Mets sign Endy Chavez
According to ESPN.com, the New York Mets and outfielder Endy Chavez have agreed to a 2-year, $3.85 million contract. Endy only played in 71 games for the Mets last season due to a hamstring injury, but he remains a key player off the bench for manager Willie Randolph. Chavez’ defensive prowess and speed make him a valued 4th OF or stick/runner off the pine. He did, however, injure his right ankle and right hamstring while playing winter ball in Venezuela last month.
Chavez, who was arbitration-eligible, had asked for $2.075 million, and the Mets had been offering $1.725 million. The contract is a good move for both sides. Endy gets 2 years of guaranteed money to be the super-sub OF for the Mets, while New York keeps good depth in the OF. Moises Alou is often injured at some point in a season, so Endy is a valuable commodity to this squad.
And who can forget Endy’s ridiculous catch in Game #7 of the NLCS against the Cardinals…
Filed under: New York Mets, _Videos
Solid move here. Endy’s really popular in NY and he does provide needed depth for Alou. After last season I don’t blame the Mets for loading up on outfield depth. They had all three starters (Alou, Beltran, Green) and three backups (Chavez, Gomez, Milledge) all miss significant time due to injury last yet, a lot of which overlapped.
Still, I must add watching an outfield defense of Chavez, Beltran, Gomez was absolutely stunning. Any ball that had any hang time at all wound up in a glove. I don’t have the game log either, but some of Oliver Perez’s best starts came with that alignment.
Beltran is overrated defensively.
Uuuhh… Nah.
I think the video would have looked better with the Endy Chavez bobbleheads I got for my kids on Endy Chavez Bobblehead Night.
Beltran is not overrated defensively. He is very good, not great. But nobody puts him in the class of Andruw Jones anyway. Beltran has a very good arm and can run the ball down. His only weakness really is that he plays to deep and tends to let the shallow pop up fall in front of him because of how deep he does play. Otherwise, you won’t find 5 better CF than him in baseball.
Jones, Rowand, Hunter, Ichiro, Wells, Crisp, etc.
Oh, then there’s Cameron and Chris Young.
Just speaking from a defensive standpoint… you could make the argument there are 5 better defensive CF’s than Beltran. Crisp, Rowand, A. Jones, Ichiro, Hunter, V. Wells, Sizemore…
Forgot about Sizemore. Good call. And I forgot Granderson, too. Can’t believe that!
So that puts us at 10 CF’s that are better than Beltran, meaning he’s #11, which is middle of the pack, which is average. AKA, mediocre. Then again, I am a huge homer….
Interesting…
Using range factor as a guide, Beltran was #6 among CF in 2007. Now, I am not a numbers guy at all, so take them for what they are worth, but they clearly mean something.
Crisp
Granderson
Cabrera (NYY)
Ichiro
Matthews, Jr.
Beltran
Vernon Wells? Yeah, alllllllllllriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Do you even watch baseball?
Yea, forgot about Melky. He’s definitely better than Beltran.
Please, Melky is not a better defenisve CF than Beltran. That’s a load. He has a better arm and that’s it. Beltran has tremendous range to go with average arm strength and good accuracy. I’d put Jones, Hunter, and Crisp as the only ones who are clearly better. I find Rowand overrated, sure he’s gritty but he doesn’t have Beltran’s range.
Ichiro plays RF, so that means Beltran “just” hits #5 spot
Granderson is clearly a better player. And Sizemore, too.
These postings have taken on the tone of the dialogue in a Quentin Tarantino script. A clear sign that the gap between the end of the world series and the beginning of spring training is just too darn long.
I think your just a hater Sam. If you mean all around, your a looney. Granderson had a nice season sure, I could see the argument that he’s a better player if he repeats. But it was his second full season, and in the previous one his OPS was below .800. Beltran’s only been below .800 once in a full season and he’s been over .900 three times.
Sizemore’s numbers are nearly identical to Beltran’s at his age.
There is no way either one of these guys is “clearly” better than Beltran. Is it debatable? Certainly to some degree, they’re younger and still on the rise while Beltran is at his peak. Considering that though, unless Jones were to bounce back, Beltran’s probably the best all around CF in the game. Obviously Granderson and Sizemore will both be in that discussion for most of the next 5-7 years, but they don’t have the track record Beltran does yet. For all we know Granderson takes a bit of a step back in 2008.
Mark,
I agree 100%…
Yes Mark, thanks for bringing sanity back!
As far as talent goes its Beltran, Sizemore, then Granderson.. If I was building a team, Sizemore would no doubt be my centerfielder. His intangibles along with talent are unmatched in centerfield as of right now.