All you have to know about Richard Hidalgo and the Mets is this:
In Houston, he was benched. In New York, he’ll have the second-most RBIs on the team.
With their sagging offense in need of a boost, the Mets struck yesterday, and GM Jim Duquette came up with his first answer. After talks heated up in the last 48 hours, Duquette packaged David Weathers and Jeremy Griffiths to the Astros for Hidalgo, who will be the Mets’ new everyday rightfielder and likely No. 5 hitter starting tonight.
If the move is not high profile, it’s certainly low risk. Hidalgo may be slumping, but he oozes talent – he hit 44 homers in 2000 – and will turn just 29 later this month. Meanwhile, the Mets are adding only $1 million to their current payroll.
Here’s how the finances work: Hidalgo is making $12 million this year, but with 40 percent of the season gone, he’s owed just $7.2 million. Weathers, meanwhile, is making $3.6 million but has just $2.2 million remaining. Add in the $4 million the Mets also got from Houston, and you’ve got a high-end talent for approximately a million bucks.
That’s not much, especially for a team trying to hang around the NL East race.
“Our feeling is, we’re close enough to make a move like this,” Duquette said.
Of course, Duquette also admitted, “You can’t get a guy like Richard if he’s hitting like he did in the past.” And there’s the rub.
Hidalgo is hitting just .256 with four homers, 30 RBIs and a .309 on-base percentage. But even those numbers are a bit misleading – after hitting .341 in April, Hidalgo hit .202 in May and is at .179 in June. He also has not homered since April 13 and has just eight RBIs since the end of April.
Still, last season Hidalgo batted .309 with 28 homers, 88 RBIs and a lofty .385 OBP (he also led MLB outfielders with 22 assists). His best campaign came in 2000, when he put forth a dazzling season of .314, 44 homers and 122 RBIs.
“I know what I can do,” Hidalgo said. “It’s going to be a new start for me.”
Clearly, the Mets are hoping a fresh start in New York will inspire Hidalgo to previous heights. They also believe they’ve seen some possible alterations they can make to his swing.
“Sometimes,” Duquette said simply, “a guy needs a change of scenery.”
Sometimes a team also needs another hitter, and that certainly was the case here. The Mets are near the bottom of the NL in a bunch of offensive categories, and as Art Howe said optimistically, “This gives us a bat that’s a real threat.”
There also weren’t a whole lot of other options on the hitter’s market. Carlos Beltran is the sexy name, but K.C. insisted on David Wright in a trade. That wasn’t happening.
“I didn’t think there was a real fit,” Duquette said, adding this trade does not preclude him from others (likely pitching). Hidalgo has a $15M club option for next season, which has no chance of being picked up. He has a $2M buyout, which the Mets are now responsible for.
One thing you can feel free to debate is just how much Hidalgo is an upgrade over the Karim Garcia/Shane Spencer platoon in right. Garcia and Spencer are hitting a combined .268 with nine homers and 34 RBIs, though they have 122 more at-bats than Hidalgo.
The career stats of Richard Hidalgo,who the Mets acquired from the Houston Astros yesterday:
RICHARD JOSE HIDALGO
Age:28 Ht:6-3 Wt.220 BR TR Right Field
Season Team G AB R H HR RBI AVG.
1997 Astros 19 62 8 19 2 6 .306
1998 Astros 74 211 31 64 7 35 .303
1999 Astros 108 383 49 87 15 56 .227
2000 Astros 153 558 118 175 44 122 .314
2001 Astros 146 512 70 141 19 80 .275
2002 Astros 114 388 54 91 15 48 .235
2003 Astros 141 514 91 159 28 88 .309
2004 Astros 58 199 21 51 4 30 .256
Career 813 2827 442 787 134 465 .278