Comments on: Wily Mo Pena

By: TheGoof

TheGoof — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:11:46 +0000

Pena's always been one of my favorites to watch. Not that he's put up great numbers or that I believe he'll be a star--there's just something about seeing this guy play. I figured he was about done, but when you look at those similarity scores on his B-R page, it makes you wonder. Bob Allison? Dave Henderson? George Foster? Who wouldn't take one of those guys at age 26? Only three guys out of the 10 were just about done, Kokos, Plantier and Clinton. The other seven had lengthy, productive careers after that point. If you do a career projection using his stats and those of the 10 similar, it comes out to 14 seasons, 214 HR, 700 RBI, .255. Great? No. But not Dave Nicholson, either. Similarity scores might not mean much, but they usually aren't this good for a guy this criticized.

By: JohnnyTwisto

JohnnyTwisto — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:30:07 +0000

I think Pena may have screwed himself when he first signed. If I remember correctly, he was 17 years old and got a major league contract, so he had to go on the 40-man roster. A few later when he was traded to the Reds, he was out of options and had to be placed on the major league roster, or they would risk losing him on waivers. He wasn't major league ready, however, and he lost out on valuable development time sitting on the bench. Now there's no guarantee he would have become a star if he had gotten to spend some more time in AA and AAA, but it looks pretty obvious now that he's not going to become one.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:38:28 +0000

I think it goes without saying that there is upside to Pena's game. If not, he never would have gotten this many ABs.

By: ZimJim

ZimJim — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:36:40 +0000

I am certainly not a supporter of Willy Mo Pena but I will say this. There has been a LOT of animosity towards Pena throughout his career from all sides. But lets not forget the fact that he is only 26 years old and can still improve his game. And his lifetime OPS of 94, while not anything legendary is not as terrible as this post would make him sound.