The Quandry that is the Mets Outfield Situation

I'd write about another episode of the BLOWpen, but that story is as tired as the plot lines for NCIS. Let's focus on playing armchair GM, shall we?

Sure the bullpen is horrendous. There are questions with starting pitching, but the recent attention of the Mets blogosphere has been on the outfield. The Mets currently have the professional equivalent of the Bad News Bears out there. You've got you're ridiculously underperforming star (Bay), the speedster who can't really hit (Torres), the kid with the big mouth (Valdespin), the hometown boy you want to cheer for (Baxter) and the guy who either hits a home run or strikes out (Hairston). 

Forget Bad News Bears. That's the casting call for Major League 4. 

Because none of this motley crew is performing at an exceptional rate, Mets fans are longing for the days of Duda and Kirk who are currently relinquished to Triple A.

How soon we forget?

Honestly, the current rag tag crew is performing at a higher level than Duda and Kirk (except for Jason Bay of course). Valdespin is not going to hit a clutch 3-run homer every time at bat. He strikes out a lot, but not as much a Kirk who was getting eaten up on high fastballs like shrimp at a buffet. 

Duda just looked lost. the last month or so in the majors, but the fact still remains that he was in the top 3 on the team in HRs & RBI before he went down.

Baxter is a multi-position player who probably shouldn't be an every day guy, but should certainly be on a team at the major league level for his pinch hitting alone.

Hairston is Hairston. You know what you get.

Torres is, as we thought, and older version of Angel Pagan. 

And Bay...just needs to crawl under a rock..and stay there...for a while.

Where am I going with this? The fact of the matter is that regardless of who we think deserves to be starting or who needs to be sent down, the Mets still need an entirely new outfield.

Valdespin is too rough to be a starter yet, but honestly he and Baxter are the best options for the future which isn't saying much. Your corner outfielders are supposed to provide you with power and the Mets have had a drought in that aspect for several years now.

There are kids in the minor that show promise and potential, but I'm far from ready to bank my hopes on Duda & Kirk. I was ridiculously high on Kirk at the start of the season, but given enough at bats I was able to see, like most NL pitchers, there are serious holes in his game at the plate.

The point is there is no easy fix and with Bay's contract still looming for another year, it's hard to see the Mets making significant moves to right what's wrong in the outfield.

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Monday Morning Mets Rant

This post has not structure and probably no intelligent thought in it, but it's a rant kind of day.

Love that the Mets took 2 out of 3 from the Braves and in Atlanta no less! Where the heck was this kind of play about a month ago when the Mets were still in the Wild Card conversation? Can Bobby Parnell pitch an inning without a walking a batter? He's like a crack addict with walks. How does Ronnie Paulino only have one home run? He's the size of a defensive end and you're telling me he can't muscle more than one ball over the outfield wall?

Did Dillon Gee go off steroids? He's Jekyll and Hyde this year. Stop the trade David Wright talk. It's stupid. Finding a reliable, All Star third basemen isn't easy. He's the face of the franchise and if he was healthy this year he'd have a shade 30 homers and 100 RBI...like he has practically every year.

Is Lucas Duda going to be Mike Jacobs? A surprising inaugural season only to falter the next. Never to be heard from again? I hope not.

When's the last time you though about Daniel Murphy? Do we even care that he's gone or is that just the eliminated from the playoffs yet again talking?

RA Dickey is the charter member of the No Joy No Luck Club. And by the way, why the heck are you pitching to Chipper Jones in that spot? Has the guy not murdered the Mets enough over the years. Hit him in the head, load the bases and deal with whoever is next. Just don't let Chipper do it to you yet again. Get beat by somebody else for a change.

In the time it took me to type that last paragraph, Bobby Parnell just walked 3 more batters.

Where on earth is Fernando Martinez? Oh wait, he's hanging with Lastings Milledge in the Mets Over Hyped Prospects group home.

Ruben Tejada has fouled off more pitches this year than anyone in history.

Angel Pagan is half the man he used to be. Jason Bay is having a renaissance. His best game appears when teams are out of contention.

How much would you hate being Terry Collins right now? That laughter you hear is Willie Randolph, Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya.

The Unlikeliest of Wins

You can't say the Mets aren't an interesting team to watch. On any given night you can see massive leads blow, comebacks fall short and potentially a life threatening injury unfold on your television.

But last night's 9-8 win was one of the unlikeliest of comebacks. After giving Mike Pelfrey a 4-1 lead behind three home runs, Pelf once again settled into his routine of giving up smash hit after smash hit to see the lead become a tie game.

And then comes Igarashi. Does this guy ever do anything but give up runs? A 4-4 game became 8-4 in the span of 5 minutes. So here comes the unlikely part. The Mets came back...to win! Yes! No comeback only to blow it in the 9th. They actually won! I know, it's crazy.

The craziest part is that they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th against possibly the best closer in the National League, Heath Bell, who is also historically a Mets killer. Ever since he was traded, he lives to destroy the Mets.

But the Mets somehow prevailed with a Jason Pridie leadoff single. A Justin Turner single. A David Wright single. A wild pitch. And then Lucas Duda with a seeing eye single to clinch it.

Sure it's just the Padres but that's a game the Mets should have lost. You gotta say that this team never seems to give up. I like that.