My Apologies To Gary Sheffield….

Here is what I wrote about the Gary Sheffield signing on April 4th.

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“In Omar Minaya’s press conference he mentioned that he hopes Sheffield can be for the Mets this year, what Fernando Tatis was for them last year. Which is basically catching lightning in a bottle. However, if Sheffield is playing the OF on a regular basis the Mets will be playing Golf in October. Having an OF of Murphy/Beltran/Sheffield or Sheffield/Beltran/Church would give the Mets one of the worst defensive corner OF’s in the game. Church is an average fielder at best and Murphy is a defensive nightmare. As scary as both of them are, Sheffield is worse than both of them.”

Sheffield has been raking for the Mets

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It’s time for me to man up and apologize to Gary Sheffield because I was dead wrong. Sheffield has been playing everyday and if it wasn’t for Sheffield, the Mets would be an under .500 team. Sheffield has put up a .291/5/17 line with a ridiculous .430 OBP in 86 AB’s with the Mets. His .430 OBP shows that Sheffield is still one of the most feared hitters in the game even at 40 years old.

Sheffield’s stats haven’t been “empty” stats either. He has been really clutch with the Mets, evident by his go-ahead three run HR against the Nationals on Monday night. And with Runners In Scoring Position, Sheffield is hitting .324/2/14/.468. The have once again caught lightning in a bottle.

In terms of defense, Sheffield has been good enough. I don’t care what his UZR is or what his Range Factor is. I have been watching the games and I will use the eye test. He is making all the plays he is supposed to make. What is scary, is that he is better in LF than Daniel Murphy was. That is how bad of a fielder Murphy is.

We shall see how this plays out over the course of a 162 game schedule. But right now I was wrong about Sheffield in a Met uniform.

 

 

 

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