SAN FRANCISCO – GM Steve Phillips watched as the man he acquired to lead the Mets to the World Series attacked a water cooler last Friday in Colorado. Mike Hampton displayed vintage Carlos Perez without the bat after giving up six runs in the third inning to the Rockies.
“It’s frustration,” said Phillips, who joked about hitting a water cooler himself recently (Can anyone say Whartongate fallout?).
The 27-year-old Hampton returns to the mound at 7:05 EDT tonight to face the Giants’ Russ Ortiz. If Hampton – who is a free agent at the end of this season – loses he will have more losses than he had all of last year.
Hampton finished last season in Houston at 22-4 with a 2.90 ERA. Writers voted him second for the NL Cy Young. He hit .311, becoming the first pitcher to bat more than .300 and win 20-plus games since Catfish Hunter did it with the A’s in 1971.
Thus far this season, the only thing Hampton leads the league in is walks with 30. He is 2-4 with a 6.48 ERA. He is batting .333, though.
“Obviously, we want him to pitch better and we know he can pitch better,” Phillips said. “I don’t think that anybody can tell him anything he doesn’t already feel. He’s fought his way out of this rut or funk in the past.”
Thus far with the Mets, Hampton’s been very straight with the media. He even admitted he thought it was his head and all the new pressures that have come with the Big Apple for his early struggles.
However, this past week, he grew a bit tired of saying the same things.
“I’m just getting the same questions,” Hampton said after his last start, in which he gave up six earned runs in five innings, took out a cooler and walked five. “It’s pretty obvious. I get them over and over again. You’re trying to get a reaction. I’m going to stick it out.”
So Hampton will try to fix what is wrong again tonight. Phillips thinks Hampton is not as much facing the likes of Jeff Kent, Barry Bonds and J.T. Snow as he is going up against Mike Hampton.
“My view is he is competing more against himself than the other team at times,” Phillips said.
Phillips watched Hampton as he treated the defenseless water cooler to his right forearm. He was obviously happy to see that Hampton didn’t use his pitching arm. The GM’s initial reaction strayed from baseball.
“He has a hell of a flipper for football,” said Phillips, who, like Hampton, was a standout high school gridiron performer.
A flipper is another term for a forearm shiver. But Phillips didn’t acquire Hampton and “throw-in” Derek Bell for Octavio Dotel, Roger Cedeno and Kyle Kessel for a Mets intramural football game. He brought him to lift the Mets to that next level.
The only way this deal will be judged a success is if the Mets get to the World Series this year or if Hampton re-signs with the Mets. If Hampton were to leave after a Mets’ World Series appearance, the trade can be rationalized. However, if they don’t get there and they lose Hampton, then the trade will not be looked upon positively. It seems also unlikely no matter how well Bell is doing that the Mets are going to want to ante up the kind of green he may command.
Neither Phillips nor Hampton’s agent, Mark Rodgers, will say if negotiations are going on. But what shouldn’t be lost when you think about when someone is deciding their future is it’s more than just about baseball.
How does Hampton’s wife, Kautia, like it? Do they want to raise their two young children, Michael and Griffin, in the New York area? There are so many factors besides just money. Hampton’s already left $11 million per on the table before the season as he reportedly wanted another $4 million a year.