A Charlie O'Brien Thanksgiving

In 1990, the Mets and Pirates were duking it out for supremacy in the National League East when New York acquired Charlie O'Brien from the Milwaukee Brewers to be the backup catcher to the incumbent Mackey Sasser.

Sasser was what we call a good-hit, no-throw catcher.  That meant he was a solid contact hitter (.307 batting average in 100 games in 1990) who had a little bit of a problem throwing the ball back to the pitcher.  Okay, it was a big problem, as opposing base runners would occasionally take advantage of Sasser's tap-tap-toss back to the pitcher by stealing a base.

Charlie O'Brien was an excellent defensive catcher who called a good game and had an outstanding arm behind the plate.  O'Brien would go on to throw out a whopping 30 would-be base stealers in 1990 and would erase a total of 95 men who attempted to steal during his four seasons in New York.

But O'Brien as a hitter?  That was another story.

This photo is almost as small as Charlie O'Brien's batting average.  Almost.

In four seasons with the Mets, spanning 659 plate appearances, the Bob Uecker look-alike was also a Bob Uecker hit-alike.  O'Brien had a .212 career batting average with the Mets to go with a .289 on-base percentage and .309 slugging percentage.  How bad was O'Brien as a hitter?  Over the same time period (1990-1993), his sometimes battery-mate, Dwight Gooden, hit .221 and slugged .336 in 318 plate appearances.  (At least O'Brien was a tad more patient than Doc, as Gooden "only" reached base at a .234 clip.)

Despite never being the team's top catcher (Rick Cerone caught most of the games in 1991 and Todd Hundley took over in 1992 and 1993), O'Brien remained a Met for those four seasons, even if his pitchers had a better chance to drive in a run than he did.

Fast forward two decades to the current Mets.  Josh Thole has been with the team for four seasons, although he didn't receive the bulk of the playing time until the second half of the 2010 season.  In 916 career at-bats with the Mets, Thole is a .261 hitter with a .331 on-base percentage.  He is not much of a power threat, as evidenced by his .333 slugging percentage, but then again, he was never counted on to be one.

Yet despite his decent batting average on on-base percentage, especially when compared to what O'Brien did 20 years earlier, the Mets are trying to replace Thole behind the plate.  To this I ask ... why?

Don't get Josh Thole angry.  You wouldn't want to see him angry.

Since becoming a Met in 2009, the team's ERA has been lower with Thole behind the plate than with any other catching option.  The following is Thole's "catcher's ERA" compared to the team's cumulative ERA for each season.

• 2009: Josh Thole (4.10 ERA), Team (4.45 ERA)
• 2010: Josh Thole (3.58 ERA), Team (3.70 ERA)
• 2011: Josh Thole (4.25 ERA), Team (4.19 ERA)
• 2012: Josh Thole (3.77 ERA), Team (4.09 ERA)

• Total: Josh Thole (3.92 ERA), Team (4.10 ERA)

Simply stated, Thole makes his pitchers better when he's catching them.  And lest we forget, it was Josh Thole calling pitches for Johan Santana on the night of his historic no-hitter.

But no.  That's not good enough.  Thole is a decent hitter and a fine handler of pitchers.  But in this era, if a catcher can't hit 20 homers, then it's time to look for his replacement, as the Mets are seeking to do this off-season.

Just imagine what would have happened to Charlie O'Brien if he was catching in this era instead of the 1990s.  Four years with the Mets?  He'd have been lucky to just get four months on the team.

Charlie O'Brien toiled for 15 seasons behind the plate in the major leagues (1985, 1987-2000), hitting a measly .221.  Josh Thole, even if he slumps badly, will always be a better hitter than O'Brien was.  But do you really think Thole will be in the majors for 15 seasons if he continues to be primarily a singles hitter?

A certain Mets catcher from two decades past should be thankful he caught when he did.  He'd have no chance to stick around in Flushing in this era.

The K-Rod Deal: Who Could The Possible PTBNL Be?

PTBNL. No, it doesn't stand for Perhaps Tim Bogar Needs Listerine. It stands for Player To Be Named Later. There will be two PTBNL coming to New York from Milwaukee in exchange for former Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez.

So who could the two players to be named later be? Sandy Alderson gave no hints in his conference call with members of the media earlier today. Of course, we have some ideas at Studious Metsimus. Who knows? Some of them might actually be right...

Bernie Brewer

The fun-loving Brewers mascot would come to the Mets and set up shop by the Beers of the World stand. While kids are having their pictures taken with Mr. Met, their parents could get a high four from Bernie (since he only has four fingers) and indulge in an adult beverage or three.

Bernie's slide from Milwaukee, which he rides down after every home run hit by the Brewers, would not come with him to Citi Field, as the Mets don't hit home runs there, making the slide nothing but an expensive dust collector.




Bob Eucker

Upon arriving at Citi Field, he’d say "great seats, eh, buddy" like in the old Miller Lite commercials, only to be reminded that his seat has an obstructed view. Then during a pitch, he’d utter "just a bit outside", before being corrected that the pitch hit the batter, to which he’d say "well, with all these obstructions at Citi Field, how can anyone be expected to call a game properly?"




Robin Yount's statue

Since the Mets either haven't thought about it or can’t afford to pay for a statue of Tom Seaver to be erected outside Citi Field, they figured they'd just trade for one and hope that their fans don’t notice the difference.

Of course, if the fans dress up as empty seats during the second half of the season, they probably won't have to worry about it.





Rollie Fingers' mustache

The Mets haven’t had a player with a killer mustache since the '80s when Keith Hernandez’s ‘stache patrolled first base at Shea Stadium. With the team trading away their closer and Brian Wilson’s beard being all the rage among ninth inning specialists, the Mets would give the lip hair to Bobby Parnell to make his 100 MPH fastball look all the more intimidating.

On a related follicle note, the Mets did try to trade Francisco Rodriguez to San Francisco for Brian Wilson’s beard but pulled the trade off the table when the Giants asked for a package of K-Rod, Carlos Beltran and a Shake Shack burger. Was the addition of Beltran the dealbreaker? Not exactly.

The Mets claimed that the state of California already has the In-N-Out Burger chain while New York doesn’t, so they felt the Giants asking for Shake Shack would be an embarrassment of riches.



For now, we'll have to wait and see who the players to be named later will be in the Frankie Rodriguez trade to Milwaukee. Perhaps they'll get a mascot. Perhaps it'll be Mr. Belvedere's sidekick.

Regardless of who the players are, the Mets had to make this trade if they wanted to have any chance of signing Jose Reyes in 2012. With K-Rod's vesting option no longer a concern, the Mets will need plenty of funds to have a chance of keeping Reyes in 2012 and beyond. After all without Reyes, it would take more than Bernie Brewer to bring Mets fans back to Citi Field.

Joey's Soapbox: Luis Castillo Says "Get Me Out Of Here!"

Welcome to the latest edition of Joey's Soapbox. I'm your host, Joey Beartran. In today's rant, I will discuss our spoiled little second baseman, Luis Castillo. Why is he spoiled? Because yesterday, he revealed to the world that he no longer wants to be in New York.

Back in 2007, the Mets were desperate for some stability at second base after using the likes of Jose Valentin, Damion Easley and Ruben Gotay at the position. Therefore, in a move made at the trade deadline, the Mets sent Dustin Martin and Drew Butera to the Twins for Luis Castillo. In 50 games following the trade, Castillo hit .296, scoring 37 runs and stealing 10 bases. The Mets got what they expected from Castillo. In those 50 games, he gave them stability, a nice batting average, run-scoring ability and some stolen bases.

However, look at who the Twins accepted for him in the deal. Two no-names with limited futures in Martin (who dat?) and Butera (do I know you?). Three years later, Martin has still not played in the major leagues and Butera finally got called up this year for a 96 at-bat tryout in which he hit .208 for the Twins. Doesn't it look like the Twins knew Castillo was already past his prime and was not worth re-signing when he became a free agent at the end of the '07 season? If they thought he was truly valuable, wouldn't they have asked for more than "Who Dat?" and "Do I Know You?"?

Obviously, the Mets were satisfied with Castillo's performance in those 50 games with the team. Not liking any of the other free agent second basemen, they signed Castillo to a four-year, $25 million contract to be Jose Reyes' double play partner until 2011. At the time, Castillo was already 32 years old. Did the Mets really think Mr. Gimpy would play four full seasons for the team and be productive each year?

In the three years prior to signing what should be his last multi-year deal, Castillo hit .299, and averaged 82 runs and 18 stolen bases per season. Those numbers were good, but were a far cry from his numbers with the Marlins, when he hit .300 or better on four occasions, scored 90 or more runs thrice and stole at least 48 bases three times, including 2000 and 2002, when he led the league in steals both times.

It should have been clear to the Mets that they were getting a player on the downside of his career, but good ol' Mr. Minaya felt that Castillo was worthy of a contract that was as long as a presidential term.

So what have the Mets gotten in return for their investment? In 292 games with the Mets under his new contract, Castillo has hit .272 (well below his .291 career average) and has only scored 143 runs, while stealing 44 bases. The man who was supposed to be a tablesetter for the Mets, along with Jose Reyes, has averaged less than 50 runs scored per season since he joined the team and is stealing as many bases as Jason Bay. He is nothing more than a station-to-station player now, who rarely collects extra-base hits (only four doubles and two triples this season in 200 at-bats.

How much do the Mets dislike using Castillo now? They'd rather give the second base position to Ruben Tejada, who would lose a batting title to Bob Uecker and Mario Mendoza right now with his .180 batting average. Yes, Harry Doyle himself can out-hit the Mets' second basemen.

Now we have the news that Castillo wants out of New York. He's even trying to make it look like he has something to contribute to this team. Let's look at some of his quotes on the subject.

"I came here to be an everyday player and I know it's been hard with the injuries I've had, but I feel good now and thought I was playing well. I've been playing for 14 years and I've never gone through anything like this."

Never gone through anything like that? In his 12 full seasons in the majors, Castillo has missed at least 20 games in eight of them. He has been hurt more times than Oliver Perez has recorded a three-pitch strikeout. Also, after batting a career-high .334 in 2000, he dipped to .263 in 2001, striking out a career-high 90 times in the process. He's never gone through that before? Think again, Luis. You have. More than once.

"If they think that (Tejada's) the best player, that's OK. I just don't want to be a backup when I've been playing every day for my whole career."

Again, how does a man who's missed a total of 361 games over the past 11+ seasons (averaging a little over 30 games missed per season over that span) consider himself an everyday player? Having Luis Castillo on the team means you're going to need a capable backup who's going to end up playing for a least a month's worth of games every year. Perhaps Luis Castillo needs to go on the disabled list for his memory loss.

"I can't be here anymore. I know I'm not going to be here next year."

Considering Luis Castillo's track record with saying things that just aren't true, I wish he wouldn't have uttered the above quote. Does that mean we're going to have to stick it out for another year of an occasional single here and there, more whining and an eventual trip or three to the disabled list?

Castillo is so unwanted that the Cubs didn't want to trade clubhouse cancer Carlos Zambrano to the Mets for Oliver Perez and Castillo. It wasn't because the Mets were throwing in El Perez-idente. It was because Castillo was included in the deal.

So Luis Castillo wants out of New York. The feeling is mutual, my non-friend. Somehow you convinced the Mets that you were the best available second baseman on the market following the 2007 season. Now you're trying to convince them that you can still play every day. I think it's time to update your passport picture because you certainly won't be playing in the major leagues after your contract expires next year. Perhaps a team in the Far East will take you. Maybe Guam has open tryouts.

One thing is for sure. You've worn out your welcome in New York, a welcome I don't recall ever giving you to begin with. You "endeared" yourself to Mets fans with your one-armed bandit routine when you dropped the pop-up last year at Yankee Stadium. Now try to hit the jackpot again after your contract expires. Go ahead, I triple dog dare you!