Estrada isn't anything special. He became a regular in 2004 with the Braves at the age of 28, and put up this great line: .314/.378/.450. Part of that high OBP was due to 11 hit-by-pitches, but he also exhibited more plate discipline than he has any time since. It's all but gone now; in 2007 Estrada had 12 walks, or one per every 38.7 plate appearances. He makes Paul Lo Duca (one per 20.3) look patient.But Estrada has some power, hitting 22 home runs and 51 doubles over the last two seasons. He's also a switch-hitter, which looks good for a platoon situation with Ramon Castro, as Estrada has a career line of .283/.328/.412 as a left-hander, and .269/.295./387 as a right-hander. However, last year was different, as Estrada hit much better from the right side, despite seven of his ten home runs coming as a left-hander.
The guy dealt, Gas Can Mota, needs no farewell eulogy. His stuff is great, to be sure, but his performance is not.
The best part about this deal is that Estrada is not really good enough to be a starting catcher, so it will be easier for the Mets to give equal time to Ramon Castro. But who really knows what will get into Willie Randolph's head. If he could, he'd give 135 games to Paul Lo Duca right now.
Estrada made $3.7 last year; he's eligible for arbitration now, but it's hard to imagine him getting a raise.
4 comments:
wow. it's hard to believe minaya had this up his sleeve back when we were staring at torrealba for 3/14.4. way to go.
Thrilled with the move, especially after listening to John Heyman's interview on 660 WFAN. (you can check it out here http://www.wfan.com/pages/744503.php)
Omar had a bunch of people under him pushing to make some deal involving Milledge (and more) going to Washington for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church.
oh my. it chills my heart to think that even the people under omar are ridiculous like that.
Brilliant!!
-coolpapabell
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