Pagan Ritual
It’s hard to play in New York and fly under the radar. Every performance is magnified, and the always on media machine beats every remotely interesting subject to death. So, while he’s played a lot of good of baseball over the last two years, perhaps the most impressive thing about Angel Pagan is how underrated he still appears to be.
Since the start of the 2008 season, Pagan has received 585 plate appearances, or just about one full season’s worth of playing time. In that time span, he’s posted a .355 wOBA and a +14.4 UZR while playing primarily in center field. That performance adds up to a total value of +4.9 wins, the sixth most of any center fielder in baseball during that time frame.
Pagan is the classic jack of all trades, master of none, and his skillset is routinely undervalued for its lack of any one outstanding trait. He hits for a good average, but not so good that he’s among the league leaders. He draws some walks, but isn’t an on base machine. He has gap power, but his slugging is mostly made up of doubles and triples, not the more flashy home runs. He runs decently, but isn’t a huge base stealer. He’s a good defender, but doesn’t make a lot of spectacular plays.
Pagan has no glaring strength (aside from his glovework, but the samples are still pretty small to judge whether he’s actually an elite defender), but neither does he have any weaknesses. He’s the National League’s version of David DeJesus – just a good quality player who never gets the recognition he deserves.
DeJesus, of course, has never been relegated to a reserve role behind Gary Matthews Jr. That experiment mercifully lasted less than a week before the Mets realized the error of their ways, but still, Pagan was so lightly thought of that he had to beat out Matthews for a job to begin with.
When Carlos Beltran returns, the Mets will have a decision to make. The answer is actually pretty easy – Jeff Francoeur goes to the bench, as he’s clearly the worst outfielder on the team. We’ll see if the Mets get it right this time, and recognize just what they have in Pagan – a quality outfielder who deserves to play everyday.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
I’ve been on the Pagan bandwagon for a while now. Unfortunately for the Mets, Jerry Manuel is not. I have no idea why he doesn’t like Pagan, but it’s getting silly.
Of course as a Braves fan I hope they end up trading him when Beltran comes back. And hey… the Braves need a CF and they have some extra pitching 🙂
Been on the Pagan-dwagon huh?
Any chance you want Francoeur back? You know, he was once on the cover of S.I. and they named him, “The Natural,” so he’s got to be better than that guy you got now, Heyman or something. We’ll take him.
Jerry Manuel has already stated that Pagan, Francouer, and Beltran will all get 2/3 Playing time. Maybe someone should point out that Pagans Career wRC+ is 106 (higher in recent years). Meanwhile, Jeff hasn’t put up that high of a number since his rookie year.
Francouer hits lefties much better than pagan. Frenchie’s wRC+ versus lefties is 131 this year, 115 career, Pagan is 66 this year versus lefties, 77 career.
Pagan is a better fielder, but Frenchy is only slightly below average last few years in right. I’d go with Frenchy versus lefties still. And pagan will need to spell beltran when he comes back to go easy on Beltran’s knees. 2/3rds may be a bit much for Frenchy, but I think he deserves at least a platoon spot. Beltran may also play some right-again, to save his knees, and because Pagan is also an excellent fielder as duly noted.
But good lord, yea, bench Frenchy almost exclusively against righties.
As a non-Mets follower in the wilds of the Midwest, I would have to say that, like most other NY-based players, Pagan gets plenty of recognition, and WAY more than David DeJesus. Just my impression.
I think it has more to do with Minaya and Manuel under rating Pagan. Just about every Met blog and fan i know was stunned when Matthews got the starting job out of spring training.
I think management is biased against him for the handful of really bad baserunning and defensive gaffes he had in 2009. They view him as a talented player with bad baseball instincts. That said, he hasn’t done any bonehead moves this year.
It’s probably irrelevant. The Mets are notorious for guys missing their return targets. When Beltran finally comes back, he’ll play for a month, get reinjured and shelved for the season. Francoeur is a gamer. He plays through injuries unlike Beltran and Church who are wimps.
Harsh, Coach Parcells. Church shoulda played through the concussion? And Beltran had knee surgery. Let Frenchy game his way against lefties. He can’t hit righties.
Unfortunately, I was paraphrasing things that Manuel has said.
Ugh. To be a Mets fan. I’m so sorry for all of you.
Been saying this since 2009, glad to see this article/posting. (I’m a Mets fan).
Because Pagan lacks the sexy homerun power, many fans have overlooked his contributions. He steals bases, plays excellent defense, has a pretty good arm too. He also switch hits, can bunt, can hit in the top of the order or in a lower RBI spot with RISP. He is versatility personified.
Andrés Torres is looking like the West Coast version of Pagán: +16 bat and +17 glove in 353 PA between this year and last.
Oh, never mind. I somehow missed Pat Andriola’s article on him.