Moises Alou made his first appearance in camp yesterday, and 
talked with reporters after taking an early batting practice – making him, you guessed it, the Profile du Jour.
For more on Alou, who may play until his 45 years old, explains Adam Rubin in the Daily News, read Newsday, the Bergen Record, and the Star-Ledger.
Willie Randolph, on budgeting Alou’s playing time, as quoted by Rubin:
“We’re going to make sure we communicate a lot about how he feels and where he is. We’ve already had that conversation…In a perfect world, I’d like to run him out there every day. But that’s not realistic. We’ll just keep the lines of communication open. And even when you communicate with Moises, the way he plays makes it hard, because he just plays all-out all the time. It’s almost like I wish he would loaf or dog it sometimes, because when he gets after it, he’s in overdrive a lot, and that’s when he gets hurt.”
…interesting theory…of course, if he plays soft, that’s probably when he’ll pull something…the way i see it, much of alou’s ability to get rest will hinge on whether Carlos Delgado makes a solid rebound, and how Ryan Church develops…last season, there were times when alou was the most important hitter on the team…that can never happen again…because if he gets hurt, well, you know what happens…however, if others are carrying their weight, his time on and off the field will be easier to navigate…
In just 87 games for the Mets last season, Alou hit .341 with 13 HR and 49 RBI through 328 at-bats.
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The problem is that he’s still just as important to this team. He’s still the only guy in the line-up besides D-Wright that dominates lefties consistently.
Omar should have made a play for another outfielder – even if it was something like trying to re-acquire Nady. As many retread pitchers and middle infielders as he’s taken flyers on, you’d think he would have.
I think even hoping for 120 games out of Alou is wishful thinking, and Beltran is good for at least one trip to the DL.
The retread would be Clark. Pagan might actually have a future. And don’t forget, my predicted breakout guy from last year is back (the imortal Ben Johnson).
Totally forgot about those moves. I stand corrected
alou is 41. 42 in july. he has played fewer than 100 games the last 2 seasons. you can’t count on him for more than 90 games this season.
i’d expect to see easley in lf regularly when he gets injured as endy is a better super-sub covering a few days for each position occassionally.
He’s so brittle. Was it even worth it signing this guy to begin with? Is it better to have a healthy middle-of-the-road OFer or an injury-prone Moises who can’t be counted on? Why not sign Kevin Mench?
Did you not read the numbers he has put up? Kevin Mench?! Please, a one-hit wonder if ever there was one.
Ben Johnson. You heard it here first. He’s ready to step up and carry the team when Moises goes down. He’s gonna go all Jack Cust on the National League…… (sarcasm/dream sequence)
All people complain about is “our depleted Minors” and now you want him to trade for Nady?! With what?!
Do they sell decaf in North Cakalak?
He wants to play next year, eh? Well unless he plays in at least about 130 games and has near-all star caliber numbers, I don’t want him back. It’s useless to keep signing old players who frequently get hurt because you never really commit to building for the future in those positions. This is the trap Sabean fell into in SF and why he’s such a crappy GM. Alou’s defense in LF is also terrible and it will probably deteriorate this year and in the future.
Players like Alou and El Duque who are always hurt also disrupt the rhythm a team establishes throughout a season, and the team often plays with a sense of loss and diminished manpower while these players are gone. It’s a built-in excuse for losing.
Omar, don’t follow-up this good winter with a poor one next year by retaining El Duque and Alou.
The only acceptable role for Alou in a future Met team would be strictly as a bench player and a salary of no more than $1 million.
IMO, he was suposed to be a 1-year stop gap in 2007, since the kids weren’t ready, and there was pretty much crap available other than Moises (or a couple of ultra expensive guys that they did not want to commit to). So, they pretty much rolled the dice hoping he would put togethe an almost full year.
Only reason he came back this year is they dumped Milledge, and knew that Gomez was likely to go, and the rest of last years depth (Johnson, etc.) fizzled out. So, it was again 1 year of Alou, or one of the flawed retreads floating around (Mench,etc.) and no guarantee you get one of them on a 1 year deal.
So hopefully this is his last year, and either Martinez takes over in 2009, or they get a more durable place holder.
Anyone expecting a 41-year-old outfielder to put together nearly a full year is smoking dope. Especially if that outfielder has had a history of injuries.
They traded Milledge a month after they exercised Alou’s option, and Gomez was not a sure thing to go. If Pettitte hadn’t resigned with the Yankees, I think chances are better than 50-50 Santana is a Yankee right now and the Mets still have Gomez.
Regardless, to pay an often injured ancient outfielder $7-$8 million a year is folly. I predict both Church and Milledge will be immensely more productive than Alou this year.
Disagree
F-Mart will be up before you know it. Not to worry.
I wouldn’t have a problem with seeing that, but it’s better to not plan on that happening, ya know?
Left-handed
“I wish he would loaf or dog it sometimes,”
geez willie, please dont let reyes, beltran or delgado hear you say that!
That was my first thought, exactly. He’s preaching hustle to these guys out one side of his mouth and spews this crap out the other side. Even if his tone was tongue-in-cheek… it’s better to not go there.
I like Alou a lot when he’s on the field, but if anyone was an easy casualty to not be on the team after last year’s collapse, he was one.
I can understand not wanting to pony-up years and dollars for an unknown like Fukudome, but there had to be a better option for 2008 in LF, even if it wasn’t Milledge or Gomez….
Alou is a warrior. All praise the dominator of left-handed pitching
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