Full of Sound and Fury, Yet...

Jason Michael Barker

As we arrive at roughly the one-third mark of the season -- don't bother with the math, it'll just give you a headache -- I thought it would be interesting to look back on some of the bigger off-season acquisitions and what they're up to this year. But in searching for those big deals I wound up fascinated by the National League East, and particularly by the Braves and Mets. For example, the Mets are in first place yet you never hear anyone mention how poorly Roberto Alomar, Mo Vaughn, Jeromy Burnitz and Roger Cenedo have played. What gives?

It turns out the Mets are winning despite those four. Of course, it helps to be playing in such a strange division -- you've got four clubs playing .500 ball, plus a fifth club (the Phillies) who look for all the world like they've got the talent to be at least a .500 club. The mind boggles.

If you recall, the Mets were picked by many to win the National League East after they added the aforementioned hitters. Alomar and Vaughn, along with the move of Edgardo Alfonzo from second to third, were supposed to give them one heck of an infield. And the outfield, which could be described as both hapless in punchless in 2001, was given a major upgrade with the slugging Burnitz and the speedy Cedeno.

As it turns out, those thoughts were way off base. It really shouldn't be a surprise that Vaughn has struggled, given that he really wasn't all that good to begin with and had missed the entire 2001 season, but was anyone really expecting a fall to the .237/.329/.336 line he has put up so far? He's on pace for just 13 homers, which would tie his total from way back in 1992 as the fewest he's put up in a full season.

Burnitz has completely fallen apart as well. He has never been big on batting average, but over the past five seasons he has been very good about putting up 30 doubles, 30 homers and 70 or more walks. Perhaps he shouldn't have been counted on to repeat his career-best .963 OPS from 1999, but a repeat of his .251/.347/.504, 34-homer 2001 would have been just fine. Instead, he's hitting .202/.322/.369 and is on pace for 26 doubles and just 13 doubles.

The free agent Cedeno was a pretty hot commodity last season. After Ichiro's success in Seattle, clubs were falling all over themselves for a leadoff man who could hit .300 and steal 50 bases, as Cedeno did in 2001 (actually, .293 and 55 bases). I was skeptical because of the drop in his walk rate -- he has never been a prolific walker, but last season he went from being good to going below the 10% threshold. Still, he looked a good bet to hit for average and steal more than his share of bases. Instead, he's hitting just .240/.292/.310 with only six steals, and yes, his walk rate is poor.

Then there's Alomar, who has to be the biggest disappointment of the four. At least with Vaughn, Burnitz and Cedeno you knew there was a chance they might flop -- the Mets certainly didn't expect it to happen to all three of them, but you knew there was a chance. But Alomar? He's about as consistent as they come, having hit below .300 just once since 1991, and last season he posted a career-best .956 OPS. His current .252/.304/.351 line would shatter (and not in the good way) anything he's done in his career, including his rookie year.

While most people said the Mets had dramatically improved their team with these four additions, those same people questioned the signing of Pedro Astacio. After all, Astacio had missed the post-season with a shoulder injury and it wasn't certain he'd be healthy to start the season. While Alomar, Burnitz, Vaughn and Cedeno have struggled, Astacio is 6-2 with a 2.65 ERA and averaging better than seven innings per start. Go figure.

Meanwhile, the Braves countered all these moves by making one of their own, adding Gary Sheffield. Because the Braves were better than the Mets to begin with, it was reasoned that this one move would be enough to keep Atlanta on top of the division.

It has been, sort of; the two clubs are tied atop the NL East with identical 27-24 records. The similarities don't end there, however. Both teams had poor offenses last year and sought to bolster them this winter, the Mets with their big four acquisitions and the Braves by adding Sheffield and Vinny Castilla in order to move Chipper Jones to left field.

Despite all their wheeling and dealing, both teams have still struggled on offense. In fact, they've each scored 204 runs in their 51 games so far this season. As a result, both teams have had to rely on strong pitching to win games this year, and they are two of only four clubs in the National League to have allowed less than 200 runs so far this season.

And what of Sheffield, who had put up big numbers in a pitchers park while the Dodgers always fell short of winning their division? Many, myself included, figured him to have a huge year playing for a contending team. I think I might have even picked him to win Most Valuable Player honors in the NL, although picking someone other than Barry Bonds seems even sillier than picking someone other than Pedro Martinez to win the AL Cy Young award a few years ago.

Sheffield's .243/.325/.385 line so far this season looks like something from the beginning of his career, when he was sulking in Milwaukee and not living up to the expectations that came after his stellar minor league career. What's worse, Odalis Perez has a 2.51 ERA for the Dodgers in 10 starts and has thrown two complete games. Brian Jordan, though he won't be confused for an All-Star, is outhitting Sheffield with a .278/.329/.506 line. Finally, minor league pitcher Andy Brown has struck out 51 batters in 50 innings for the Dodgers minor league club at Vero Beach.

Clearly, none of these big moves has worked out so far for the Mets or Braves, but because they're battling for first place in the division you don't hear much about it. They also appear to be pretty evenly matched, meaning a good pennant race could be in the works.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker is attempting to invent a replacement for the seventh inning stretch. Don't bother suggesting "fourth inning fracas" or "ninth inning needling" to jmb@strikethree.com, because he's already thought of those.

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