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BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2005		Mayne makes his living by being a known quantity. He's no longer an acceptable player for longer than short periods of time and has no business being on a contender at this stage. Few reasons to hire Mayne rather than say, a Tom Wilson at a lower cost.
2004		For all the talk about how the Royals were lucky to win 83 games last season, it's not hard to see how they can still improve on their record. Mayne batted nearly 800 times the last two seasons even though he was washed up before he ever returned to Kansas City. Benito Santiago is no star, but his numbers the last two seasons tower over Mayne's, despite playing in a much, much more difficult home park. Over the last two seasons, Santiago has hit .290/.337/.480 on the road; Mayne has hit .224/.299/.331. He's Arizona's problem now, after the Snakes inked him to a one-year, $800,000 deal.
2003		It really was watching Brent Mayne play that broke my spirit, and caused me to abandon all hope for this organization. He’s just awful; he is just frigging awful. He can’ t hit, he can’t throw, he doesn’t hustle, he is slow as a tank rolling uphill, and he’s now 34 years old. Why in the world they don’t just release Brent Mayne and try to find somebody who can play at least a little bit is beyond me. Two weeks after he wrote this, Bill James signed on with the Red Sox. Yep, even he’s finally given up on his Royals. For a change, he’s actually behind the curve on this one.
2002		Good idea: having Mayne as your backup catcher. He's good for a .340 OBP, has some defensive skill, and doesn't complain about his playing time. Bad idea: giving him a two-year contract at the age of 34. Teams are slowly learning the lesson that players of a certain caliber are not worthy of guaranteed millions or roster spots, but it's happening in an uneven fashion. That's why Brent Mayne and Vinny Castilla can find jobs that pay well. Baby steps.
2001		Brent Mayne is in the best possible spot for a backup catcher. Because the Rockies are going to get more plate appearances as a team and endure longer games than other teams, a good backup catcher can log 50 starts and a couple hundred plate appearances. The only problem is that neither he nor Ben Petrick throws well.
2000		Mayne hit .300 for the first time in his career, on his way to becoming a free agent. He is a decent half of a catching platoon. He even reads books. Mayne hit the jackpot, signing a three-year deal with the Rockies to impede Ben Petrick’s progress. The move added 134 points of OPS to that Wilton.
1999		Not every team gets to have Mike Piazza. The idea is to get a couple of decent guys to platoon at catcher, rather than a handful of non-hitters with good defensive reputations. Brent Mayne has held up his end of such platoons for a few years now.
1997		A light-hitting backup catcher who never, ever plays against a left-hander. Hitting like that and throwing out 1 of 24 basestealers is definitely a bad career move.
1996		The Mets gave up virtually nothing to get him; they overpaid. Mayne is barely qualified to be a backup, and is clearly a worse player than Stinnett is, which makes you wonder why the Mets wanted him when they already had two better catchers. Maybe it was for the winning tradition Mayne brought with him from Kansas City.

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