Mike Jacobs: Whatever
I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble here, because I got plenty of comments and e-mails this offseason from Mets fans eager to see the return of Mike Jacobs to Flushing.
And I don’t want to waste too many words on the subject, because I don’t really want to imagine a situation wherein Jacobs plays too big a role with the big-league club.
But Mike Jacobs is about as one-dimensional a baseball player as could possibly survive in the Major Leagues. He is a power hitter. He does not hit for average, he does not get on base, he does not steal bases in the rare event he gets on, and he is not a good defender. Mike Jacobs sometimes crushes the ball. That’s his game.
It is not enough to make him a good Major Leaguer, or even really a capable Major Leaguer. By WAR, Jacobs has been below replacement-level for the past two seasons, and only barely above it in 2007.
That’s not to say it’s a bad move for the Mets to scoop him up on a Minor League deal. It’s a Minor League deal, after all. It will likely be a bad move if they cite his Major League experience and 32 home runs in 2008 and give him a 25-man roster spot over a more capable and deserving player, but since they haven’t done that yet, I’ll wait on it.
What’s a little bit baffling is where Jacobs fits in with the Buffalo club he’s likely destined for, since Ike Davis seemed destined to be the team’s starting first baseman. Plus the Bisons already have corner bats in Val Pascucci and Mike Hessman, and also Nick Evans and/or Chris Carter if they don’t stick with the big club out of Spring Training.
I guess Davis could be heading back for another go-round at Double-A to start the season, but given the way he torched that level in his half-year there in 2009, I can’t imagine he needs much more time there.
This is speculation upon speculation and I have no idea that it could be the case, but it would sure be neat if adding Jacobs to the Triple-A mix had something to do with giving Davis some time in right field. Davis played two games in right field at Double-A Binghamton last year and supposedly has a great arm — he was a pitcher in college — so having him take some turns in right could give the Mets some flexibility in their future handling of Davis.
Of course, since Hessman, Pascucci, Evans and Carter all have plenty of experience at first, I have no idea why Jacobs would change the way the team uses Davis in Buffalo. I’m just fantasizing, really.
On the whole, Jacobs is a low-cost, low-risk pickup. Since he’s unlikely to post a Major League on-base percentage north of .300, I wouldn’t call him a potential “high-reward” guy, but who knows?
This might be more of the Mets’ whole “doing better by the city of Buffalo” thing they pledged last season. But if that’s the case, man. I sure wish they’d have paid as much attention to the Major League roster as they did to the Triple-A one.
