February 5, 2014

Why Peralta and Not Drew??

There has been a lot of chatter on twitter stating that Stephen Drew isn't worth signing for a 1 or 2 year deal.  A good chunk of Mets fans are saying that he isn't worth the money, and that the Mets should give Tejada another chance, considering the difference in price.  Now, before I go off, I'll say that the split seems to be right down the middle.  So there are plenty of Mets fans, several who I normally wouldn't side with, who want Drew here.  I for one, do want Drew.

When then off-season started, all Mets fans were talking about was how horrible shortstop was.  If I recall correctly, Mets fans couldn't get enough of Jhonny Peralta.  There were several screen shots of Mets jerseys with his name on them floating around out there.  And when Peralta signed with St. Louis early in the winter, the proverbial screams of Mets Twitter could be heard around the tri-state area.  "Sandy sucks" and "Wilpon's won't spend" and "Here we go again" were the battle cries for about a week or two.

Reports have surfaced that the Mets are actively negotiating with Stephen Drew, even thought it had appeared unlikely a move to get him was going to be made.  It is unsure how true they are, but I'm not here to discuss that.  Now that these rumors are swirling tho, all of a sudden Ruben Tejada is a viable option.  So what has changed in the last two months?  Ruben Tejada went to fat camp, so now he's a major player for the Mets?  Peralta is so much better than Drew?  I don't get it.  Two months ago, Ruben Tejada was public enemy #1 to Mets fans.  Now he's A Okay.

I'm not a huge sabermetrics guy, but I'm open minded to them and I understand their place in modern baseball when it comes to analyzing players.  That being said, I refuse to acknowledge WAR as a legitimate stat or tool or whatever it is people want to call it.  I think it's flawed and doesn't take into account too many things in regards to situational baseball, strategy and intangibles. That being said, I'm gonna go to it right now to try and prove a point, considering so many people like it.

Last season Jhonny Peralta had a 3.3 WAR.  For his career, he averages a 2.2 WAR.  Stephen Drew posted a 3.1 WAR in 2013, and averages 2.0 WAR a season.  Both players have had seasons with WAR higher than that, and both have finished season's with a WAR slightly below zero.  So how come Mets fans were clamoring so hard for Peralta, but think Drew isn't good enough?  For what it's worth, Tejada posted a -0.9 WAR last season, and averages a 0.7 in his four seasons.  When you compare the three players, it doesn't seem like all that big a difference.  Apparently it was in October though when a majority of people wanted Peralta.

Maybe Drew isn't worth the cost or isn't that huge an upgrade over Tejada.  Personally I think even if he is at his best, Tejada isn't as good as Drew.  Like I have said before, I'm no expert, so I could be wrong.  But I'd like to see a little more consistency from the fans out there when it comes to what we want and expect from this team.

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