The Worst Mets Lineup Ever?

There were some pretty bad ones in the early 90's and 2000's, but today's lineup against the Marlins has to be up there.

Here is the lineup for the 2009 Mets on this 27th day of August:

Angel Pagan
Wilson Valdez
Daniel Murphy
Jeff Francoeur
Cory Sullivan
Fernando Tatis
Omir Santos
Anderson Hernandez

Starting Lineup for the 2008 Mets

While the Mets have until Sunday to set their official lineup, it seems to me that we know who will or will not make the starting lineup for the 2008 Mets.

Here are my projections for what the lineup might look like on opening day next week against the Florida Marlins.

1. Jose Reyes - SS
2. Luis Castillo - 2B
3. David Wright - 3B
4. Carlos Beltran - CF
5. Carlos Delgado - 1B
6. Ryan Church - RF
7. Angel Pagan- LF
8. Brian Schneider - C
9. Johan Santana - P

Of course the name that sticks out is Angel Pagan. The guy deserves a shot to play in Alou's absence. I've heard Moises Alou say that he plans on being back in April, but I would not bet on it.

Endy Chavez could be an option there and I actually think that he and Pagan will platoon for the first few weeks of the season.

To me the biggest question mark is Delgado in the 5 hole. Once you get to Delgado the Mets lineup strength looks like the second half of a bell curve, steep decline in power & plate presence. Church is a question mark, Pagan is a replacement, Schneider we don't expect much productivity from.

So Delgado is the linchpin for the lineup. If he can be successful, Beltran will see better pitches and pitchers will start walking Delgado to get to Church which hopefully puts multiple runners on base and pressuring the pitcher to get out of the inning.

I like our lineup today but it will be a whole lot better once Moises Alou returns to that 5 spot.

What the Mets Lineup Should Be

Willie Randolph is earning his paycheck with the amount of lineup changes he goes through. However, I think he's fiddling around way too much and needs to stick with a lineup for a few weeks. In this MetsLifer's opinion, here's what it should look like and why:

1. Jose Reyes - no brainer

2. Paul Lo Duca - Willie is struggling to find a #2 hitter. Didn't we have a pretty good one last year? Hmmm. Lo Duca has found his swing again so stick him back at the top.

3. Carlos Beltran - He's struggling, but this is where he'll get his groove back.

4. David Wright - He's carrying the team at this point. He's our best RBI man. He'll be here for the next 10 years so get him comfortable.

5. Shawn Green - Green is slow coming back from his foot injury and Wright might get some intentional walks with Green behind him. That's ok. Wright has been stealing bases and Green is one of those guys that nothing gets to him. I like him as a steady #5.

6. Carlos Delgado - He's lost out there. Stick him down in the order. This is the spot where he started to turn things around. Keep him here until he goes 25 for 40 with 8 home runs and 15 RBI's.

7. Jose Valentin - Need him at #7 for some extra pop at the bottom of the order.

8. Carlos Gomez - Batting Gomez before the pitcher is the best thing you can do for this kid. He'll get a couple of intentional walks which should let him run free on the base paths, which is just what we want him to do.

9. Pitcher - duh.