Is he a guy who just does not know how to win, or is he a guy who has been hurt by playing with bad teams? They believe that while they cannot offer a co-ace like Hampton to work in tandem with Al Leiter, that Appier is a legitimate top-of-the-rotation guy and that Trachsel is a considerably better alternative than Jones.Īgain, this all depends on how you interpret Trachsel’s won-loss record. They responded to their Hampton/Jones-created rotation vacancies by signing Appier for four years at $42 million and Trachsel for two years at $7 million. Mike Hampton got away and they never danced with Alex Rodriguez. One reason the Mets have some salary room to play with is they did not make the big free-agent splash during the offseason. The Mets actually would accept even less, insisting Los Angeles take either Darryl Hamilton’s or, more likely, Dennis Cook’s contract to slightly offset the Sheffield dollars. Privately, they think the Dodgers are not getting very attractive offers, and the Mets wonder if they are the only team that could take on $10 million in 2001 so close to the season. The Mets are thinking that with Gary Sheffield, right now – that their atmosphere will provide the best chance for him to be a contented star. This is the conceit of all 30 organizations, that a player of talent will get into their program and be a better performer, a classier actor. “Our afternoon games against anyone feel more important than an afternoon game in Kansas City, Minnesota and Milwaukee.” “In New York, the games are always dramatic, always important, and I think that will be good for Steve,” said Met GM Steve Phillips. They want to show it is nurture, not nature – that Trachsel is no natural loser, that if you surround him with a strong offense, defense, bullpen and a winning aura, then his stuff will translate into victories. The Mets are out to disprove that theory. Hitters have a philosophy about hurlers such as Trachsel, as well: “Just stay close and he’ll figure out a way to beat himself.” 447 – the sixth-worst among active pitchers with at least 100 decisions (see chart). But Trachsel is 68-84, a career winning percentage of. Trachsel would be categorized as a pitcher with stuff, at least a repertoire good enough to be a consistent winner. As with the soft-throwing Bob Tewksbury a few years back, Jones would make hitters wonder how they ever made out against him. Yet Jones, despite a 5.06 ERA, went 11-6 to improve to 74-56, for a career wining percentage (.569) – close to those of Kevin Appier (.564) and Rick Reed (.571). By scouting standards, Jones would be categorized as a pitcher without much stuff, especially last year, when his fastball diminished to 84 mph. In the Met rotation, Trachsel essentially replaces Bobby Jones. LUCIE – Steve Trachsel evokes one of baseball’s eternal questions: Do winning pitchers win and losing pitchers lose?
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