Welcome to the end of 2009, and the beginning of 2010. It has been a rough year for Mets fans, and it seemed as if things weren’t going to get any better until the Mets finally came to an agreement with Jason Bay, who will provide some excitement in the new year. However, there were still some things to be happy about in 2009.

I’m not going to lie to you. The stats weren’t pretty in 2009. Jeff Francoeur led the Mets in many of the offensive categories, and that was mainly because he spent half the year with the Braves, not to take away from his scorching debut in New York. No Met had 30 stolen bases, hit 40 doubles, smacked 15 homers(excluding Jeff), or scored 100 runs. On the pitching side of things, Pelfrey led the Mets in starts (31) and IP (184.1), and only three pitchers on the entire staff sported a record above .500.

It wasn’t all bad however, I promise you that. Met fans were able to see Francisco Rodriguez make his debut as the new closer for the Mets, and Jeff Francoeur became our new right fielder. We saw flashes of promise and a glimmer of hope for the future in Josh Thole, Fernando Martinez, Jon Niese, Robert Parnell, and Tobi Stoner. And of course, I won’t leave out the always lovable Nelson Figueroa, along with Pat Misch and Fernando Nieve who pitched successfully for the Mets.

Did I leave somebody out???

Oh, of course… The MetsMerized Player Of The Year!

Johan Santana. Just his name strikes fear into opposing lineups. Johan Santana is a true bulldog and the argument can be made that he is the only reason the Mets pitching staff was not a total failure last year. He is consistent, he is confident, and he is dominant. Santana is reliable, is a true ace, and is still one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues.

The Mets would be nowhere without Johan Santana, and even though he was injured last year, he still put up decent stats. Here they are:

Johan Santana is, and most likely will continue to be, the man. He deserves a ton of respect for playing his heart out for a team that was ravaged by injuries and whose season was quickly going down the drain.

Fortunately, a new season with new faces and renewed hope will see the Mets rise to the top again, and leading the way will be our 2009 Mets Merized Player of the Year, Johan Santana.

A Summary Of My Award Winners This Year

Players Of The Week

One Hit Wonders: Ryan Church, Johan Santana,  David Wright, Fernando Tatis, Nelson Figueroa.

Been There, Done That Twice: Luis Castillo, Angel Pagan, Daniel Murphy.

Three’s Company: Jeff Francoeur.

Players Of The Month

Luis Castillo (July 2009), Angel Pagan (August 2009), Daniel Murphy (September 2009).

A Final Note On 2009, The Decade, And The NYM…

Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we move on to 2010 after another amazing decade of Mets baseball. I would never trade it for the world. As each day passes, I’ve enjoyed reading all the differing opinions on the past, the present and the future of the Mets here at Mets Merized. The recurring theme is simple, and it is such : We love the Mets. Maybe we’re suckers… or maybe we’re the best fan base in the world. We, as a fan base, young and old, male or female, unite under the common love for this team. As 2010 approaches, I encourage all of you, bloggers and readers alike, to keep expressing your opinions and keep the discourse alive and well. I conclude simply with this…

We believe in 2010 and every year after that, because we are Met fans.

LGM and Happy New Year!

It’s been a heck of a ride this year at Mets Merized Online, and though we’re sad to see 2009 go, we are absolutely pumped for an even bigger and better new year in 2010.

On behalf of everybody at MMO, I want to thank all of our amazing readers for their tremendous support this past year.

I am so honored and privileged to be part of a Mets fan site that have some of the most passionate, knowledgeable and articulate fans in the Mets Blogosphere. You have helped transform a simple fan site into a thriving Mets community that continues to grow each day. 

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Thank You, Thank You, Thank You…

We wish all of you a very healthy and Happy New Year in 2010! 

Check out the Mets Top 10 Prospects as compiled by Marc Hulet of FanGraphs, who did an excellent job of providing a detailed analysis on each player complete with statistical data as well.

Fernando Martinez tops his list and he writes the following about him,

Although some have already, it is far too early to give up on Martinez. Just 21 years old, the Dominican outfielder just needs to have a healthy season. When he did get on the field in ‘09, he hit .290/.337/.540 with an ISO of .250 as a 20 year old in triple-A. That is pretty darn impressive. He reached his ‘08 total in home runs in about half the at-bats. Martinez actually had a career-high OPS of .877 in ‘09. He also kept his strikeout rate below 20% at 18.8%, but it would be nice to see more patience at the plate (5.9% walk rate). At the MLB level, he was over-matched and hit just .176/.242/.275 in 95 at-bats. With a career line against southpaws of .237/.308/.392, he has some work to do against lefties. Despite that, he still has a chance to be a very good player.

I’ve soured on F-Mart a little this past season, but mostly because of my frustration with his constant trips to the disabled list. Hulet is right of course, and we should all be more patient with someone so young and so gifted. Maybe everything will break right for Martinez in 2010, and we can finally see his tremendous talent applied over a full season.

Check out FanGraphs for more analysis on the rest of the top ten that includes 1B Ike Davis, RHP Jenrry Mejia, SS Wilmer Flores, LHP Jonathan Niese, RHP Brad Holt, IF Ruben Tejada, C Josh Thole, OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis and RHP Jeurys Familia in that order.

Well, my little Metsies, do we all feel better now? Santa Minaya has bought us a belated holiday gift in Jason Bay, may soon sign one of the flying Molina’s, and something tells me he will shock us all and trade for Carlos Zambrano (Fernando Martinez, Castillo and a pitching prospect?). But none of those momentous moves will likely happen before the new year, so I thought I’d have you all gather around the hot stove in your jammies with a cup of hot cider (spiked with a little of Tom Seaver’s GTS wine) and listen to a winter’s tale of how your benevolent story teller helped bring the Mets’ greatest first baseman ever to our ballclub in 1983.

It all began the fall of 1982, just after my 27th birthday. Since my early teenage years I had dreamed of starting my own magazine about professional sports in New York. I remembered a short-lived magazine called “JOCK NEW YORK,” which published for one year in 1969, long enough to celebrate the Miracle Mets on its cover. It boasted writers like Dick Schaap and Jimmy Breslin, and even Howard Cosell penned pieces for JOCK. I was already a magazine fanatic and when JOCK folded, I remember saying to myself, “I’m going to do this magazine one day, only better.” After starting my career at the late, great SPORT Magazine (1978-80), and then spending a year editing a magazine for the National Hockey League, I felt it was time to make the leap and start NEW YORK SPORTS Magazine. I guess I was the Joe DeCaro or Matt Cerrone of my time.

With my wife Bea as the publisher and business mind, we decided we would launch our bi-monthly magazine with a May/June issue in April 1983. That would give us about four months to raise some money, plan the first issue, assign stories and photographs, sell ads, and all that wonderful and stressful stuff that goes into launching a publication. Then in mid-December, I received a gift from the magazine gods. The Mets made a trade with Cincinnati and brought back my hero Tom Seaver. It didn’t take a lot of soul-searching to decide who would be on the magazine’s first cover.

But while the first issue would carry a romantic tribute to Tom Terrific, we had already planned another Mets-related feature for that launch issue, a profile on probably the best player on that awful Mets team of the early 1980s–25-year-old reliever Neil Allen. The young closer had managed to save 59 games from 1980-82 and had more than a little Tug McGraw in him. He was cocky, fun, opinionated and accessible. He even lived in Lee Mazzilli’s former house on Long Island. Going into the 1983 season, Allen was on the last year of his contract, had an option year and had his eye on big free-agent bucks.

A few weeks before spring training, I contacted Mets PR director Jay Horwitz and told him we wanted to feature Allen with a positive profile in our first issue and he agreed to give us access. I assigned one of my writer friends from the SPORT days, Mark Ribowsky, to visit Allen at his LI home, and the writer and the reliever spent a Saturday afternoon drinking beer and watching college basketball.

On Monday morning, I got a call from Ribowsky saying he had a story that would put NEW YORK SPORTS on the map. Allen didn’t just give him the standard “these are my goals for me and the team this season” stuff; he threw high hard ones at his teammates and the organization. Ribowsky, who had a great talent for getting athletes to spill their guts, probably knew he could hit pay dirt when Allen started the interview with this nugget:

“Who wouldn’t want to live in New York? Love those bright lights of Broadway and any time I can hit those East Side bars, man, I jump.”

At the time, nobody knew Allen had a drinking problem, something that would emerge in May that season when he entered a rehab clinic. For now, Ribowsky just kept his tape recorder running and Allen supplied the rest. You can just imagine what the organization’s reaction must have been when they read these Allen quotes in a magazine:

“Look, they didn’t do a damn thing in the off-season. I don’t want to sound bitter and the team’s been good to me, but they don’t show me no interest in improving the club. The only thing I see getting Tom Seaver for is attendance. He’s 38. I don’t see him coming back and winning 15 or 20 games . . . This team here ain’t gonna score him four or five runs a game. With this team two runs might be the highlight of the game.”

Or this breathless diatribe. Nuke LaLoosh after lessons from Crash Davis, Allen was not:

“We’ve finished next to last or last place six years in a row and who wants to play for a loser. Look at this year’s [1983] team. Dave Kingman will hit .230 tops, and strike out every time he doesn’t hit a homer . . . I get along well with Kong, but other guys, especially the young guys, are just scared of him. Brian Giles and Ron Gardenhire are unproven in the middle of the infield . . . John Stearns isn’t a superstar–he can’t hit a homer out of my front yard–yet he’s constantly burning the club in public right after games. You don’t do that . . . Stearns may not be able to throw the whole year and that leaves Ron Hodges at catcher, a guy people think died because they confuse him with Gil Hodges . . . George Foster was making $2 million and wasn’t producing and came to the park in a long silver limo. The fans threw batteries at it, ripped the antennas off, pulverized it. By the end of the season, it looked like a German war tank. The pitching? I don’t understand the Mike Torrez trade. Why not get a fresh face like Floyd Bannister [who was a free agent]? Here’s a guy that throws hard like Ron Guidry, but we get guys 36, 38 years old. We trade a young arm like Jeff Reardon [to Montreal in 1981] for Ellis Valentine, who was a real head case . . . Our rotation? Seaver, [Craig] Swan, Torrez, Scott Holman and Rick Ownbey, who throws smoke, but walks six guys a game . . . It seems the front office accepts losing.”

Then a passage that would be sure to endear him to his General Manager:

“[Me and Frank Cashen] just clash. He thinks I’m young and just out for the glory. He wants me to be Tom Seaver, a conformist. Hell, I’m the clown of the ballclub, the ball buster in the locker room. Tug McGraw taught me to have a good time. No sense playing in the big leagues if you’re not having fun. I don’t care how much you make. But Cashen, he don’t like that attitude. Last year, before a game, I was on the bench with an old man’s mask on and a cigarette hanging out of my mouth. So they put a shot of me on the Diamond Vision screen. Right away, Cashen sent a message down asking, ‘Who was it, was it Allen?’–because he assumes anything like that would be me–’Tell him I want to see him.’ I said, ‘Aw, screw him. I don’t wanna see him.”

There was more, but you get the idea. During the call with Ribowsky, I had three conflicting feelings. As a Mets fan, I was completely bummed by Allen’s comments. I almost didn’t want to know that the Mets were this dysfunctional. But as the editor of a new magazine, I was ecstatic. These type of comments from a star player might get us the back cover of the tabloids, and that was before Rupert Murdoch owned the New York Post. But I also knew I had to be cautious. If these quotes weren’t real; if they were taken out of context or said off the record and we printed them, my new magazine would be dead on arrival. I couldn’t take any chances. I pressed Ribowsky. “They’re all on the record,” he assured me. “It’s not on us that he was drinking and said these things. Listen to the tape.”

And so I did and the tape passed the journalism smell test. I was sitting on magazine publishing gold.

The premier issue of NEW YORK SPORTS would hit the newsstands all over the metro area on Tuesday, April 19. A few days before on-sale, I prepared a press release and sent it off with a copy of the magazine to all the Mets beat writers, hoping to create some publicity that would generate newsstand sales. On Wednesday the 20th, after a couple of days of rain, the Mets were playing a doubleheader against the Pirates at Shea and I was home watching the first game (we didn’t have enough of a budget for an office) when the phone rang. It was Jay Horwitz . . . at least I thought it was Jay . . . it was hard to tell at first given how he was screaming and cursing at me.

“You told me you were doing a positive profile and you screwed me and the team,” Jay shouted, seasoning his comments with a heavy helping of the F-word. “Jay, what do you want from me?” I squeezed in. “The guy said all that stuff on the record and I had to print it,”

“I don’t care,” he said, or something to that effect. “You and your magazine are banned from Shea Stadium! Don’t ask for a press credential and don’t have any of your writers ask. You’re banned!”

The next day, the Neil Allen story in NEW YORK SPORTS became a full-fledged controversy. Although we didn’t get back page headlines, there were articles in the sports sections and prominent columnists like the Post’s Dick Young (public enemy number one because he was responsible for the Tom Seaver trade) and the New York Times‘ Dave Anderson wrote pieces in support of the magazine’s story. In Anderson’s case, I actually played the tape of the Allen interview for him over the phone so he knew we were legit. Allen, of course, denied he said any of it.

We also offered to play the tape for Frank Cashen in the hopes of getting our Shea ban rescinded. My wife managed to get the GM on the phone. He listened, sighed and told us to “just go away.” End of conversation.

Cashen had taken over as the Mets GM in 1980 after Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon purchased the team from the Payson family. He was an accomplished baseball executive and a conservative man who always wore a bowtie. Cashen was in the process of methodically resurrecting the Mets franchise and there was no way he was going to allow a disrespectful, loud-mouth young reliever to create chaos and undermine the cause. Once our story broke Neil Allen was as good as gone from the Mets. The admission of the alcohol problem and the rehab visit in May had to seal the deal. Now Cashen just had to find a team who wanted to unload a similar problem child.

On June 15, the day of the trade deadline, Frank Cashen made what is still probably the greatest trade in New York Mets history: Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the St. Louis Cardinals for Keith Hernandez.

Okay, I won’t take ALL the credit for helping create a situation in which the Mets wanted to unload Neil Allen. But I don’t think we could have obtained a player of Keith Hernandez’s caliber–even if Whitey Herzog did consider Keith “a cancer” on the Cardinals–if Allen wasn’t included in the deal. At that time the Mets didn’t have much else to trade and Darryl Strawberry and Mookie Wilson weren’t going anywhere.

Fellow Mets fans, you’re welcome. Sweet dreams.

Postscript: The 1983 premier issue of NEW YORK SPORTS outsold Sports Illustrated on the newsstands in the metro area. After a one-year hiatus to raise funds, the magazine began regular bi-monthly publication in May 1984 (the Shea Stadium ban had been rescinded that winter) and published six issues before suspending operations after the May/June 1985 issue due to lack of capital.

According to Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN, Carlos Delgado will make his Winter League debut this Sunday.

After several delays, free agent first baseman Carlos Delgado will finally be making his winter league debut on Sunday, according to a report out of Puerto Rico. Delgado missed the majority of last season with the New York Mets after undergoing right hip surgery. His delay has been due to complications with that hip.

Delgado had originally stated that he would delay his return to baseball activities until mi January, so this is a positive step in that regard.

I believe that the Mets are still interested in Delgado and will closely monitor his progress. Minaya had met with Delgado earlier this month, and it is believed that both sides would welcome a reunion of sorts.

With the addition of Jason Bay, it would seem the Mets could still use some left handed thump in the lineup.

It’s my opinion that a one-year incentive laden deal with a $3-4 million dollar base salary could prove to be a wise investment as it would allow Ike Davis a full year of seasoning in AAA, and may even give the Mets a trade piece in Daniel Murphy who will turn into a pumpkin once the Ike Davis era begins in 2011.

What are your thoughts?

The Mets have been connected to free agent pitcher Joel Pineiro since the beginning of the off season. Pineiro is said to be Minaya’s top pitching target. It is believed that Pineiro is being pursued by the Dodgers and Angels as well.

Although Pineiro has at least three suitors, it remains to be seen if any of these teams will meet his contract demands. Pineiro is said to be looking for a three or four year contract at roughly 15 million a season. That is an insane asking price for a pitcher who has been up and down his entire career.

I strongly believe that Pineiro’s success in 2009 was due mostly to the work of Cardinals pitching coach, Dave Duncan. Duncan, one of the better pitching coachs in the game, is known for his reclamation projects. Pineiro will not put up numbers anyway near the numbers he put up in 2009.

The Mets are better off just letting Pineiro sign elsewhere, and turning their attention toward the trade market. Cubs ace, Carlos Zambrano, is said to be on the block. The Reds are also said to be shopping both Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang. Either of those three starters are more passable as a number two starter than Pineiro. If the Mets fail to pull off a trade, they can focus on Jon Garland, or they can take a risk on Ben Sheets or Eric Bedard.

It remains to be seen how Minaya intends to improve the starting rotation, but lets hope he doesn’t fall into the same mistake as last year and give a multi-year contract to a pitcher with a career full of up and downs.

Pineiro was 15-12 with a 3.49 ERA in 2009, and has a record of 87-79 with an ERA of 4.39 for his career.

On Monday night, SI.com’s Jon Heyman posted via Twitter that the Cubs are very motivated to trade often disgruntled starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

Before getting Javier Vasquez, the Yankees definitely talked to the Cubs about Zambrano, who appears eminently available.

Yesterday, John Fennelly of Bleacher Report reported the following,

Cubs’ pitcher Carlos Zambrano could also be headed to the Mets. A trade, perhaps involving a third team, to bring Zambrano to Flushing remains a possibility.

I am very intrigued by Zambrano, and despite the occasional headache he may give you, there is no doubting his talent and ability.

Zambrano would certainly fit the bill as a number two starter for the Mets, but do the Mets have the pieces to make it work for the Cubs?

Or, like Fennelly states, will a third team be needed to complete the trifecta that can land Zambrano in Flushing?

Zambrano, 28, had a down season as did most of the Cubs players in 2009. Still, he posted a respectable 3.77 ERA and struck out 152 batters while walking 73 in 169 innings pitched.

In his career, Zambrano has a 105-68 won-loss record; a .607 winning percentage, along with a 3.51 ERA.

He’s also pretty handy with the bat and won his third Silver Slugger after clubbing 4 homers last season. He has a career batting average of .236.

With Lackey, Halladay and Wolf all off the table, I would love to see the Mets make a big effort to land Zambrano who I believe is better than any other options left in the free agent market.

Last week, I wrote of Omar Minaya and remarked about him actually using learnings from past mistakes and exhibiting patience and being prudent in the face of enormous pressure. I commend him for not giving in to the heat of talk radio and the national media in general, and opinions calling for his dismissal on the Mets own network, SNY. He stuck to his plan and now has what appears to be an agreement with Jason Bay, our new left fielder.

He also appears to be closing in on a 2 year agreement with his and the organizations’ # 1 catching target Bengie Molina. I still disagree with him regarding Molina, and would rather have Rod Barajas for less money and 1 year less. However, I applaud the organization, and Omar in particular, for sticking to their guns and not offering Molina more than the 2 years I find acceptable, or for that matter, the 4 years guaranteed to Bay. I always thought Bay would get a vesting option on top of the 4 guaranteed years so I’m not angry or worried that the salary on his back loaded deal will hinder player procurement in subsequent years, as the option will help protect the organization.

For those that called for Omar’s dismissal or that the Wilpon ownership group had emasculated him as it pertained to spending, I can only say one sentence: You were wrong. I agree that the wait for this to occur tried Met Nation’s patience and my own, but I believe Omar acted shrewdly in the negotiations at this juncture of the off season. The Organization may have misjudged the pitching market, or perhaps another big move is coming as the Mets had many discussions at the winter meetings. Omar has said he has a plan and after the news from today, perhaps he needed to have this Bay signing to occur to enable him to deal his depth for the right pitcher. For those who desire multi-tasking, He probable couldn’t create the holes in his major league roster and the minor leagues or it would have left the team vulnerable to player and agent demands.

I’ve recently seen the Zambrano reports, (Thankfully Carlos, not Victor) and previously had read stories of Kansas City being interested in Angel Pagan earlier this winter. Gil Meche may be available due to his 2 years and 24 million left. Perhaps one young arm (Parnell) can be included with Pagan and Castillo to bring Meche and Alberto Callaspo to NY. The Castillo contract pales in comparison to Meche’s deal. Meche is a quality pitcher and legit number two starter when healthy. But, he’s been hurt almost every year since signing his big 5 year- 55 million dollar deal. Would it be smart to deal for Mr. Meche? Perhaps not. Especially after the injury riddled season that ruined our 2009 season. But to get rid of Castillo, and acquire a young 2nd baseman like Callaspo, it might be worth it…

Zambrano would be ideal. The Cubbies have so many bad contracts, they may have to dump Carlos just to get a hold of their own situation. Soriano, Silva, my goodness they may have worse contracts to deal with than anyone. How about another one in Castillo…

Perhaps a deal is in the offing with the Reds for Bronson Arroyo or Aaron Harang’s bloated contract.

Whatever the case, it has become apparent that our Metsies and Omar indeed had a plan. For now, we’ll have to take a wait and see approach to the remaining moves.

Patience and prudence. I’ve tried to preach it and live by it as a Met fan. Omar’s learnings may be taking hold after all…

Keith Law of ESPN, a disciple of advanced metrics, says that Bay’s defense will dictate whether the contract is a good one or not. Umm, really?

Did Mike Piazza’s defense dictate whether his time with the Mets was good or bad too?

Of course Law, a long time proponent of advanced metrics, was alluding to the debate emerging over Jason Bay’s UZR or Ultimate Zone Rating. It’s a stat that assumes how many balls a fielder should get to based on those hit in his area of responsibility.

What you won’t hear about UZR is how dramatic the fluctuations are from year to year and what a poor indicator it is in determining a players present day fielding value. The notable Bill James once said,

“The interesting question is why defense is so much more difficult to quantify than offense in all sports. Perhaps defense by its nature involves more interaction between individuals than individual actions, and perhaps the way to get past that is to embrace the concept and measure combinations of players.”

In other words, put a player like Jason Bay next to a player like Carlos Beltran and it changes the whole ball of wax.

I did some research on the matter…

Last season Raul Ibanez was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies to play left field. The move prompted an outcry among all the stat-heads who pointed to Ibanez -23.5 UZR in 2007 and -10.5 in 2008. However, when coupled with gold glove centerfielder Shane Victorino, Ibanez posted an incredible 10.7 UZR or to better illustrate, a 200% improvement over the prior season. By the way, see what I mean about the wild fluctuations which make UZR so unreliable and flawed?

Anyhow, it’s Jason Bay’s -11.2 UZR that seems to be at the crux of the matter with those shedding tears over the Mets’ new leftfielder.

As difficult as this might be, amid the overwhelming and resonating sentiment that Jason Bay a terrible left fielder, consider the following facts I sought out and now present to you…

What the UZR disciples won’t tell you about Jason Bay, is that despite logging over 1,270 innings in one of the most difficult left fields in baseball, Fenway Park, Bay committed no errors in 2009 and had a fielding percentage of 1.000%. Mets left fielders committed seven errors in 2009.

What the UZR disciples wont tell you about Jason Bay is that his range (2.29 vs 2.12) and range factor per game (2.17 vs 1.80), were both far better than the average of all left fielders. 

What UZR disciples wont tell you about Jason Bay is that last season he had a career high 15 assists to lead both the American and National Leagues, and that seven of those were runners he threw out at home plate and third base. Those 15 assists were more than Carl Crawford and Matt Holliday combined!

In the not so very old days, long before UZR was invented in 2003, would there be any arguing about Jason Bay’s defense in left field based on his performance last season? I would actually bet that there would be more gloating than anything else.

Are we supposed to simply throw away over 100 years of what have long been considered the best fielding measurements in baseball because of a new statistic that has hardly stood the test of time?

UZR has less then a decade worth of data, an incredibly short track record of success for a group that is always harping on sample sizes, and has mostly shown that its fluctuations can dramatically skew the evaluation process of a player’s defense both negatively and positively.

I’m not suggesting that we discard or overlook the value of UZR, but instead I say we should consider it along with all of the other defensive measures that have worked so well for over a century.

I think it’s rather absurd to simply wipe out what would otherwise be considered a solid defensive resume all in the name of one new and very imperfect statistic.

The Mets got themselves a heck of a left fielder in Jason Bay. His 2009 Silver Slugger Award was earned for being the best offensive left fielder in the American League. His defense may not invoke memories of Barry Bonds in left field, but let’s ”stop” making a mountain out of mole hill, and lets “start” giving the Mets their due credit for a change.

With the acquisition of free agent Jason Bay, the Mets have filled the hole they had in left field.  For the next four years, they do not have to employ platoons or put in players more suited for the fourth outfielder’s job (Endy Chavez a few years ago and Angel Pagan this past year).  They won’t have to put players there out of position (I’m talking to you, Daniel Murphy) and they won’t have to hand the job over to guys like the great Tsuyoshi Shinjo.

Cliff Floyd was supposed to be the answer for the Mets in left field when he was signed by the team prior to the 2003 season.  Unfortunately, he was only healthy for one out of his four years in Flushing.  So who was the last leftfielder for the Mets who was supposed to be the answer in left field and actually was able to produce four good seasons like the Mets are expecting from Jason Bay?  You have to jump into the wayback machine and travel back two decades to find him.  His first name was Walter, but we all knew him as Kevin McReynolds.

After winning the World Series in 1986, the Mets were looking for a full-time leftfielder.  George Foster had started the 1986 season in left field, but he was released in August.  After Foster’s release, the Mets used Mookie Wilson and the reacquired Lee Mazzilli to play left field.  During the offseason, the Mets made a trade with the San Diego Padres to acquire Kevin McReynolds, sending three players, including future National League MVP Kevin Mitchell to the west coast.

During his first four years with the Mets, McReynolds was as good as advertised.  These were his numbers from 1987-1990, which corresponds to when K Mac was ages 27 to 30:

• 1987:  .276 average, 29 HR, 95 RBI, 14 SB
• 1988:  .288 average, 27 HR, 99 RBI, 21 SB
• 1989:  .272 average, 22 HR, 85 RBI, 15 SB
• 1990:  .269 average, 24 HR, 82 RBI, 9 SB

• Four year average:  .276 average, 26 HR, 90 RBI, 15 SB

Over the past four seasons, Jason Bay was also in the age 27 to 30 range.  His numbers were very similar to Kevin McReynolds’ numbers, slightly better in some and slighty worse in others:

• 2006:  .286 average, 35 HR, 109 RBI, 11 SB
• 2007:  .247 average, 21 HR, 84 RBI, 4 SB
• 2008:  .286 average, 31 HR, 101 RBI, 10 SB
• 2009:  .267 average, 36 HR, 119 RBI, 13 SB

• Four year average:  .272 average, 31 HR, 103 RBI, 10 SB

Although Jason Bay is being paid an average of $16.5 million per season over the length of his four-year contract with the Mets, fans and the front office might expect the type of season Bay produced last year with Boston and would be disappointed if he didn’t repeat those numbers.

However, if the Mets can get the consistent seasons from Bay that Kevin McReynolds gave them 20 years ago, I think I’d be more than happy with that.  The Mets haven’t had that kind of consistency from their left field position since McReynolds’ first stint with the team (let’s not talk about his return to the Mets in 1994).

The only thing consistent with the left field position over the years for the Mets has been the inconsistency of the team to find a player healthy enough to hold down the position and a player who could put up the numbers expected of a corner outfielder.  Not since the first four years of the Kevin McReynolds Era has the team had such a player.  With the acquistion of Jason Bay, it appears that the Mets are finally going to get some of that consistency back.