Heir Apparent at 2nd Base or Depth?

From latest reports, it appears that the Mets have signed a competent 2nd baseman to come in at a minor league deal. Baseball America reported that the Mets have signed veteran second baseman Alex Cintron to a Minor League contract.

The signing has not been confirmed by the club. The details of the deal were not immediately known.

A nine-year Major League veteran, Cintron played 21 games for the Nationals in 2009. The 31-year-old sports a career .275 batting average with 33 home runs and 222 RBIs in stints with the D-backs, White Sox, Orioles and Nats.

Cintron batted .285 in Triple-A last season. He was a regular for Arizona from 2003-05, and had his best season in 2003, when he batted .317 with 13 homers and 51 RBIs in 117 games.

The Mets are clearly stockpiling what they believe are competent, flexible players to help them get through the season.

In my humble opinion, this is actually a good signing. Firstly, I don’t think I can breath easy in thinking that Castillo will hold up throughout the course of a full season. And besides that, how often can you find a second baseman that can both hit and play good defense on a minor league deal. If our beleaguered Mets get competent players like this even on the bench, that makes the team better, big names or not. We go into a season with depth and some level of certainty that we can compete. With Cintron, you get a capable utility infielder that the Mets could have used last year and he has a decent OBP. 

If Cintron does what he is capable of, the Mets might have just gotten themselves a nice backup plan and some added depth. Like it? Love it? Want some more of it? Let’s hear it, Mets fans.