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Memories of Kelly Johnson

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 06 2016 04:41 PM

Signed with Braves, again. Got lots of co-credit for the great things Uribe did while not actually doing such great things himself. I mean, he had a few big hits back when everybody was getting them, but, he wasn't a force in and of himself. I also recall a pregame radio interview where he gave a lot of bland pat answers to how exciting it must be to be on a pennant winner.

HahnSolo Jan 06 2016 05:00 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Big HR off Strasburg, when Strasburg was absolutely cruising, in the final game of the sweep in September. Led off the 8th to tie the game; later in inning Cespedes crushed Storen's soul.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 06 2016 05:02 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Yeah. 2 HRs in that series.

themetfairy Jan 06 2016 05:13 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

He came to the Mets right when the team was getting its act together. He had a couple of key homers and was a nice extra piece to have during the pennant drive.

TransMonk Jan 06 2016 05:18 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

I remember him being very fiery about the Utley slide in the NLDS. That certainly endeared him to me as much as anything he did on the field.

Centerfield Jan 06 2016 06:20 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

I think the Mets really missed the boat here on Kelly Johnson. If you are going to "raise the floor", this is the guy you need to bring into the fold. His career OPS is .755 (Neil Walker, by comparison, is .769). Consistent hitter, has some pop, can play many positions. At 1 year, $2 million, is exactly the type of deal that can help a ball club. Had some big hits for the Mets, including the aforementioned Strasburg HR. He's a better hitter than Cabrera. The only thing Cabrera does that Johnson does not is play SS (and he doesn't do that particularly well). With Flores, Tejada and Reynolds all available, I don't know that you needed that skill set. When I talked about how limited resources were misallocated, this is what I was talking about. On Edit: He could have platooned with Herrera or been insurance had the Mets chosen to go that route. Then Cabrera's $18 million and Walker's $10 million could have been used for an impact player for the OF.

Ceetar Jan 06 2016 06:26 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Walker is 30, Johnson is 34 and didn't look particularly good defensively last year. Also if you adjust for park Walker is clearly the better hitter. If they'd signed Johnson instead of Walker everyone would call them cheap. Now they spend an extra $7 million or so to have Walker and it's using the money wrong?

Centerfield Jan 06 2016 06:33 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

I'm mainly advocating Johnson over Asdrubal. But also pointing out that if they wanted to, they could have freed up more money by going economic at second base (cheap, giving their best prospect a shot and "raising the floor"), which would have allowed them to reallocate the limited resources they have to bring in an impact hitter in the OF.

Ceetar Jan 06 2016 06:41 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

except relying on prospects lowers on the floor. And Johnson can't play SS and Cabrera is a much better hitter than Flores and you'll have at least one of Flores and Tejada as backup (and both for now) rather than just them. The team has better depth, better offense and better defense with Cabrera and Walker than it would've with Johnson and there's no indication that these moves prohibit them from trading for an impact bat in the outfield if that's what they choose to do.

Centerfield Jan 06 2016 06:53 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

I don't want to re-hash all the arguments of the past month again. My point in this thread is that KJ would have been a good, cheap "raise the floor" type of move.

Zvon Jan 06 2016 07:25 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Homered in his first game donned in Metropolitan pinstripes so he started at love and worked his way down to I kinda like this guy. He didn't suck.

bmfc1 Jan 06 2016 07:37 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

HahnSolo wrote: Big HR off Strasburg, when Strasburg was absolutely cruising, in the final game of the sweep in September. Led off the 8th to tie the game; later in inning Cespedes crushed Storen's soul. That HR was a thing of beauty. I was there and we knew it was gone as soon as it left his bat.

Lefty Specialist Jan 06 2016 09:30 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Well, I'm betting the Braves will be happy to trade him to the Mets again if we need him at the trade deadline. The homer off of Strasburg was awesome. It jarred him and led to Matt Williams pulling him too early for Storen.

seawolf17 Jan 06 2016 09:37 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Zvon wrote: Homered in his first game donned in Metropolitan pinstripes so he started at love and worked his way down to I kinda like this guy. He didn't suck. This, pretty much.

Frayed Knot Jan 06 2016 09:50 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Like his co-pick-up Uribe, he didn't have great stats as a Met (K'd in nearly 1/3 of his ABs!!) but got some big hits and some timely ones -- between the two, nearly half their hits (26 of 60) went for XBs That's nice production and certainly helped during the great Aug/Sept run, but it's not a great thing to count on repeating and his lack of SS ability didn't make him a priority in the 2016 infield nor does his LH bat make him a great bench fit.

Vic Sage Jan 07 2016 09:53 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

a LHed bat off the bench isn't a priority? Well, who do we have there now? Assuming a RHed starting pitcher (which is mostly what a team faces), the team will have all its lefties starting, and have Lagares, Tejada, Flores, Plawecki and Cambell (or whatever RHed hitting OFer/1bman they are about to sign to replace him (Pearce, Raburn,etc.). Sure, if a LHP starts, you'll have some lefties on the bench, but mostly we won't. They've replaced Nieuhenheis with DeAza, whose going to split time with Lagares (and give Grandy a blow occasionally), unless Lagares gets off to a hot start or deAza sucks, in which case he'll be the LH on the bench, but if he sucks, why is having him on the bench a good idea? Walker for Murphy is a wash, but Cabrera was a bad idea. Flores and Tejada can give us what Cabrera is going to give us (which is not much), and that money could've contributed toward an impact bat in the OF, while signing Johnson (who can play 1b/2b/3b/LF/RF) would've given us cheap depth and flexibility, with an experienced, McEwing type attitude.

sharpie Jan 07 2016 10:30 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

I'm thinking that they really hope that Lagares can up his game and be the everyday centerfielder, leaving DeAza as the left handed bat off the bench.

Frayed Knot Jan 07 2016 11:57 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

With the infield pretty much covered [Wright / Tejada / Flores / Cabrera / Walker / Duda - and possibly even the odd appearance from which of Plawecki/d'Arnaud isn't donning the tools that day] any bat they'd be looking for would be in the OF where Lagares is the only RH among them. Thus, even though K. Johnson can play a corner spot, I think they would been more likely to consider him there if he weren't strictly a LH hitter.

Centerfield Jan 08 2016 01:48 AM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Frayed Knot wrote: With the infield pretty much covered [Wright / Tejada / Flores / Cabrera / Walker / Duda - and possibly even the odd appearance from which of Plawecki/d'Arnaud isn't donning the tools that day] any bat they'd be looking for would be in the OF where Lagares is the only RH among them. Thus, even though K. Johnson can play a corner spot, I think they would been more likely to consider him there if he weren't strictly a LH hitter. The infield is not covered if the Mets didn't sign Cabrera. Which is what Vic and I are trying to say. If there is no Cabrera, there is room for Johnson. Think about this. Asdrubal Cabrera's contract is more than nine times that of Kelly Johnson. But Johnson plays more positions, and is the better hitter. The only thing that Cabrera brings to the table over KJ is the ability to play SS, and he doesn't even do that particularly well. How valuable is that one skill on a team that already has two shortstops, and another guy at AAA (Reynolds) waiting in the wings in case of injury? Is it worth the difference between $2 million and $18.5 million? Not a chance in my book.

Frayed Knot Jan 08 2016 02:06 AM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Well now you're going backwards and undoing things that are already done. I was talking about why not Kelly Johnson NOW!!!! And the reasoning -- or at least their reasoning -- as to why Cabrera is that they obviously aren't too thrilled with the two SS they've got going forward - at least not as shortstops, and particularly not as both are coming off broken ankles.

Centerfield Jan 08 2016 02:14 AM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Yes, I'm going backwards. Though I did mention Kelly Johnson way back when. I couldn't definitively state then that the Mets botched it, since there was a possibility that KJ's market value had somehow risen (my theory makes no sense if he signed a 2 year, $20 million deal). But now that we have the numbers, I'm pretty firm in my belief here. And I get why they felt the need to upgrade SS. It's just that if you're going to upgrade, do it better. I mean, if you can't get a great hitter, as JCL said, at least get a guy who can field.

Frayed Knot Jan 08 2016 02:28 AM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

I get that you don't like the Cabrera signing -- I wasn't crazy about it myself. But the point is that they don't see Kelly Johnson as a substitute for Cabrera because they were specifically looking for a full-time (or mostly so) shortstop, all of which means that their reply to the point you started this part of the discussion with, namely that they could have had Kelly Johnson if they didn't sign Cabrera, would be: True, but irrelevant.

Centerfield Jan 08 2016 03:07 AM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Part of the justification when Cabrera was signed (I think it was ceetar) was that he added depth and flexibility. One of those "raise the floor" type of guys designed to take away at-bats from the Campbells of the world. So to that end, it is relevant. I speculated then, and have seen confirmed today, that Kelly Johnson can raise the floor in those at-bats (and in fact raise it higher than Cabrera) for a fraction of the price. (1/9 at the end of the day). The other part of the justification was "We needed to upgrade SS." To which I snarkedly reply "Then why didn't we?" Much of the talk this off-season has been "raise the floor" versus "star player". My point here was that if you raise the floor with cost-effective moves like Kelly Johnson, it doesn't have to be an either/or. You can raise the floor, and bring in a star. All for the same money. But whatever. It wasn't going to happen for the reasons cited in the other thread. What's done is done. Maybe Cabrera can find some of the old magic. He's only 4 years removed from hitting .273, with 25 HR's and a .792 OPS. And at only 30, there's no reason he couldn't do that again. So here's to hoping.

Edgy MD Jan 09 2016 04:37 AM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

There has been a memorable amount of memories threads this offseason.

MFS62 Jan 09 2016 12:24 PM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

Edgy MD wrote: There has been a memorable amount of memories threads this offseason. Hey! Welcome back. They were getting ready to start one for you (see the Red Light thread in this forum). Later

Edgy MD Jan 10 2016 04:29 AM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

No, thanks.

Fman99 Jan 11 2016 03:23 AM Re: Memories of Kelly Johnson

MFS62 wrote: Edgy MD wrote: There has been a memorable amount of memories threads this offseason. Hey! Welcome back. They were getting ready to start one for you (see the Red Light thread in this forum). Later Seriously. This resource room needs it's best hall monitor, otherwise, it's a poo flinging tard fest here.