After watching a number of Mets’ games this season, a number of things have become clear:
1. Angel Pagan is an excellent player with an excellent future. He seems to have a great idea of what hitting is all about, has an excellent batting eye, has good speed and has shown the potential to become an excellent defensive player.
2. The idea that Pagan should become a bench player upon Moise Alou’s return is ridiculous. The Mets’ offense or lackthereof does not have the luxury of losing one of it’s better hitters. And as of today, Angel Pagan is one of the team’s better hitters.
3. When Alou returns, Willie Randolph should simply rotate all four of the team’s outfielders in and out of the lineup based on matchups. Furthermore, it is extremely likely that Alou will get injured sometime soon and it’s much better to keep Pagan fresh and confident than to bury him on the bench. Carlos Beltran and his .230 or so average should not be immune to getting a weekly day off.
4. Ryan Church or Angel Pagan should be the team’s permanent number 2 hitter. The ridiculous contract that the Mets handed to Luis Castillo in the offseason is looking even more ridiculous today than it did when it was handed out. Reyes will benefit most from having a gap/power hitter hitting behind him than he will benefit from having a light hitting, bunt specialist behind him. Reyes does not need someone to bunt him to second and he doesn’t need to get to second to score on a double. Whenever Reyes is on first base, the number 2 hitter receives a ton of fastballs. Certainly Church or Pagan can do more with fastballs than Luis Castillo.
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