| BASEBALL |
||||||
| 3.29.05 Wily Mo Pena One of the most intriguing players (and most fun names to say) this season is Wily Mo Pena. Pena is an outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds and will most likely start the season on the bench. The Reds also have Adam Dunn (who hit 46 homers last year), Ken Griffey, Jr. (who used to hit 50+ homers regularly), and Austin Kearns (who everybody thinks will be good). That's some pretty stout talent in front of Wily Mo, but he has a valid argument for securing a starting spot in Cincinnati's outfield. Last season Wily Mo hit .259 with 26 homers, 66 rbi, 5 steals, and an OPS of .843 in only 336 at bats. Wily Mo was also only 22 years old last season. Those a great numbers for a 22 year old and Wily Mo would probably start and bat cleanup for a number of teams (ok, maybe only on the Royals would he bat cleanup, but he would definitely start for a lot of teams). In fact, if you take his per at bat averages and extend them over 550 at bats, Wily Mo would have hit 43 homers - only five players in all of baseball hit at least that many homers last year (can you name them? The answer will be at the bottom of the page). So let's look at his competition for a job: Adam Dunn had a breakout year last year, blasting 46 homers with batting .266 with 102rbi, 6 steals, and an OPS of .956. He is two years older than Wily Mo and his numbers in 2003 and 2002 look very similar to Wily Mo's numbers last year. The consensus is that the breakout is the real thing for Dunn and he is expected to continue his success. The problem for Dunn is that he is a big guy and has already spent a significant amount of time of the DL in his young career. He was limited to 381 at bats in 2003 due to injury. Austin Kearns is also two years older than Wily Mo, but hasn't shown nearly as much as Adam Dunn has in those two years. In fact, Kearns' best season was 2002, when he was 22, and he hit .315 in 372 at bats. Since then he has been severely limited by injuries. In 2003 he only got 292 at bats in, and in 2004 he got only 217. This is not the sort of trend that teams like to see. He has never shown the type of power that Wily Mo or Dunn have, but the team hopes that he will return to his 2002 form with a high batting average and OPS (.907). Ken Griffey, Jr. was arguably the best all around player of the 90's. Since his trade to Cincinnati, however, he's been an injury waiting to happen. Every year we hear the stories in Spring Training about his rebirth and how he's a great guy and everyone hopes that he can stay healthy this year. Every year Peter Gammons is convinced that he will return to his 50+ home run form. It's starting to look like that may never happen. Last season started off promising, with Junior hitting his 500th homerun and launching 20 dingers in his first 300 at bats before injuries ended his season. It was a significant improvement over the 166 at bats they got out of him in 2003 and the 197 at bats he put in in 2002. Adam Dunn clearly is locked into his position, and it is even understandable that Griffey would retain his job, considering his history (even though that history is becoming further and further from the present). Kearns is a much more difficult pill to swallow, though. His one decent season is now two seasons ago, and that season really pales in comparison to Wily Mo's season last year. Perhaps the Reds know something about Kearns and Pena that we don't. The Reds have gone on record to say that Pena is not on the trading block, even though they need pitching desperately. And of course he isn't, that would be foolish. Considering the injury history of the three guys ahead of him, it would probably be an upset if Wily Mo doesn't get 500 at bats this season filling in. In fact, the smart move would probably be to trade Griffey. He is by far the most expensive of the four (he makes $12.5 million each year, the other three make less than $500K apiece), and he has the least long-term value. They would have to resign themselves to the fact that they wouldn't get much, if anything back for him, and they might have to eat some of his contract. But if they could have traded him in the offseason for minor league prospects, eaten say $6M of his contract for this season, then they could have had $6M to go after a decent #2 or #3 starter to go along with Paul Wilson in their rotation. Of course, then they wouldn't have a good insurance policy for when Dunn and/or Kearns inevitably gets hurt. Trivia Answer: Adrian Beltre (48), Albert Pujols (46), Dunn (46), Barry Bonds (45), Manny Ramirez (43) |
||||||
| MASTER INDEX And For No Apparent Reason Archives Baseball Because I Can Fat Guys Get Naked Too Fiction The Gogs Guest Article Mitch's Multi-Monthly Meanderings Mixed Bag Naked Indian Lesbians The Professor Sex Stone |
||||||