Mota and the Mets
By way of Joe Sheehan in today's BP, I noticed this story on Mota and the Mets:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09122006/sports/cheap_thrills_sports_joel_sherman.htm
"The stat department divined that Mota's percentage of changeups thrown was way down from when he was an elite set-up man with the Dodgers in 2003-04.... It is a small sample, but in his first nine appearances Mota has a 0.93 ERA, 12 strikeouts and just two walks in 92/3 innings."
I have the impression that the Indians have a strong statistical approach to player evaluation. I guess it surprises me that the Mets saw something that the Tribe didn't.
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Re: Mota and the Mets
Re: Mota and the Mets
Re: Mota and the Mets
Re: Mota and the Mets
by Brandini on Sep 24, 2006 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Re: Mota and the Mets
Re: Mota and the Mets
It's hard to believe that nobody on the Tribe staff ever mentioned that.
My point is, sometimes players are stubborn. Some guys won't pay attention until they've been traded / demoted / released.
Of course, I'm not sure if that applies to Mota, and I have no idea what advice Willis gave him.
I actually thought that Mota was coming around, but by the time he was getting straightened out, the Tribe's season had imploded, and the youth movement was on.
by CaptainEasy on Sep 25, 2006 11:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Agreed on Wright and the Indians!
From what I remember, heard, and read, the Indians did try to get Wright to decrease his velocity so that he could better command his fastball, but for whatever reason, he wasn't able to do it here.
I also agree on Mota - he seemed to be getting some command of his pitches and the one game I was at later in the year (against Detroit, in July or August, I think,) he seemed to look a bit like his dominating self from his Dodger days. But like you said, at that time, the youth movement was on and he was a possible trading chip.
I talked about this with a Mets fan, MetfanBren, on MinorLeagueBall.com; what is the chance that the PTBNL is 2B prospect Anderson Hernandez? He started as the Mets starting 2B this year (he was actually a SS, but because of Reyes, shifted over to 2B, and has a comparable arm to Reyes, according to this Mets fan,) made some excellent defensive plays, but struggled a bit at the plate. Then he hurt his back, Jose Valentin did better than him offensively, and he was sent back to AAA, where he continued to struggle. Whether the AAA struggles were due to his back injury or were legitimate, proving his 2005 season was a fluke, we're not sure. MetfanBren did say that Hernandez's play reminds him more of Rey Ordonez than Jose Reyes though.
MetfanBren also told me that Omar Minaya has gotten rid of "AAAA" players before, like Prentice Redman, Angel Pagan, and Wayne Lydon, among others, so if they now consider Hernandez more of a "AAAA" player, maybe he COULD be the PTBNL for Mota, especially if the Indians determine that Crowe should remain in the OF.
Here are Anderson Hernandez's stats.
I'm not saying he'd be the answer to our 2B hole (his BB/K ratio is weak and he doesn't hit for great power or average,) but perhaps is another option Shapiro would look at to possibly fill it eventually, in case Hernandez can bounce back once he's healthy. He'd only be 24 next year, and considering what Mota's value was when we traded him, perhaps that wouldn't be a bad player to acquire to see if he could turn it around and be a decent ML player.
Just a thought.

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