Brady Clark or Fernando Tatis
The Mets’ 25th man is down to Brady Clark and Fernando Tatis.
Clark is a much better outfielder and can play all three outfield positions. He’s a good singles hitter with not much power, and he runs fairly well. He strikes out more than he used to, but all in all at a less frequent rate than most batters — he’s a contact hitter and someone who can reliably execute the hit and run and drop down a bunt.
Tatis is only an okay outfielder, and is limited to the corner spots, but can also play 3B, 2B, and 1B. He once had a 34-HR season but that was a “Brady Anderson” year — he’s really more of gap hitter. His speed on the bases is somewhere between average and above-average. He’ll strike out a lot and probably won’t take too many walks.
Tough call.
On the one hand, Clark is an older, righthanded-hitting version of Angel Pagan, so once Moises Alou returns, he’s kind of redundant. On the other hand, Tatis is basically the same player as Damion Easley.
I get the feeling the Mets will lean toward Tatis, partially because they think he’s going to re-discover his homerun power, and partially for his versatility.
Either way, Ruben Gotay gets the short end of the stick.
About the Author
Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers.
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Joe: You have talked alot about Clark and now you have talked about Tatis. have you talked about Church?
Church has gone un-noticed, escaping alot of scrutiny, not that that will last. To me Easley, Church, Clark are largely similar each could be inserted in the line up virtually interchangeably. I disagree with Willie ythat Church is an automatic starter. Tatis is hardly a known quantity but put up decent numbers in NOLA last yr. Marlon and Endy are lefty versions. I think marlon has exalted himself with clutch play off the bench but his defensive issues should keep him ….on the bench.
So essentially what I am saying is that the Mets may NOT be set in the outfield. And the opening day outfield could be different as the season goes on.
There isn’t much to say about Church — he’s going to be the everyday rightfielder (per Willie) and we’ll find what happens.
But now that you’ve stoked the subject maybe I’ll consider a separate post on him.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2008/03/braves-grab-gotay.html
Gotay’s a Brave, fellers.
Willie may be relaying the message that Church is going to be the everyday RF, but it’s Omar who’s calling that shot. He was acquired for the purpose of playing everyday even though he has done little over his career of proving he can handle LHP. So if anyone is to blame for having a soft-hitting Church in the lineup 6 days a week, it’s Omar, not Willie.
Anyway, what else do you expect Willie to do? Church is hitting .220 during the Spring so he deserves to get benched in favor of Brady Clark? Come on. I’m not the biggest Church fan, either, but he’s the RF until he can’t hit his own weight. And it’s Omar, not Willie, that made it that way.
But remember, we all came to the conclusion that dealing with Church in RF is a necessary evil because the Mets “had no other choice” but to rid themselves of Milledge, and Church was the best they could do as a replacement. And we also agreed that, over the course of 500 at bats, Church would likely put up similar numbers as Nady, who we all thought contributed more than adequate RF production.
So, in other words, let’s reserve judgment on Church until at least mid-May and just come to grips that, like it or not, he’s the RF.
Isuzu: Cant argue with that logic. In fact I would largely say all the same things…except to say the Omar vs Willie stuff.
I would argue willie fires himself by inserting Church everyday and not utilizing a plethora of veteran OF as match ups present themselves. Why expose Church against lefty pitching? Dont get me wrong I HOPE Church IS the next X-man. I have not even looked at his Spr numbers AND i liked what was said in that articler that annointed Church the RF. But I do see a series of ways to have Anderson, Endy and Clark get starts, while Church comes off the bench.
XNady vs. Church is a perfect comparison. We all though Nady would be a failure b/c he supposedly couldn’t hit righties.
Willie is going to insert Church into the lineup every day until at least June — particularly while Moises is on the DL. He likes stability and consistency and is committed to giving Church the chance.
Joe, as it looks, Alou will be back at the end of April . . .
ha ha hahahaha …. ha ha ha ha ha ha … hee hee … hooo hooo …. ha ha ha ….
SK, you crack me up sometimes ….
WHICH April is the question ….
I’ll believe the reports on Alou when his name’s in Sharpie on the 1st Lineup card.
Until then, it’s all smoke and sunshine stories.
According to MetsBlog, it’s Clark.
I believe that I didn’t include the word this in my previous post . . .