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November 21, 2007 07-08 Offseason Joe Janish

Victor Diaz DFA’d

Victor Diaz hitting for the MetsThe Texas Rangers have designated Victor Diaz for assignment.

Yeah, yeah, I know — he’s old baggage and there likely isn’t any room for him with the Mets. But for some reason he always had a special place in my heart; I think I really wanted him to be the next Kevin Mitchell. Diaz made me look ridiculously foolish when I suggested that he’d beat out Xavier Nady for the rightfield job back in March 2006. (That was a bad spring for me … I lambasted Willie for sticking with Jose Valentin, for giving a roster spot to Endy Chavez, for putting Aaron Heilman in the ‘pen, for letting Brian Bannister take a starting rotation spot … the list goes on and on …)

Interesting that the Rangers would give up so easily on Diaz, who is still only 25 years old and blasted 9 homeruns in just 104 big-league ABs last year. While in the PCL in ’07, he hit another 14 dingers and batted .321 in 271 at-bats. There’s little question the kid can flat-out hit, though he does do a lot of swinging and missing.

If it does turn out that Lastings Milledge or Carlos Gomez gets sent away in a deal for pitching, I wouldn’t mind seeing Diaz picked up on a minor league deal and offered an ST invite. But, it would seem that the Mets are more like “been there, done that, it’s all over” with him.

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 November 21, 2007 at 7:09 am
    Victor Diaz is a right-handed version of the player we traded to get him from Los Angeles in 2003: Jeromy Burnitz. Except Burnitz could draw walks and hit .280 every now and then. Kevin Mitchell is a very lofty expectation…however, it’s not nearly as bad as the Manny Ramirez comparisons I heard every now and again.

    It’s interesting to see Diaz available…but I’m hoping Omar goes a different direction.

  2. whatdatmean November 21, 2007 at 7:42 am
    that would make some nice depth in AAA. Cant hurt to have a guy like that hanging around. Since his defense is sooo bad, there is a 1b project in the minors? You never know. It always good to have some power around. Interesting avenue to explore to add some depth.
  3. joe November 21, 2007 at 8:39 am
    Hey — 1B is a nice idea for Diaz! Yes my emotions are getting in the way here, but I really believe he can be a decent MLB hitter if given the chance. His defense in the OF was never awful, but he came up through the minors as a second baseman, so a move to 1B to improve his versatility / value doesn’t seem out of the question.

    As has been noted several times before, here, there aren’t many RH reserve OF / 1B options out there — at least, few that are worth considering. The Craig Wilsons of the world have been exposed and are too expensive.

  4. skibolton November 21, 2007 at 12:29 pm
    I’d take him if he signs a minor league deal, but if he has to be put on the 40 man roster, I think we’d end up creating another jesus flores typ situation, which at this point would be more important to avoid. If we sign a risk/reward guy like that, Kevin Cash or JR House would be my pick, since catchers are much more difficult to find.
  5. sincekindergarten November 21, 2007 at 4:58 pm
    Joe, I’m with you on the Diaz at 1B idea. If he were really wanting to get back to the ML, he would find a way to make himself attractive to someone out there. I’d give him a ST invite to see what he could do at 1B.
  6. Micalpalyn November 21, 2007 at 5:32 pm
    My comparison: Butch Huskey
  7. joe November 21, 2007 at 6:31 pm
    Mic, I think you are a LOT closer than me. And at this point, Vic would be lucky to match Huskey’s 7 years in MLB!