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June 19, 2009 Latest Mets News Joe Janish

Martinez Down, Evans Up

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The New York Mets have sent outfielder Fernando Martinez back down to AAA Buffalo and have promoted Nick Evans from AA Binghamton.

It is assumed that Martinez was sent down in order to ensure that he would continue to play every day. Though F-Mart did not look overmatched in his debut stint in the bigs, he also did not prove to be much of a difference-maker. What we’ve learned is that he’s a solid all-around ballplayer who needs more time to develop his bat. A star in the making, but not a star just yet.

Interesting to see Evans get the callup as opposed to Wily Mo Pena, who has been hitting .333 in the month of June and starting to show some power. But, Pena is not on the 40-man roster and is out of options, while Evans is on the 40-man and can be optioned back to the minors.

After a very rough start and a demotion to AA, Evans has recently righted the ship, batting .390 with 2 HR, 6 doubles, and 6 RBI in his last ten games. My guess is the Mets are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, and take advantage of the fact Evans is currently “locked in”. If so, it makes sense to start him at 1B right away, if not tonight then tomorrow. Evans has been sharing time with Lucas Duda at 1B and also playing some outfield.

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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. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. isuzudude June 19, 2009 at 6:31 pm
    It is imperative the Mets play Evans everyday if they hope to catch that lightning in a bottle, which is why I think this was a bad decision. Because Evans is not going to play everyday – or at least he shouldn’t in my opinion. With Tatis’ struggles at the plate I can see the Mets opting to upgrade their 1B platoon by pairing Murphy with Evans, but we’ve pointed out here before that Evans only maintains production when he’s playing regularly and not sporadically within a platoon situation. Case in point: he was a .276 hitter as a starter last year, and .182 as a sub/PHer. He also hit .250 (4-for-16) as a pinch hitter with 7 strikeouts. In the minors he’s also been nothing but a starter, so he doesn’t have the skills to come off the bench cold and contribute right away, nor the consistency to keep a hot bat while starting just 2 or 3 times a week. Additionally, if Evans is being brought up to play everyday, does this end the Dan Murphy experiment altogether? If so, I can’t say I’m really in favor.

    I don’t have a problem with demoting Martinez at this point, granting they have a better left-handed option to platoon with Sheffield in LF. I guess Jeremy Reed has earned the chance, although he’s not going to help out in the lacking power department. Perhaps this is all a ploy (if Evans is going to continue swinging a hot bat) to showcase Evans for a trade. But again, that means Evans needs to play as close to everyday as possible, which just doesn’t seem likely.

  2. micalpalyn June 19, 2009 at 11:40 pm
    -jeremy reed has cemented his place as the 5th OFer. he can play the field as well as any, PH…but not play everyday….at least so far.

    – D. murphy can play everyday and is starting to find his timing. i think having his bud close will help.

    -i dont see how evans will get ABs.

    – fmart…this is more about service time to me since he must come up in Sept, and more likely august. But with Church and Sheff he cant really play often enough…..unless for example Church gives way.

    – big shout out to fernando nieve….want to talk about lightning in a bottle. And his replacement and doing quite well too.

    -old met crush magglio ordonez has to be in the mets discussions. they did well with sheff..could mags be next?