As Mets fans, we lose perspective. We get so caught up in thinking about how Jerry Manuel’s job security affects us, we forget to consider how it impacts Nick Evans.
Evans, who was starting important games for Manuel and the Mets in 2008 before struggling in Triple-A then going mysteriously missing in 2009, is now banished to Double-A, buried below Ike Davis on the organizational depth chart.
Much has been made of Davis’ hot start to the season, but Evans — still only 24 — is destroying Double-A pitching. The righty corner bat went 3-for-5 on Friday to raise his average to .395 with a .455 on-base percentage and a .737 slugging.
It’s a tiny sample, of course, and Evans’ weird collapse in Triple-A in 2009 makes him a difficult player to project. But according to MinorLeagueSplits.com, his 2010 Double-A line as of Friday morning (before the three-hit night) equated to an .849 Major League OPS, which would be good for third best on the big-league Mets.
Granted, Nick Evans isn’t likely to keep hitting like the Rogers Hornsby of Double-A, so I’m hardly suggesting the Mets can just call him up to The Show and expect he’ll post an .849 OPS. Plus it’s unclear exactly where Evans could help the 2010 Mets. He’s blocked in left field, right field and at third base by better righty bats, and by Fernando Tatis as the righty bench bat/platoon first baseman.
I’m sure plenty of Mets fans are ready to cut bait on Tatis after his slow start to the year and fluky run of double plays in 2009, but Tatis has earned a longer look with two seasons of solid hitting. Plus the team certainly values his ability to play second and shortstop in a pinch.
So for the foreseeable future, Nick Evans will likely stay right where he is, mashing the crap out of Double-A pitching, cursing his fate, and, presumably, tracking the Mets’ managerial situation from Binghamton.
Tedquarters 
We all want to root for the homegrown kid, but Evans is a one-trick pony. All he can do is mash lefties. He can’t run, can’t defend, and can’t hit righties. Tatis is a much better bench player. People are down on Tatis because he has played more than he should out of necessity, and his limitations have thus been exposed. But he’s a nice bench player with a little pop and some versatility.
I think its a tad premature to dismiss Evans as a one-trick pony. I think his development was really screwed up by the Mets arbitrarily moving him through three levels of play the past two years and, in the process, not letting him play regularly for stretches.
I hope that once this Mike Jacobs disaster is over that Mets make room for Carter with the big club and allow Evans to take another crack at AAA. Carter deserves to be with the Mets and Evans has already proven that he can hit AA pitching.
As for Evans’s horrible start in AAA last year, Toby Hyde ran a great scouting explanation at that argued that a longer swing load was to blame for Evans’s struggles. http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/2009/07/16/mets-minor-league-report-nick-evans/.
Ideally Evans would be given the most of the season in AAA to work on hitting righties and fielding an outfield position. Currently, the Mets aren’t learning anything new about Evans (they know he can hit AA) and Evans isn’t going to be overly challenged in AA. Its the worst possible organizational decision from a team that excels in that field.
He’s 24, hasn’t hit above AA, struggles against righties, lacks athleticism, has a longish swing, and can’t really play the corner outfield spots well. I’m not saying that he can’t help a major league team off the bench, just that his ceiling is very low.
Ha — funny note. In the comments section for that video, ravin108 suggests Toby team up with me, and Toby says I had “a few other things going on.” The exchange took place the day before I got married.
Yeah, I knew exactly what you were up to, that weekend Ted. Nice Evans article too. The next step would be finding some time for him in LF in Buffalo over Mike Cervenak and Jesus Feliciano.
Toby — Feliciano is only 31. Give him time. No need to take at-bats away from him for Evans. Love your site. Keep up the good work, please.
Ted — they jumped the jumped the shark with the Mejia decision.
Good of someone to bring up Evans. Nice job, Ted. I feel badly for Evans and how hard this must be for him. If Tatis goes down, I think Evans is a viable replacement but Manual doesn’t hide his onfield disdain for him.
Thank you for reminding me that Manuel’s incompetence isn’t limited to in-game decisions. After last night’s debacle, I had almost forgotten.
This team simply isn’t good enough to overcome one of the dumbest managers –in terms of strategy and talent evaluation — I’ve ever seen.
At this point, all I think we can hope for is a continued slow start and Jerry’s firing. Then in a month or so, we can have Mejia in the minors, Jacobs and GMJ off the roster and start looking ahead to 2011 (and another protected first-rounder).
Next year could be really good for the Mets if they play their cards right. Between the current MLB stars, some nice young prospects and good potential bench players like Carter, Evans and Murphy, they have the pieces.
You’re right. But it sucks to be thinking that way so early in the season, doesn’t it?
It does indeed.
Evans is actually supposed to be a plus defender too, and mashing lefties+plus defense seems like a pretty useful thing for a cheap bench spot. He’d certainly no less useful than some of the crap we’ve been carrying on our bench for the last 5 years (which we’ve paid like 3-5 times as much as what evans would make)
I think Tatis’ days of being useful are over. We were fortunate to get what we could from him. He got hot in late August & September, but was still pretty terrible for most of the season. Evans is a better first basemen than him as well. The bench stinks right now, and could use some help.