McRae had become such a liability at the plate he seldom played, leaving the Mets with a shaky defensive outfield.
C HICAGO – The minute Brian McRae discovered in early June the Mets had placed him on irrevocable waivers, he looked and played like a man going through the motions, a man playing for a team that wanted him about as much as he wanted them.
McRae had it in for Bobby Valentine long before that and he joins a long list of players who battled with Valentine and bolted town.
Pete Harnisch was one and he has done well since leaving the Mets. He is the exception.
Lance Johnson, Mark Clark, Bernard Gilkey and Todd Hundley define the rule. None of them has made Valentine look bad. McRae, dealt to the Rockies in a five-player trade that brought center fielder Darryl Hamilton and left-hander Chuck McElroy to the Mets.
In order to get rid of McRae, the Mets had to take on Hamilton’s contract, which pays him a total of $6.3 million in 2000 and 2001. It was a deal worth making since Hamilton is batting 80 points higher than McRae and will want to join a pennant race.
“We think he’s going to improve us offensively and defensively,” Mets GM Steve Phillips said of Hamilton, who was batting .335 at Coors Field and .303 overall.
McRae plays a better center field than Hamilton, but that’s not necessarily relevant. McRae had become such a liability at the plate he seldom played, leaving the Mets with a shaky defensive outfield. Hamilton will play more and Benny Agbayani less, which as yesterday’s 17-10 Cubs win over the Mets at Wrigley Field demonstrated, is a good thing. The more Agbayani plays, the more he looks like a fourth outfielder.
Getting another left-hander for the bullpen, even a left-hander who joins his seventh major league team before his 32nd birthday, can’t be a bad thing. Over-used Dennis Cook, heaving meatballs to the plate yesterday, needs to pitch less in order to help more.
But let’s not get carried away with McElroy, who by lefty standards still has a decent fastball. He was 3-1 with a 6.20 ERA for the Rockies.
There is a reason so many teams let McElroy come and go. He doesn’t throw many strikes. An ugly 76 baserunners reached base by hit or walk in 402/3 innings against McElroy this season. Don’t blame it on Coors Field. McElroy had a 5.00 ERA at Coors, 8.56 on the road.
Every organization thinks it can be the one to tame a wild lefty. That’s why they get passed around so often, but if McElroy eats innings that otherwise would go to Cook, then the Mets are better off with him than without him.
The deal figures to help the Mets a little. Not a lot, but a little is better than not at all.
On a more important front, the trading deadline passed last night without consummation of the deal that absolutely needed to be made. It wasn’t even rumored. It wasn’t discussed. It was necessary.
Major League Baseball simply must trade its obsession for offense for integrity in return. Jack up the mound. Expand the strike zone. Deaden the ball.
Quick, before we are subjected to more unwatchable baseball games such as yesterday’s wind-blowing-out-to-right Wrigley Field abomination.
Make a new rule that requires everyone who whines about small-market disadvantages fold and hold a dispersal draft. Six or eight teams fold and before you know it every team in baseball will have three lousy pitchers on a 12-man staff instead of four or five.
Offense sells. So does crack cocaine, but that doesn’t mean we should force it down the public’s throat.
Sammy Sosa slammed his 39th and 40th home runs. Yawn. Pass me the bottle of No Doz, but don’t buy me any peanuts or cracker jacks. I’ve already had six bags and five boxes and they were all consumed watching Octavio Dotel try to get out of the first inning.
