Delgado puzzling
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- May
- 21
Willie Randolph was asked last night if he could see if Carlos Delgado was turning corner. There was a long pause and he said, “it’s a wide turn.’’ He just doesn’t look good. He says nothing is wrong with his elbow, but I wouldn’t expect him to admit it anyway.
If a player lets it known he’s hurting, then pitchers adjust and pound his weak spot. They’ll find it eventually, but no sense letting them know. This has gone on longer than anybody thought. Maybe we’re just seeing a bad, bad year.
This entry was posted
on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 1:24 pm by John Delcos.
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I seem to remember Delgado struggling mightily while battling an injury the first half of 2004 as well, though I’m not sure how similar this one is? I used this as a reason not to break the bank on him when he was a free agent, despite the fact that he rebounded well in the second half of 2004. That’s how we ended up with Minkewetychsitxcvkz, which just shows you how dangerous it is to write off hall of fame sticks too soon…
I dont understand why Willy continues to put Delgado in the line-up. Give him a couple of days off and have Green play 1B and Carlos Gomez roam RF.
Not only could they put Green on first and Gomez in RF, but if Willie stays with Delgado how on earth can he still be batting him 4th.
That makes absolutely no sense.
Yeah he needs to drop in the order, he’s killing some of the momentum. I keep waiting for the law of averages to kick in, but who knows. I recall Mike Lowell having a year like this in Florida and it just never improved, then he went to Boston and I think he had a decent year.
So I guess a bad year can happen. Is there precedent for power hitters just losing it one day?
...hold on a minute, absolutely no way Delgado is done now after being so dominant at times in the playoffs last season. That was like 8 months ago, hitters don’t fall off a cliff like that. I’m sure Carlos is still feeling the effects of the off season surgery and short spring. The only question is if he’s causing further injury by still playing…
John, I don’t think admitting an injury would affect the pitches Carlos sees. They are all busting fast balls inside on him. The ESPN crews have all harped on his recovery from off-season surgery, not being complete yet. If he is in pain wouldn’t it better to drop him in the order for a while?
It’s difficult to know exactly how bad the elbow is, how much it’s affecting him (it sure looks like it’s a problem) and whether continuing to play is helping or hindering that recovery. The Mets seem to let players push through injuries, especially the vets, often to a fault when it looks to all the world like some time off would be beneficial.
The simple fact, though, is that a contending team cannot afford to carry a cleanup hitter with a .214 average, hitting a homer every couple-three weeks, for the long term. At what point does Willie move him down to the 6 or 7 spot? And at what point do they shut him down for awhile?
Green is an adequate defensive first baseman (he played a lot there with the Dodgers) and moving his .325 average to 1B, while improving the OF defense dramatically with Gomez in RF (or an Endy/Gomez platoon when Alou gets back) certainly looks like an upgrade over what we’re getting now.
Assuming things don’t improve, when do these decisions get made? Early June? Late June? All-star break? Unless we manage to put some serious space between ourselves and the Braves in the standings, you can’t just keep running him out there all season like this.
Hopefully, he comes around. But
When Alou comes back, I would like to see:
Reyes
Lo Duca
Beltran
Wright
Delgado
Alou
Green
Easley
To Mel (RE: Admitting injury)
I know what you’re saying. They all know he had surgery. What I was trying to say was not to admit if it was still hurting.