PORT ST. LUCIE – The deal happened in November, with the Mets moving Mike Cameron to the Padres for Xavier Nady. When it went down, it didn’t take long for Victor Diaz to believe his shot had arrived.
“Right away, of course,” he said yesterday. Diaz may benefit most from Cameron’s departure, but the reality is also that in the same transaction, the Mets suddenly gave two people chances for one job. While Diaz is right to believe that he has a legit shot at a regular job, so does Nady.
Among position players, the Mets have only two unsettled spots. Second base is one, and right field is the other. For the latter, Diaz and Nady – who both reported to camp yesterday – are the two primary candidates, neither
of whom has ever been a full-time everyday player over the course of a major league season.
Both Nady and Diaz have promise. Nady was a former second-round pick who was the Padres’ minor league player of the year in 2001. But he has never had more than 371 at-bats in a big-league season, and last year in 326 at-bats over 124 games, he batted .261 with 13 homers and 43 RBIs. This year, he might get his chance for more Abs.
“Obviously this is a good opportunity to play,” Nady said.
Manager Willie Randolph was impressed with the strength of Nady’s handshake yesterday, and Nady obviously has some pop. Last year the 27-year-old homered in four straight games at one point, and on the NL West-winning Padres, he ranked third in slugging.
“I think it’s intriguing to know if he had those 500 at-bats or so [in a season], what kind of player he could be,” Randolph said.
For reference’s sake, other players who had comparable power totals in comparable at-bats last year included Larry Walker (15 homers, 315 at-bats), Mike Lamb (12 homers, 322 ABs) and two other interesting names – Cameron (12 homers, 308 ABs) and Diaz (12 homers, 280 ABs).
Playing in 89 games for the Mets last year, the 24-year-old Diaz hit .257 with those 12 homers and 38 RBIs. Diaz has put up strong numbers at every minor league level, but he needs to show more consistency in the majors. It’s interesting that Diaz had two big-league stints last year and in both of them, he had a strong first month (.292 in April, .308 in August) but then struggled afterwards (he hit .250 in May and .129 in June, then hit .239 in September before going 1-for-3 in October). Randolph, meanwhile, said he wants to see “an overall improvement” in Diaz this spring.
Diaz played winter ball in the offseason, hitting .333 in 11 games and according to him, committing only one error. He said his plate discipline improved, as did his ability to hit with men in scoring position. And Diaz certainly believes he can do some damage as an everyday player in the big leagues.
“I just want to play every day. I just want to see my name in the lineup every day,” he said, later adding, “I wish I could get [a full season’s at-bats] so you guys could see what I could do.”
Diaz said that when Cameron was traded, the former Met called him and “wished me luck.” Likewise, Diaz returned the words. Now he, like Nady, would certainly like to fill Cameron’s position. Somebody’s shot has arrived.