10
2011
From Left Field: Duda Vs. F-Mart?
An article by 
Surprise, surprise. Carlos Beltran is hurt once again.
After he resumes baseball activities sometime in the next few days, who knows how long it will take our new right fielder to get in baseball shape?
While part of me was hoping Beltran would finally return to the field healthy and productive, the other part of me knew it was probably too good to be true.
If Beltran is out for an extended period of time, the Mets are going to need a permanent solution to fill the void in right field and in their lineup. Already, there appear to be several candidates the Mets could consider.
I will present a few options and weigh the pros and cons of each decision.
I’ve heard that a possible platoon between Scott Hairston and Willie Harris could occur.
Hairston has some pop from the right side and has played adequate defense his entire career. He obviously won’t be the offensive force that a healthy Beltran could be, but he would do a nice job filling in.
Harris is a superb defender, as Met fans have witnessed countless times especially late in games. He also has hit well this spring and still has good speed.
These two players certainly have experience, but they could also be valuable members of the bench. Their value to the team would be in more of a limited role, since that’s what they’ve done for most of their careers.
I might as well throw Nick Evans’ name into the conversation. Evans has been mostly playing the corner infield spots during spring training but now might see some time in the outfield.
Evans is raking so far this spring and is making a bid to make the team, even if just as a bat off the bench.
However, his defense in the outfield is suspect, and it would be an adventure for him at Citi Field. Still, if Hairston and Harris see the bulk of the time, Evans may be needed on the bench.
If Beltran were to be out more than a month or two, it might be a wise decision for the Mets to promote one of their outfield prospects. Kirk Nieuwenheis and Cory Vaughn may need some more seasoning in the minors, so that leaves Lucas Duda and Fernando Martinez as the most major league ready prospects.
Duda has been hitting well this spring and with extended time could put up big numbers: maybe not healthy Beltran numbers but still productive in the middle of the order.
He actually looked decent at times in left field late last season, but once again right field at Citi Field is challenging. With lots of work, Duda could become an adequate right fielder, but the question is whether the Mets have that kind of time?
Now onto F-Mart. He’s also been swinging the bat very well this spring. He’s young, he can run, he’s got some pop, he has a good arm. What’s not to like?
The problem is that F-Mart has had a chance to prove what he can do in extended play in the majors, and he flopped.
However, that doesn’t mean that he would flop again. The Mets are content with having him play a full season in the minors before handing over the reins (or even exploring a trade option).
With Beltran out though, I wonder if the Mets decide that F-Mart is ready.
In the best case scenario, Beltran’s knee tendinitis doesn’t prove to be a major problem, and he returns healthy in a week or two.
If that’s not the case, my pick for the Mets’ right fielder would be Lucas Duda, but also with Scott Hairston getting regular at-bats as well. Maybe it wouldn’t be quite a platoon, but Duda could play four games a week and Hairston would play the other two.
We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks, but if one of these prospects starts impressing, the name “Carlos Beltran” could be quickly forgotten in New York.
Follow me on Twitter @JMMancari.
About the Author: Jim Mancari
Jim Mancari hails from Massapequa, N.Y. He recently earned a Master's degree in Journalism at Hofstra University. He is a devout Mets fan and takes pride in his team, despite their lack of success over the last few years. Like all Mets fans, Jim has plenty of hope. He also writes as the sports reporter for the Brooklyn Tablet newspaper and the senior editor of metroBASEBALL Magazine. Click my name to view my personal website.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
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my favorite (for the bat) is Duda.
that said, much depends on Beltran. if it is really expected to be a week or 2, then probably they go with the H/H combo and keep the prospects playing FT in AAA. Duda to work on D, and F Mart to prove that he can actually produce in games and stay on the field.
Duda played his way to NY last year, this year it is F Marts turn to do it.
Now, if Beltran is remeoved entirely from the mix, then duda or F Mart can be considered for the “real” job (no way I want to see H/H as the permanent starters
This also could be a case where they will be mixing/matching during the year, and rotating guys in at different times, trying to get the best combined output based on who deserves to be playing at the time, and daily match ups.
another factor is, what do you expect of the team this year? If you think they are a 75ish win team and no way a playoff contender without Beltran, then why not put Duda out there and let him develop his D while his bat gets settled in?
The Mets need a new RF next year anyway. So it makes sense to play Duda there in 2011, with F Mart playing every day in AAA. this way, but next off season, you should have a very good idea of what each guy can do (not to mention other prospects like Kirk N.). Then you trade/sign accordingly.
I’m definitely on par with the logic here.
I think that Fernando needs to prove that he can be healthy for a full month before he sees the MLB roster again…Why not a Duda/Evans platoon until Beltran is healthy?
Duda has shown good power vs RHP (4 doubles, 4 HRs in 65 MLB at bats vs RHP);
and Evans has good splits vs LHP (.322 ave; .379 OBP; .512 slug %; .891 OPS in the majors);
Neither is great defensively, but you could start them in RF until you have a lead and then bring in Harris/Hairston as defensive specialists to close out the game…
“Lucas Duda has been generating considerable buzz among scouts, who say he is doing a much better job handling and turning on inside fastballs compared with a year or two ago. ”
http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/16491/scouts-raving-about-duda
Can Bay play right? Either way a 3-4-5 of Wright-Bay-Duda with Ike in the 6-hole would be a scary group.
Bay has only played Right Field once and that was 8 years ago.
Actually Bay played RF in the 2006 All Star game (at least according to his baseball reference page)…
While that is true, I’m talking regular season games.
We have a problem if Duda, a guy I love, is used in the same lineup as Ike. Both are VERY slow. In a smaller ballpark they would be more valuable, hitting them out. I’m not sure the jury is back in on using them together at Citi.
Why is being slow a problem? You don’t need stolen bases from your 4 5 and 6 hitters.
Very few constipated teams win championships in big ballparks!!!
It seems intuitive to me, but I’ll try to check it out to see if I overstated the issue.
I don’t know the RH’d vs LH’d power splits for Citifield; but it appears that Citifield is less of an albatross to LH’d pull hitters than RH’d pull hitters…Pagan, Murphy, and Ike have all put up pretty decent extra base hit numbers in Citifield…
I hear Duda went deep today. Collins must be like hey Beltran dont feel like you have to rush back
this is going to continue all season,beltrans knees are shot. he will never be the player he once was.he’s bareley played the last year, yet he still can’t get healthy.might as well let the kids play instead of getting our hopes up over beltran.his injuries have taken their toll.
most likely true. Also a very good chance they use a lot of guys (6 or more?) in RF this year.
Duda looked good yesterday in Viera vs Nats.
The thing with Mets is that we and team want to emphasize speed and defense especially in OF and putting a avg speed guy like Duda in RF would hurt defense but he is a power hitter in the making and he is definitely faster than Adam Dunn, bad example.
Of the two I would pick Fernando for his defense but as stated he needs time in AAA to show he can play w/o getting hurt, he has looked good this spring.
Mets put themselves in this position by buying OF protection on the cheap, Hairston is flexible but Harris is all field and no hit, spring training hitting against #’s 94, 87,78 does not make him a good hitter, the career stats show he is not a dependable bat.
This is all Carlos Beltran and his knee’s fault.
Maybe he just misses a week or two and comes back healthy, needed for this year to be decent. His presence in the batting order makes it deeper and also helps keep David from trying to do it all.