Forget About Alou

Moises Alou was supposed to be the key to this Mets offense this year. He was not the central focus but more the linchpin that propelled the Mets lineup beyond the rest of the NL East.

I'm here to tell you to forget about Alou.

Just remove him from your memory. The sooner you do, the better. The longer we continue to think that Alou will make a return, the longer you're just fooling yourself.

It was a no brainer to sign Alou for another year and I can't blame the Mets for doing it. I would have done it too. But the guy can't cross the street without breaking a bone. He gets aneurysms from eating hot oatmeal. And the guy can't walk his dog with pulling a groin muscle.

Alou is done. It's time to move on.

His absence leaves a glaring hole of not-so-much power in the middle of the lineup. Ryan Church has closed that gap considerably, but the good news is we have adequate bodies to fill left field. Which is actually pretty surprising considering we lost Gomez & Milledge.

Angel Pagan has filled in nicely. Endy Chavez is possibly the best defensive bench player in all of baseball. We can even through Marlon Anderson out there if we're desperate.

But what about the offense? Here's the key. Our main guys need to produce. Call me a revolutionary but Reyes, Wright, Beltran, and Delgado need to produce. That's why we pay them the big bucks. That's why they're on the All Star teams. That's why they have to produce.

If that happens it won't matter who's in left field because they'll be playing a role and not a central part of our offense.

But in the mean time, just forget about Alou. He's not coming back.