The Philosophy of Moises Alou…or The Curse of the Lefty Masher

By Taryn "The Coop" Cooper
Posted Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Last week, on FU, we had a lively discussion regarding the place of Moises Alou.

Who’s that, you may ask? Contrary to popular belief, Moises Alou was actually signed by the Mets in the off-season for a whopping $8 million /one-year contract, and played about month and a half with the Mets pretty steadily before getting hurt.

We are now approaching JULY and he still has not returned.

Now, some of us in this conversation mused about a) why we spent $8 million even just for one year of an oft-injured player and b) why not just platoon Endy Chavez and Lastings Milledge out there and save the money?

Well, the reasoning for me was simple – Omar and the rest of the management did not think a) Endy to be an everyday player and b) Stings couldn’t just be a bench/alternate guy when he could get some more seasoning in the minors (not to mention Stings’ PR took a hit during the 2006 season). Plus, whenever Moises needed rest or a trip to the DL, Stings or Endy would be there to step right in and get some valuable playing time. Moises Alou’s signing made sense to me. I’m not saying I agreed with it 100%...but I understood.

Moises brought with him a veteran presence, he was well respected and a great clubhouse guy – all those intangible qualities Omar seems to target in his signings. Moises seemed to be the “Cliff Floyd-heir apparent” as Cliffy had all those qualities and spent most of his career injured too.

Plus when Moises was on, he was ON. Case and point – April 2007.

Moises had a .349 BA and .406 OBP. I think deep down we knew it would be a pipe dream that he would stay healthy all season. But it was still refreshing to see him wail.

Of course, ALL of this still made sense…Until he goes on the DL…and Stings is on the DL…then Endy makes a trip.

Some may argue – where Jose Reyes goes, the Mets go. That’s true to an extent, but sometimes flawed.

Some may argue that losing Endy “The Sparkplug” Chavez (hi Stefi!) to a hamstring injury may have caused some downturn in the spark at the end of games for the Mets. But I don’t think so.

When Moises went down for the count, he took a part of the team with him.

I call it – The Curse of the Lefty Masher.

In 2006, most of us remember that when Duaner Sanchez was involved in a season-ending car accident, Omar Minaya made a shotgun trade and traded away fan-favorite Xavier Nady for Roberto Hernandez and some other guy whose name I can’t remember. (Just kidding.) Right after this, Mets fans all over noticed a decline in hitting lefties. My friend and yours Shari (fellow FU Professor) called this The Curse of Xavier Nady.

In fact, we could even sort of look back and say – when Xavier Nady was traded, he took away a much needed lefty-masher from a righty-mashing dominant lineup. According to Baseball Reference, Nady hit .336 against lefties in all 2006 (this includes his splits with the Mets and Bucs). The Mets were suddenly “cursed,” which I was dead set against. Until the Mets lost all three games of what could have potentially been a NL East clinching series versus OP’s former and Nady’s current team, the Pirates.

Against all lefties, I might add.

It was easy to point to a curse, but of course, we know there is none.

That was until Moises Alou comes along and starts mashing lefties, with a stunning .348 in the beginning of 2007.

Then he gets injured. And leaves us holding the fabulous bag. I’m not sure if not hitting lefties has been the problem all along or if it’s just part of it. But whatever the case, when Alou went down, the Mets went down. He provided a stability in the middle of the line-up that we have not seen basically since Carlos Delgado in 2006.

While the Mets seemed to click on all cylinders during the Oakland series, I still feel the presence of Moises Alou is necessary to be well-rounded. Last season, it may have worked throwing the likes of Jeremi Gonzalez or Alay Soler or Jose Lima and still manage a winning record. But throwing a different minor leaguer position player out there who may be overmatched right now but really awesome in a few years (I’m looking at you, Carlos Gomez) cannot help the Mets in a tight pennant race.

So Moises, I leave you with this wish – get well soon. We need you. And we need you now.

Or we just need to orchestrate another trade to get Nady back.

Hey, it could happen.
 

You can catch Taryn "The Coop" Cooper here every Tuesday at FU, or over at her blog, My Summer Family.