Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Talented Mr. Chone Figgins

Chone Figgins is the latest name to pop up on the Mets rumor radar and SI.com is reporting that Omar Minaya met with Figgins' agent last night in Chicago.

Figgins is a versatile and interesting player that could fill a lot of holes for the Mets, but are they the right ones? He can play pretty much any position in the infield and even play some left field. Ok, but he's not playing third base with David Wright there. He's not playing shortstop with a healthy Jose Reyes. I don't think the Mets would sign him as an everyday left fielder because that's not really the power bat you're looking to get for that position.

Figgins is not suited to play first base full time, and I don't think you'd pay that much for him to be a bench player or platoon guy. So where do you put him?

Easy, second base.

While Luis Castillo was a solid performer last year, I think every Mets fan realizes we can't expect those kind of years from him in the future. Figgins would fit in nicely at second base, and provide a fantastic leadoff combo with Reyes at the top of the lineup.

I think I'd even like Figgins over the coveted Orlando Hudson. While Hudson would be a better clubhouse leader, I think the Mets would more years and some Citi Field optimized performance out of Figgins.

Of course the Phillies are interested in him as well and if Figgins becomes this year's Raul Ibanez, we'll be banging our heads against the wall.

It's still early in the off season so we may forget about Figgins in a few weeks, but with Carl Crawford off the market to me Figgins is the type of player that's suited for Citi Field and the Mets lineup.

1 comment:

Brad said...

Upside? He plays third base, which gives us flexibility with Wright, in case of injury...

Downside? He really only excels at third base, and probably won't do too well at second...lots of cash for a guy unproven at a position we need.

Of course, if we could somehow move Wright to first...hmmm...we're not ready for this conversation yet...