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February 10, 2010 09-10 Offseason Joe Janish

Mets Pick Up Pridie, Entertain Endy

jason-pridieIn a bold move to bolster the roster, the Mets claimed Twins outfielder Jason Pridie off waivers; they DFA’d former Rutgers pitcher Jack Egbert to make room for Pridie on the 40-man roster.

Pridie was once a promising prospect in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, who was dealt along with Brendan Harris and Delmon Young to Minnesota in the trade that sent Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett south.

For those unfamiliar with Pridie, he is a lefthanded-hitting outfielder with good speed and excellent defensive skills, but not much offense despite a sweet-looking swing. The 26-year-old has exactly 4 MLB at-bats and is a .276 hitter through over 3500 minor-league ABs. There was a brief point early in his career that the Rays moved him to the infield (third base), but ultimately his skillset was deemed more appropriate to the outfield.

Essentially, he is a slightly younger, inexperienced, free-swinging version of Jeremy Reed or Cory Sullivan (actually, he kind of looks like a mashup of the Reed and Sullivan, doesn’t he?). In 2008 he struck out 152 times in 603 AAA at-bats, while clubbing 16 triples and 13 HRs. Last year his strikeouts dropped to 85 (in 546 ABs), hitting .265 with 9 HRs and 5 triples, but walked only 19 times.

In related news, the Mets are considering bringing back fan favorite Endy Chavez — according to John Paul Morosi. Chavez is reportedly doing very well in his rehab from major knee surgery last year, and could be back on the field as early(?) as April or May. Of course, that’s what the agent of every player returning from surgery says.

From Morosi’s report:

At this point, Chavez and his agents must decide on one of two courses of action: Chavez could sign with a club soon and rehabilitate with the team’s medical staff throughout spring training, or continue his workouts individually and stage a showcase in late March.

Really? A “showcase”? Hey, I love Endy as much as any Mets fan, but he’s not Ben Sheets. Hopefully the knee doctor did as good a job on Endy’s surgery as the spin doctor did with this hype.

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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. tim February 10, 2010 at 10:17 pm
    Good post, but one major miss – Jason Pridie does not have “good” speed, he has “exceptional” speed. He makes outstanding catches in center field look like routine catches. Cutting way down on the strikeouts last year was a big plus. His stint in the VWL continued that improvement; only 11 games, but 3 walks and 8 strikeouts while hitting .381. Would like to know why only 11 games, but cannot find anything about it on the Internet. Minnesota’s loss is New York’s gain.
  2. isuzudude February 11, 2010 at 7:55 am
    Well, let’s not get too excited here. All of his positive attributes – the “exceptional” speed, the great OF range, the improved plate discipline – it sounds like you are describing Cory Sullivan all over again. Sullivan’s a nice player, but he’s no major prospect, and he’s no difference maker, and the only reason he cracked the Mets roster last year was because half the team got injured. I suspect the same outcome for Pridie.

    It’s hard to blame people for getting excited over a virtual nothing like Jason Pridie after the dreadful offseason the front office has had. Am I really reading in other posts that people like the idea of Igarashi and Escobar setting up for KRod? Really? Two players who’ve combined for about 6 innings of MLB service time over the past two years, and they are who we are entrusting to hand leads to KRod? Talk about the glass being half full. Not to mention the catching situation is in shambles, there is virtually no reliable starting pitching depth, and the Mets were extremely lathargic and uncreative in finding solutions to backup 1B and 4th/5th OF (yes, I’m talking about Tatis and Matthews, Jr). Yet, where ever you go fans are finding reasons to believe. Good for them, but I’m afraid they’re all going to be in for a very rude awakening once things get underway in April.