Cameron's Creative Accounting
By Jazzmattaz
When you talk about misleading numbers it's Mike Cameron's name who comes to my mind. We all know Mike Cameron. The other player in the Ken Griffey Jr. trade. The same man who hit 4 homers in one game in Chicago. The same man who allegedly told Omar Minaya he would move to RF if the Mets signed Carlos Beltran only to then make a fuss about it. The same man who was lousy in centerfield for the Mets last year. That's when I first heard the comments about how misleading his numbers are especially his Home Runs.
Now last year was not a good one for the Mets. Aside from that one-month stretch in late June/early July when the Mets were playing good ball, they always seemed to be losing games so any homer or rbi would be welcomed. But after watching closely this year (and I have probably watched 75% of Mets games this year) I realize how misleading Cameron's numbers really are.
I have told a couple of other Mets fans about this and they say that I just have it in for Mike Cameron. Well I was in Florida for a week. I was able to catch a Monday night Mets/Braves game on TBS. The other two were not televised in Florida. I saw all 4 Mets/Marlins games including seeing Pedro beat the Marlins in person. I also saw the last 2 subway series games on TV. It's amazing. Against the Braves Monday night with the Mets down 4-1, Cameron hits a solo home run in the third inning. Then later in the game with the score 7-5 Braves, here comes Cameron striding to the plate. He's 3 for 3 and it's the bottom of the eight with runners on first and second. A double ties the game. The Braves announcer says Cameron has been on fire since he cam off the DL. Sure he's still batting over .360 with 90 at-bats under his belt. What does Cameron do? He strkes out.
Now Cameron was batting second, so you can say he's supposed to get on base which he has been doing. But he's still considered an RBI man. Let's fast-foward to the following Sunday. Tom Glavine is battling the Marlins escaping jam after jam. The Mets take a 2-1 lead into the 7th inning. The pen explodes and the Marlins now carry a 6-2 lead to the top of the 8th with Mota now pitching. The Marlins are trying to salvage one game of the 4-game set. Here comes Mike Cameron to the plate with runners on first and second and one out. The score is 6-2. Earlier in the game in the first inning Cameron — who is batting third this day — hits a 2-out double with nobody on. What does he do in the 8th inning? He strikes out. In all 23 strikeouts in 90 at-bats. Just look at his numbers.
Cameron has 11 rbi's. He's batting .367. This man has 33 hits and half are for extra bases. In fact in his last 7 games the only RBI's Cameron has is 3. That was in a game the Mets won 12-4. There have been many games where Cameron gets hits with nobody on or he drive in runs with the Mets either up big or down big.
The most telling stat about Cameron is his .222 batting average with runners in scoring position. In all 4-19 with 1 homer and 6 rbi's and 9 strikeouts. In comparison to other Mets like Cliff Floyd and David Wright both over .270 and Carlos Beltran who is over .330. Now Cameron probably won't get traded as long as the Mets are within striking distance in the division.
I'm a huge Mets fan and I don't dislike Cameron. But for 2 years now he never seems to drive in runs in big late inning spots — just watch the Mets games and you can see for yourself. This is just one case where numbers are very misleading. Cameron has great roto value right now. From the outside looking in you would never know the real truth. Mike Cameron is not as productive as his numbers indicate. The Mets need Cameron to play big if they want to win this year.
