gary sheffield

2009 Analysis: Gary Sheffield

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gary-sheffield-sideEntering the 2009 season, the Mets were one slugger short of a championship lineup. They didn’t bother acquiring one during the winter because Daniel Murphy was going to hit like Wade Boggs and the Fernando Tatis – Ryan Church in right field was going to be the best seen in Flushing since the days of Ron Swoboda and Art Shamsky.

But when Gary Sheffield was released outright by the Detroit Tigers, the Mets snapped him up — much to the chagrin of nearly every fan, blogger, radio personality, journalist, and pundit within earshot of Citi Field (note I said “nearly“).

After all, Gary Sheffield was a loafing, selfish, evil, degenerate senior citizen who was going to cause a major disruption in the delicate Mets’ clubhouse and poison the minds of the precocious young ballplayers. There were also fears that he would steal everyone’s wallets, molest the players’ wives, put a cap in David Wright’s head, eat the Wilpons’ babies, and otherwise completely disgrace the Mets’ brand image — all while confined to a body cast and wheelchair resulting from his first attempt to walk up the dugout steps and onto the field.

As it turned out, Sheffield was

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How Bad is Mets Power Outage?

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Quick, what do Miguel Olivo, Garret Jones, David Wright, Gary Sheffield, and Grady Sizemore all have in common? All four players lead their respective teams in homeruns, but have hit less than 20. Here’s where it gets scary — the season totals for these four: Olivo (Royals), 19 Jones (Pirates), 19 Sizemore (Indian), 18 Wright … Read more

In Support of Gary Sheffield

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Congratulations to all you members of the media and other pundits who were so “right” about Gary Sheffield.

Just for the record, though, let’s make clear what you all were so right about.

Back in early April, when the Mets pulled the no-brainer of picking up Sheffield for the MLB minimum, people bashed the move, saying, among other things:

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Who Should Really Be Auditioning at 1B

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1b-teeAfter 65 games at first base, Dan Murphy has shown he can be defensively adequate at the position. Other than a few brain farts and errors due to inexperience, Murphy is, right now, better than Mike Piazza ever was at the position.

If the Mets are serious about going into 2010 with Murphy penciled in as the starting first baseman — or even if they’re not — there is another player who should be getting reps at first base:

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