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Memoirs of an EY

Edgy MD
Feb 13 2015 10:13 PM

The last of the Mets' big league free agents gets a minor league deal. Signed away by Atlanta.

[fimg=400:2wwhygdm]http://www.bloggingmets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Eric-Young.jpg[/fimg:2wwhygdm]

Zvon
Feb 14 2015 01:02 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

And watch. He'll end up doing something big to fuck us during the season. Probably run over Harveys arm.

I liked EY. I thought he was misused. But the guy didn't seem to have any "baseball sense".

themetfairy
Feb 14 2015 05:34 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

So much potential, but so little to show for it.

Frayed Knot
Feb 14 2015 06:36 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Not quite sure about all this supposed potential or how he was misused - unless misused in this case means used too often.

He came here as a 28 y/o in the midst of his fifth season of being a part-time player. He immediately got more or less full time status on account of the 2013 team having a weak OF (he essentially replaced the failed Duda in LF experiment) and he proceed to hit right about where his career numbers suggest he should hit. In 2014 his playing time was reduced with the signings of Granderson & C. Young but he found his spots during Lagares injuries and CYoung's troubles before gradually seeing less as his hitting fell off and Nieuwenhuis and den Dekker were given looks.

In all he wound up with over one full season's worth of PAs (734) and a very mediocre stat line of .242/.310/.321. Definitely had that 'make things happen' vibe to him and the SB numbers were great [68 of 81], but playing at a power position where speed was his #1 asset only takes you so far. Maybe [u:11i0pwek]that[/u:11i0pwek] can be considered being misused but he wasn't going to knock Murph off of 2nd and defensively was about 4th on the CF depth chart. So then what?. Defense was decent but hardly great -- many of those diving catches coming in should have been easier but for his penchant for playing real deep; would out-run some of his mistakes in judgement but also had a noodle arm.

Bottom line: seemed like a good guy who always hustled and contributed the best he could, but ideally is more a super-sub who gets about 2/3 the playing time he wound with.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Feb 14 2015 06:40 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Yeah I liked that he played all-out and seemed to do his sincere best with the opportunity he had. He probably did. I also agree on the strong possibility he'll do something wildly hurtful to the 2015 Mets.

Edgy MD
Feb 14 2015 06:47 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Here's hoping he can sting the Nats first and more frequently.

It's a rare left fielder you see who plays deeper than the center fielder.

I get the idea that his legs'll stay healthy and he'll be a rare speed-first guy who plays well into his thirties — Tony Womack, Lonnie Smith, Juan Pierre... Mookie Wilson.

Frayed Knot
Feb 14 2015 07:00 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

I also agree on the strong possibility he'll do something wildly hurtful to the 2015 Mets.


aka: the Willie Harris factor - only in reverse as we obtained Willie after he had burned us several times.

smg58
Feb 14 2015 01:07 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Somebody needs to tell him to stop hitting so many damn ground balls.

batmagadanleadoff
Feb 14 2015 02:39 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

I also agree on the strong possibility he'll do something wildly hurtful to the 2015 Mets.


aka: the Willie Harris factor - only in reverse as we obtained Willie after he had burned us several times.


Nothing in reverse about Willie Harris's Mets stint. In a Mets uniform, Harris continued to burn us.

MFS62
Feb 14 2015 06:54 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Memories?
he was fast and, um, ..., he was fast.

Later

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr
Feb 14 2015 10:00 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

I also agree on the strong possibility he'll do something wildly hurtful to the 2015 Mets.


aka: the Willie Harris factor - only in reverse as we obtained Willie after he had burned us several times.


My first thought when I heard about the release was "T-minus four months until Willie Harris moment."

Lefty Specialist
Feb 15 2015 06:26 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Couldn't steal first base. Nice guy, won't be missed.

Ceetar
Feb 15 2015 08:33 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

seemed like a nice guy. was fast.

Will be the aha! got you! answer to the question "Who was the last Met to lead the league in Stolen Bases?" for a while.

Edgy MD
Feb 15 2015 01:55 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Only stolen base champ not named Reyes in Mets history. Course, we need to count his Colorado steals in order to award him the crown.

He seemed major league in every way put the production. Counted himself as a Mets fan and a son of Jersey, at least lip service-wise.

Benjamin Grimm
Feb 15 2015 02:30 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

This thread title keeps making me think that Eric wrote a book.

batmagadanleadoff
Feb 15 2015 02:34 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Only stolen base champ not named Reyes in Mets history. Course, we need to count his Colorado steals in order to award him the crown.

He seemed major league in every way put the production. Counted himself as a Mets fan and a son of Jersey, at least lip service-wise.


Best EY line I've ever read (not mine) paraphrased: "How can a player who never gets on base lead the league in stolen bases"?

Ashie62
Feb 15 2015 06:58 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

He was the best Young on the team.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Feb 15 2015 08:08 PM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

I would disagree with that

Edgy MD
Feb 16 2015 07:23 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

WAR is not the answer, but it definitely suggests that Eric Young outplayed Chris Young in 2014.


YoungSeasonsWAR
-blood, Joel1977–19829.3
Chris R.2011–20122.0
Eric2013–20141.7
Anthony1991–19930.1
Chris B.20140.0


On the other hand, it surprisingly suggests that Eric 2014 (0.9 WAR) was better than Eric 2013 (0.8 WAR), and I can't explain why (other than to guess that hit has something to do with offense going down league-wide).

That's baseball-reference.com's version above, but Fangraphs sort of agrees, putting it at:

Eric Young 2014: 1.2 WAR
Eric Young 2013: 0.7 WAR
Chris Young 2014: -0.6 WAR

John Cougar Lunchbucket
Feb 16 2015 08:35 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Yeah well I definitely wasn't arguing WAR there, just saying as a reserve type guy I'd rather have C than E on my team.

Edgy MD
Feb 16 2015 09:35 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

Yeah, I'm just throwing that out there. I had little doubt that given enough time, CY was going to turn a corner, but the Mets had given him as much time as they could spare. I got the idea that EY, on the other hand, was playing closer to his peak potential, but still wasn't very good.

smg58
Feb 16 2015 11:21 AM
Re: Memoirs of an EY

EY put up some solid hitting numbers in the minors, but other than a brief stretch in 2012 for the Rockies, it never translated. I kind of got the sense that somebody told him he needed to put the ball on the ground to best utilize his speed -- which, unless you have Ichiro-in-his-prime bat control, is basically the worst thing you can tell somebody. His seasonal batting averages are pretty much anti-correlated with his ground ball rates, and for his sake I hope his next hitting instructor is aware of that. His other problem is that he tried so hard to work the count and draw walks, but as long as he was more likely to take a fat pitch than do something worse than hit a single with it, nobody was going to pitch him carefully.