What If Pagan Weren't a Met?

With all the uproar associated with those who even DARE mention Angel Pagan‘s name in a potential Cliff Lee trade, I thought it would be appropriate to explore a certain scenario.  What if, just what if, Angel Pagan was putting up his 2010 numbers…… in another uniform.  In other words, what if Pagan were on the Braves, hitting .302 with 4 HR, 35 RBI, 41 R, 14 SB and exceeding everyone’s expectations in nearly every way.  As a Met fan, would a swap for Cliff Lee make you be happy to just see him off the Braves or would you think Atlanta got a steal of a deal and curse the fact that your team now had to deal with Lee within the division and down the playoff stretch?  Would you think a 29-year old outfielder (as of this coming Friday) who, in 9+ years of professional baseball has never hit more than 10 HR’s at any level and been on the DL 5 times from 2006-2009 (that is not a misprint), was an absolute coup for Seattle or would you think the Braves pulled a heist of Enron like proportions in selling high and securing one of the games 5 best pitchers to head up their rotation.  A guy who has proven throughout his career that he can flat out win against NL East competition (see career stats below) and when playoff tested came up with a performance for the record books (4-0 in 5 starts, 2 of which were against the Yankees in the World Series, with a 1.56 ERA) during Philladelphia’s 2009 World Series run.  Not to mention this is a guy who would undoubtedly have something to prove if he were to ever square off the Phillies after their offseason snub of the 2008 AL Cy Young award winner.

Photo by Michael Baron

I’m not surprised that fans adore Pagan, Jay wrote a recent article outlining why he deserves all the support he has gotten (click  HERE to read), but public opinion is seemingly reaching fanatic proportions.  The talks of dumping Beltran to open up room for Pagan continue to grow as fans label Carlos ‘injury prone’ ( a label that I disagree with when you consider he routinely plays hurt in order to avoid trips to the DL).  I’m not sure you can find more than a handful of fans that would be willing...TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST AND OTHERS LIKE IT HEAD OVER TO METSZILLA.COM BY CLICKING HERE: http://www.metszilla.com/?p=2789