that pitch looked like it was over his head! Nice at bat, LM :)
You like Milledge now just wait till you see him in person. The sound the ball makes coming of his bat is like no other guy i’ve seen. He doesnt hit line drives, they’re ropes!
All things considered, the Mets minor league system has done extremely well in the last few years. I guess that’s what happens when youre bad for a few years. Check out the Brewers and D’Backs.
Okay guys… I’ve decided to come clean.
This is actually Victor Diaz. I guess I can’t change your minds. I’ll go take some batting practice now.
If this was true, you really are lazy and did not care about your defense either way still very funny.
i thought the mets weekly show last week was pretty good and they had some bloggers on…
Speaking of the Mets show, did anyone see Heath Bell flirting with the reporter lady? He’s so cool. He beat her at air hockey and was like “well… I am a professional athlete” haha.
This was on the kids show btw. The same one that showed Paul LoDuca schooling Cliff Floyd at an arcade basketball machine.
Hey everybody . My first post …. be kind .
Probably where the “hustle” thing came about , were the Mets announcers , who adored Cameron , and Diaz at the time he got the nod in early 2005 , had better numbers than DWRight . I never heard such un-biased negativity . When Diaz was benched , he was hitting a .900+ OPS clip … you can look it up .
There is something I have not seen bought up here , and that is that Diaz is one of the hardest working prospects we own . Not having taken any time off in 2 winters straight . He never stops . No player works like this in our system . His work ethic should be a model .
You can compare Nady’s career year ( last year ) , with Diaz’s rookie year , and the difference in OPS is startling . Almost 50 points . This is huge in RBI production . But if you compare it to Nady’s rookie year , the differences are downright shocking . Almost a full 100 points . They’re not even on the same stratosphere .
Not only does Diaz have the better upside , he is also the better player today .
Diaz = Faster , Younger , Stronger
Nady = Slower , Older , Softer
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