Monday, August 20, 2007

Enter Conine

The Mets acquired Jeff Conine for the playoff run, after Damion Easley went down with a 3rd degree sprain.

Conine has played 1st base for the most part this year, and has played 3rd and OF in the past. Some more on his #'s:

He appeared in 80 games with the Reds this season, his 18th in the big leagues. He batted .265 with a .409 slugging percentage in 215 at-bats. He had 32 RBIs and six home runs among his 18 extra-base hits. He had walked 20 times and struck out 28 times.

Conine batted .264 in 87 at-bats against right-handed pitching and .266 in 128 against left-handed pitching. But all but three of his extra-base hits, including all his home runs, came against left-handed pitchers.

He had played first base almost exclusively -- all but five of his 436 2/3 innings in the field. He played four innings in one appearance at third and one in one appearance at first. He started 50 games at first.

He was quite productive as a pinch-hitter -- a .409 average with four RBIs and no home runs in 22 at-bats.

He should fit in well as someone who can spell Delgado, and more importantly, be an experienced PH guy. Shawn Green is now completely expendable. Has he cleared waivers yet?

BTW, the trade bait were Port St Lucie (high A) farmhands Sean Henry (22 yr old OF) and Jose Castro (20 year old SS).

Castro hit .219 last year for Hagerstown (A), but is up to .318 for St. Lucie this year. Henry is hitting .293 w/ 11 HR's this year. Based on the numbers, both players seem likely to advance in the Reds' farm system, but I haven't seen any scouting reports on whether these guys have big-league tools.

On second thought, I just found two rankings of the Mets farm system (here and here) and the second had Henry ranked as the 13th best prospect in the system (C+ rating). No mention of Castro.

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