“I’m embarrassed to walk in here and look at my teammates with what they’re going through right now. I wish I could stand here talking about getting a game-winning hit instead of, ‘I’m hurt, I’m hurt, I’m hurt.’ It’s the story of my life.”

I do feel bad for Moises, but at the same time if he really feels this way, wrap up the calf and get out there. When I played, I went out there with torn tendons, torn ACL’s, blown out shoulders and I just sucked it up - and that was far worse than anything he has gone through as a Met. I do understand his value is and always was much higher than mine, but 60 percent of Moises is better than 100 percent of anything else they have. as you will see below.

I performed an analysis earlier in the year, and the numbers are getting worse the longer he is out. The following are the stats for Mets left fielders for 2008, 2007, and overall since Alou signed with the Mets prior to the 2007 season:

2008

  • 60 for 251 in 278 overall plate appearances = .239 avg, .293 OBP
  • 14 doubles, one homer, 26 RBI
  • 38 strikeouts, 18 walks

2007

  • 191 for 625 in 692 overall plate appearances = .302 avg, .357 OBP
  • 35 doubles, 3 triples, 18 homers, 88 RBI
  • 78 strikeouts, 48 walks

Overall, the numbers aren’t really that bad for last year, and of course this year they are dismal. Keep in mind, the stats above have Alou combined with the mish mosh of other players playing left field. Mets left fielders have hit .286 with 19 HR and 114 RBI over the past 226 games. But here comes the problem. If we take Moises Alou out of the equation (which we should because he has only played 102 of those 226 games), then here is how it looks:

2008

  • 43 for 202 in 225 overall plate appearances = .213 avg, .271 OBP
  • 12 doubles, one homer, 17 RBI
  • 38 strikeouts, 18 walks

2007

  • 79 for 297 in 339 overall plate appearances = .266 avg, .307 OBP
  • 16 doubles, 2 triples, 5 homers, 39 RBI
  • 48 strikeouts, 21 walks

Without Alou over the past 1 1/2 seasons, the Mets left fielders are hitting just .244 (keep in mind, it is almost a full season’s worth of at bats as well at 499), with six homers and 56 RBI with just 28 doubles and two triples. There is also just 39 walks in there compared to 86 strikeouts (a lot of that was Carlos Gomez not knowing the definition of bases on balls). The point of this is that Alou’s absence has single handedly brought this team’s production down. It’s not Alou’s fault really. I mean I still contest he should suck it up. However, it is Omar Minaya’s fault for throwing all of his eggs into Alou’s basket, and depending on an injury proned 41 year old player to deliver on a daily basis. They have a gaping hole in the outfield for 57 percent of their overall at bats dating back to the beginning of 2007, and that has been a big reason as to why this team has struggled as much as it has during that time. Of course, you can throw the Shawn Green in right field factor into play, and Ryan Church being out for most of the past three weeks but if the Mets had a consistent, every day, dependable left fielder, they could afford the injury to Church and they could have afforded the diminished production from Shawn Green.