Nats Talk Extension With Wily Mo Pena

Perfectly capable of putting up 25-30 HR's in each of those 2 years. Not a bad idea. Worst case scenario, its 7 mil down the drain.

Exactly. It's not a terrible contract either way, and he has that whole "upside" thing. Problem is he has to realize it. Oh, and learn to hit a curve.

25-30 HRs mean nothing when your OBP is a measly .320

absolutley, he could easily be the next Carlos Pena surprise.

Wily Mo is about to blow up. They'll be trying to re-extend him at this point next season.

I remember when Bronson Arroyo was traded to the Reds for Wily Mo. I think it was the first week when Arroyo hit a home run in Cincinnati and Wily Mo fumbled a catch in Fenway that ended up going over the fence.

Arroyo +1 HR
Wily Mo -1 HR

Boston was furious!

"25-30 HRs mean nothing when your OBP is a measly .320"

Add about a dozen points to the OBP and it gets you $90MM in beautiful California.

Wily Mo is capable of 40 HR Power. He hit 26 in 110 games (364 PAs) in 2004. He will never be an OBP machine, but he'll be a solid contributor and a cheap one at that. I think this is a great deal for the Nats. Now just let Wily Mo play everyday.

He's a good bet to hit 30 HR's and probably not a great batting avg or OPB, and if the Nats are happy with that then it's a good deal.

""25-30 HRs mean nothing when your OBP is a measly .320"
Add about a dozen points to the OBP and it gets you $90MM in beautiful California."

I believe Not Joe Morgan just won that argument.

And Wily Mo Pena has great potential to break out. He never really got a decent shot in Boston, but he's gonna start in right field this year. I can't think of a guy more likely to pull a Carlos Pena and essentially do nothing the season before and then hit 40 HR

Well said NotJoeMorgan.

OBP is very nice, but it is very expensive these days.

I wish Boston had really given Pena a chance. He never looked comfortable coming off the bench.

With Wily, it's not an issue of power. He's a behemoth and he could hit the damn moon on a good swing. He is either going to get comfortable, learn to take a few pitches and especially learn to hit breaking pitches... or he'll just be what he always has been, the bumbling giant.

At what point are people going to realize that he won't live up to the hype. How many teams has been on now? 3 teams in 5 years.

Not like he was traded for much either.

I chalk him up as a guy that fans think can do really well. However, the talent evaluators obviously have noticed enough flaws to keep shuffling him from one team to another.

I think he could be decent with a consistent starting role. 30+ homers with a passable average may be asking too much though.

It's funny how Pena gets soooooo much love but people HATE Pedro Feliz. Career lines so far:

259/316/472
252/288/433

The difference is about 10 extra walks a few HR's over the course of a season. Add to it that Feliz is GG at a skilled infield position. If Pena was starting and put up his career line people would gripe about him just like they gripe about Feliz.

I've always liked Pena, and I'm one of the fans that's still waiting for his break out year.

Kind of off topic, but batting wise, I think Matt Kemp is at a crossroad in his career where he will either be the next Wily Mo(both can't hit that breaking ball), or Manny Ramirez. Yeah I said it, MANNY RAMIREZ!

Getting praised for making a Wily "catch the ball?" Mo Pena comparison to Torii Hunter based off obp & hrs? Call me crazy I think a few of those mil in California are related to skills Pena is never going to posses.

Even better is the person who thinks you are suggesting it costs a lot to get a player with an obp over .320.

Not to be a homer (which I am) and understanding it's a small sample set, in the time that WMP spent with the Nats as the everyday (kind of) left fielder, he hit .293/.352 and 8 bombs in 133 ABs. Project that over a full season of ABs, and you got your 30 HRs. And that was hitting in RFK half the time.

DCGeeWood: Exactly.

walkoffblast: you're right too, WMP's fielding abilities don't compare at all with Hunter's, but they're certainly not as bad as people think. He improved a LOT in just half a season of regular playing time.

bjsguess: WMP isn't over-hyped. He's got tons of potential, and he's been working loads with Lenny Harris on trying to stop pulling the ball, and go the other way with it instead, and that was a huge improvement for him. He's continued working with Harris over this offseason, and I think he's going to shock a lot of people.

Oh, and on another note, I can't think of ANYONE who would be scarrier runnign the basebaths. The man's a beast.

I would be thrilled if the Nats played Wily Mo every day. I was shocked when the Red Sox traded Arroyo away. Even worse was when they signed Drew. I figured they'd give WMP a chance to do his 35 hr thing behind the on base giants of Big Papi and Manny, but stupidly they signed a #3 hitter in Drew for 13 mil/yr to do the job far worse the WMP would have.

Every player has a role and WMP's role is to knock people in. Free Wily Mo (from the bench)!

btw NatsFan, I totally agree with you regarding Pena on the basepads. He's actually pretty fast. With his speed, he's almost as much a threat to score with hit .320 onbase as Nick Johnson with his .400 onbase.