11
2012
There’s A Problem Rearing Its Ugly Head In The Mets Outfield
An article by 
I love baseball and watching today’s Mets game on WPIX only served to remind me of how much I really dig this game, even when the games don’t count in the standings yet.
After reading so much about Johan Santana‘s progress, what a thrill it was to see him firing strikes at will today against the Miami Marlins. Fastballs, changeups, sliders… he threw everything, but the kitchen sink and more importantly he showed good command. Heck, he even touched 90 on the scoreboard radar gun a few times. I can’t say what’s happening here right now, but it kind of feels like the first chapter of an amazing comeback story by El Gocho.
Of course I couldn’t help but notice how out of place Adam Loewen looked in centerfield today for the New York Mets.
Offensively, Loewen looks to have the kind of bat that will come in handy off the bench, but was he really as bad as he looked out there today where he made an absolute adventure out of a few routine flyballs?
Loewen, 28, had two more hits today, and is now 6 for 14 with a home run this spring and four runs scored. He’s the favorite to secure the Mets’ 5th outfielder spot, and he’s been getting a lot of playing time mostly because of injuries to Scott Hariston (Oblique) and Andres Torres (Glute).
The one-time pitcher is primarily a right fielder now, and last season he batted .306 with a .377 OBP, 17 HR and 85 RBI in 134 games in Triple-A..
The defensive struggles of Lucas Duda in right field have been a prominent issue for debate on MMO, all offseason long, and the concerns are very legitimate.
Andres Torres was brought in to shore up the outfield defense, but will he hit enough to stay at center field and more importantly can he stay healthy for an entire season?
Jason Bay has lost a step in left field, but the smaller dimensions in Citi Field should give him less ground to cover and play to his advantage.
Terry Collins said he is now very concerned about the oblique injury that has kept his 4th outfielder, Scott Hairston, on the sidelines for most of the spring.
Corner outfielder Mike Baxter has gotten a few games in centerfield this spring, but he’s played mostly first base and right field in his minor and major league career and doesn’t seem to have the range to help there if needed.
If you look toward the farm, Matt den Dekker is still at least a year removed from being an option for the Mets, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis has been stalled by injuries. In fact, the Mets just reported that Captain Kirk injured his oblique in batting practice this morning and is out indefinitely.
Quite honestly, if the season were to start today and Hairston were to go on the DL and Torres was to miss some time, I have no idea who the starting center fielder would be or even the 5th outfielder… Do you?
We’re very vulnerable in the outfield and given our inability to keep players off the disabled list, I feel our positional depth here might be the worst I’ve ever seen. Furthermore, I have to bring into question the timing of cutting outfielder Fernando Martinez who if nothing else could have provided the depth that is now so apparently lacking. F-Mart by the way, has not only secured a spot on the Astros’ roster, but he may even secure a starting platoon assignment if he continues to play well this spring.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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But the Mets are in good hands with Sandy – he makes all the right moves – is a genius – reads the market well – can find value where nobody else can.
I guess he failed to secure the proper backups and totally ignored strength of the middle because of OBP? Who knows what the HELL this guy is thinking or how he operates but I never saw so many head scratchers in all of my life of following this team. In the past sure we may not have agreed with a move but at LEAST we knew there was a plan and what the intentions were.
Who knows what the hell this Alderson character wants or how he arrives at his ridiculous decisions. Harvard my a*s!
Shut the hell up
Just say Bayawn… It’s more appropriate. Same anti-alderson story, different day.
well when things get better than i’ll praise him. But that’s not the case so instead of concerning yourself with me and your new found nick name i suggest get your head out of your texas-based A$$ and start focusing more on addressing team concerns
If things were good under Saber Sandy i’d say so, but they are not, he’s doing a bad job and things continue to get worse. That’s how it is and now i HOPE Joe D watches to see if you come up with a response with your own anaysis
Bayawn,
Other than forcing me to drink coffee to stay awake, you also make me chuckle. Can’t take a comment without reverting right to personal attacks…
Let’s see how the season plays out before slapping our Harvard grad (that’s Alderson, not you, as I’m not certain you went to college…) on the cross.
And last time I checked, Saber Sandy wasn’t investing with or involved with Bernie. You know Bernie, don’t you? That’s the guy that ultimately is causing the Wilpons to pay 83 million plus possibly another 300 million. Fairly certain that factor might play a small, tiny, miniscule part in the way this (and the last) offseason has played out.
i believe YOU are the one that started with the personal attack Mr InBredstuckinTX. So as long as you start with your name calling i will immediately respond accordingly, everytime.
And as far as I know Bernie Madoff is not making the baseball decisions for the New York Mets as has been stated a MILLION times on this site better evaluation and smarter signings/trades could have been done by another GM. There seems to be an affinity to protect this CLOWN for a GM instead or more calling him out for the bad decisions he’s made not only in personnel because other teams have signed better players for money Mets could have afforded but to ALSO ignore the very basic foundation of competing to win – he ignored up the middle strength AND SP. So take that InBredstuckinTX and each time you follow me with a personal attack after something I’ve said i will respond accordingly.
Maybe we should kick the tires on Gary Mathews Jr……………………………………again.
What is all the worry about!!???? Moises Alou will soon be off the DL!!!
Bayawn… ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzz…….. the same argument almost put me in a coma. Thank you caffeine, for pulling me back for the brink of slumber.
InBredstuckinTX the same old ‘ responding to me than actually responding to the subject is getting boring too
yawnnn
Yawn, in deed.
Bayonne — Omar also didn’t do much for up the middle defensive strength when he had Brian Schneider, Paul LoDuca or Luis Castillo on the field. None of these guys knew a baseball from a bowling ball. Remember when Schneider arrived with the promise of being a good defensive catcher and a very good game caller? And LoDuca might still be chasing his passed balls if he was still on the team.
such a meaningless comeback. First of all Omar Minaya is NOT the topic of discussion here and secondly i don’t care WHO’S on the roster he had those teams in contention and when the current Teflon Don who everybody rushes to the defense to ahead of the team – when he starts to win and SHOWS he wants to win then we’ll address than when and if it comes.
I don’t think it’s coming IMO
Name calling will get you everywhere. lol
Speaking of changing the implied terms of the discussion, what has you wanting Fern to be a stud on another team? Is it something more than you want to acknowledge?
Everybody rushes to Sandy’s defense? You read a different MMO than most of the rest of us.
You’ll support Sandy when he starts winning? You have bashed him from Day One. You have been on the guy every opportunity you get.
I wonder which came first. Bay’s hate for anything other than 1940′s baseball card stats or his hate for Sandy? Does he hate those new fangled stats like OBP and WHIP more just because Sandy supposedly uses them (as does every damn GM in baseball now hence my comments on him having already lost his war).
He’ll be the first one back on the bandwagon is what he meant.
If you don’t mind my butting in, I disagree with you on what Omar did. When Minaya traded Milledge for Schneider and Church, the trade was widely praised mostly because Schneider was considered one of the best defensive catchers in the league for the 3 years prior to becoming a Met. Things didn’t work out well, but the intent was there. And I feel the intent was also there when he brought Gold Glover Luis Castillo to the Mets, again it didn’t work out but the trade was a good one for the Mets at the time and we was a huge upgrade defensively over Jose Valentin at 2B. Okay, that’s all I wanted to say.
I thought Church and Schneider were a very reasonable attempt to sole two long term talent starved positions. A couple times Church started to get it going but got stopped in his tracks by a concussion and eventually turned into a strikeout machine.
Schneider I thought did a really poor job here and Minaya deserved better from him.
It was a credible attempt especially in light of the fact that neither was approaching 50 but it just didn’t work out.
Rarely does when you just wait around on every position until the last possible second for every spot.
Hodges14 — Thanks for the defense. But GM’s are supposed to go beyond ‘intent.’ Omar, whom I liked by the way, used to smile when a fan would ask a question. He’d say something like, “I’m a professional. I have the experience.” My bottom line on Omar is that he was ultimately done in by three issues:
1) Jeff Wilpon
2) Tony Berazard
3) His own preference for seeking some kind of lightning in the bottle with older, once upon a time premium players.
Pretty fair assessment Des.
“well when things get better than i’ll praise him”
Even if things were to get better, you’d still never give him his due.
Hey Man is my new official hero.
How Bayonne can be such a moronic loser is truly an impressive feat.
Wow.
Aggressive, obnoxious ignorance, served up with mind-numbing anti-social sexist repetition.
Bay-yawn indeed.
Kong,
I know it’s playing with simpletons, but I love how you never get a response. How can you refute the truth?
i am getting the impression that bayonne played the game. not fantasy football, losers. he played the game and therefore has awful opinions on everything.
Even if there was no lack of depth issue the cutting of FMart is still worth questioning. I mean how often does one see teams do this? I would guess they must of seen enough to where they felt this move would not come back to haunt them. Time will tell on that.
All that said the mets depth issue in the outfield to me is really at CF and even with FMart he was never going to play CF for the Mets with those knees of his.
Psst, Joe, it’s Spring Training. It’s when we give everyone a chance to try out and show what they can do. No need to stress over it.
Exactly Mary,
It’s not like the plan to play Murphy in LF all regular season or something in a year some thought we were going to run away with the NL and cruise to a World Series. It was a ST game, see what he looks like there. I’d like to see Lagares, Puello and Ceciliano get some time but I guess they wanted to see what Lowen looked like in a pinch just in case.
Too bad it got rained out.
You do realize that the Astros are that bad that even Bayawn could probably secure a platoon position in the OF?
yeah, yeah, yeah as long as there are teams worse than the Met than that justifies the job Sandy is doing. So NJstuckinMud is the latest to stop whatever it is that he’s doing to comment on me instead of commenting on the topic. Get in line backwoodsman – you do come across as inbred btw.
I was commenting on the topic. Fernando Martinez has a spot on the roster with the Astros. Big deal, considering Hairston would be a starter on that team. Stating you and your skills (because you played the game, or so I read) would have a spot on that roster just shows how little talent they have on their roster.
well the Astros aren’t the subject. And God i HOPE Fernando Martinez becomes a huge stud
Why would you hope that?
Fern’s probably not much more than a DH with a glove. Even when he was here before all his assorted injuries he didn’t look good in LF or RF and he sure didn’t look good in the DWL out there either.
Hopefully he can provide the Astros with a good DH when they move to the AL next year but for CF, for us it’s Torres, Hairston and Kirk for right now and that’s it.
CF was in better shape when with Cameron, Milledge and Gomez back in 2004 but this is what we got and that’s the way it is.
tag — You mean Lastings Milledge of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Japan. lol. I can’t reconcile Lastings with any kind of superior outfield. In the outfield, the guy never got good jumps and he most definitely couldn’t go back on a ball. His only claim to fam was a quick bat. Too bad he also had a quick tongue that told his teammates and the world he wasn’t a team player. In the years 2006 to 2011, he’s played for four major league teams and many minor league squads. I hope Lastings enjoys the sushi.
Des,
Just sort of mean’t that at one time it looked like we had CF under control for quite a number of years and then after signing Beltran, had a surplus there. Now? We’re springing a leak at a spot that looked OK to good for a number of years.
At this rate we’ll never catch up. Maybe we can introduce yet another first basemen into the starting 8. Maybe even one with a name that feels familiar in CF.
Alan Dykstra anyone?
Joe — After F-Mart had his opening game fireworks against the Nationals, going 2-2 with a homer and a double, his bat has been silenced. He has gone 1-10, with a single being all he has to show. It’s only spring training but watching F-Mart hobble around in the outfield on his faulty knees doesn’t inspire confidence for a long season. Had he won a place on the Mets, he would have been kept for what he could do at the plate and so far it has been marginal. I liked the kid a lot, but Sandy had the medical reports and arthritis of the knees in a young guy is a life sentence in baseball. Too bad. Our original plans for a great Mets outfield, with F-Mart, Gomez and Milledge, haven’t come close to panning out.
You have to get off you F-Mart kick, I get your point, but your argument loses steam when you bring up F-Mart. Instead you should wonder why the Mets didn’t make a strong offer to Rick Ankiel or Endy Chavez both got $1M or less. Bringing Hairston back was a bad move especially when it was his only outfield signing.
Idealy you’d love a RH hitting OFer and Hairston fits the bill and with the shorter fences can help a bit more than he did last year but to me Endy is a great piece to have in your OF or bench. I’d take that guy any day. Ankiel, not so much.
Mets clearly took a gamble with CF this year and it might come back to bite them but at least it won’t be a 4 year black hole or cost a #1 draft choice on top of the games.
Yes I agree with you on being prudent especially when there were too few options if any that I would have wanted to give a multi year deal to.
There did seem to be quite a few good one-year options like Chavez and Ankiel but their names escape me right now.
No idea who they went after and who they did not.
Why is it now no one is mentioning how Sandy let Pridie the great go?
Well that was the gamble. Two months of Pridie until Kirk was brought aboard. As it turns out Pridie wouldn’t have been available anyway.
No wonder our prospects keep stalling, their all getting stoned.
Yet when was the last time you heard one of these guys rip Sandy for not bringing him back? Isn’t it possible that just like with Fmart the Mets knew there was something going on?
Nope. It would never occur to them. Basically if it’s an old guy whose going to cost a fortune and a high draft pick their in favor of it, if it’s not their against it, unless Minaya brought the guy in, then their in favor of it. If Alderson did their against it.
The idea that the GM may have some information their not privy to is incomprehensible to them because they like to quote guys like Michael Kay, Mike Francesca and Joel Sherman as if their privy to anything of substance.
So you are saying it’s possible there might be a case of double standards? LOL
Is it possible with Fmart that either the Mets had concerns over his work ethic or degenerating condition?
Or, perhaps unfairly, F-Mart’s mental toughness?
Or the fact that he had fallen behind about 4 other prospects in terms of the corner OF depth chart.
Any team that first 3 or 4 options for cf were injured, would be in trouble. What can you do. But Torres is feeling better, if Hairston is still injured come April 1 i would think Sandy would find cheap options available. And forget FMart what about Pridie, could use his depth. Jesus Feliciano anyone???
Pridie got busted for drug use and is suspended.
Don’t forget that many GM’s have said that due to the new rules in the collective bargaining agreement there could be a glut of guys like Ankiel out looking for a job here in a couple of weeks.
I recall reading that too. Will be interesting to see how that really plays out.
me, I was not that worried about a guy like Pridie. People seem to forget that he was a waiver wire/scrap heap pickup last year anyway last year. And was basically a AAAA type guy at that point.
So, odds are, if you are short a stop gap of that quality (a decent glove guy that won’t hit much) you can find one at the end of ST anyway.
Fernando Martinez hasn’t played center field in a couple of years now and according to most in the know, can barely play a credible corner outfielder. We shouldn’t be bemoaning his loss in a piece about center fielders. That’s the equivalent of saying “David Wright’s hurt, too bad the Mets let Fernando Martinez go.”
LOL, you got it wrong. If Sandy had sent Reyes a box of chocolates then CF wouldn’t be a concern right now. Everything would be fixed.
I was watching a spring training game on MLB.tv a few days ago and the Mets’ announcers were speculating that Rick Ankiel would be someone we are interested in if the Nats don’t keep him. I hope he becomes available.
Honestly I am not much of a Ankiel fan but if that is the direction they go in…
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[...] An article by Joe D 52 Comments [...]
” F-Mart by the way, has not only secured a spot on the Astros’ roster, but he may even secure a starting platoon assignment if he continues to play well this spring.”
Does that speak to the Mets missing on Martinez or the Astros’ desperation?
I agree the timing was weird. Why did they keep him on the 40 man roster for the Rule 5 draft when they were just going to drop him for nothing later?
But I’m not going to lament losing him because he might be a part time player for the worst team in the majors.
Hmmm I wonder why we have this issue?
Lets see…
We had a batting champ at SS but we need get rid of him to buy crap Bull Pen help,
We had a .270 Hitter at CF last year but had to trade him for Bullpen crap! That crap walked in a run recently! GREAT MOVE!
We had TWO young cheap CF prospects in Pridie and F-Mart both were let go!
Yes pridie started juicing to make the team he went to. May not have needed that if he was here!
Look at the positions we needed…
We needed a SP, 2B Catcher and a CF
We got Bullpen, Bullpen, Bullpen and traded a CF to get Bullpen!
I guess this NEW ERA is predicated on bullpenning the opposition to death!
And it will be OUR death!
Nice supposition there Metsie.
Incorrect but nice anyway. Pridie was suspended for recreational drugs. 2nd time he’s failed a test plus we would have definitely lost someone in the minors by keeping him on the 40 so as it turns out we were lucky there.
Fern couldn’t play CF before the injuries so he wouldn’t have been any use in a backup role for that position.
Still would have liked to see him get one last shot though.
Pridie was also decidedly mediocre (little in the way of hitting, but a decent glove and could hold his own in CF). And not particularly young.
IOW, a guy you can usually find wasting away in any MiL system, or on the discard pile. WHich is exactly where the Mets found him last year (end of ST I believe).
You really can’t fill every potential hole before camp even starts (as in back ups to back ups). Some moves you have to make along the way when the need arises.
and Torres is a dangerour bat?
I have no issue with trading Pagan on it’s own but when we sit here and complain about a .270 hitter compared to a .230 hitter lets stop pretending we really got something better than Pridie!
At best you can say we got MORE EXPENSIVE for the same results which seems to fly in the face of the logic that has been used to CREATE all these holes in the OF in the nbame of pitching!
And SS too!
First off get off the bit about the protection bit…Keeping Pridie or F-Mart would NOT have cost us some other MiLer!
Carrasco and Hairston did!
Maybe Torres too I’m not sure of the timing there!
Pridie AND F-Mart combined cost about 1 Mil!
Torres and Carrasco cost 3.9 Mil!
Almost 4 times the cost for what amounts to ZERO benefit!
For whatever reason Pridie was suspended it really doesn’t matter because there is still the issue of FMart who is still healthy compared to Torres and even on his worst day contributes more than Carrasco!
Yet if we had Pridie and Fmart, we still would be without a CF as Fmart can’t play it and Pridie is suspended.
And would have 2-3 Million dollars in the bank to fill the hole!
You forget what we are paying Torres apparently!
Either conveniently or oversight! I won’t comment on which!
fill it with what?
FMart, Pridie or Evens. All are better than Hairston.
there are plenty of Pridies floating around. they found him on the scrap heap of aging AAAA players, there are likely more there at the end of ST.
F Mart, I admit the what that went down was just odd, but let’s see the guy actually be able to play for an extended period before getting too excited about him.
Evans, I wish they had kept him (and would have been happy to have him in the Hairston role, though it would have still left a hole for BU CF). But, they obviously decided other people were going to be harder to replace on the 40 man. Odds are Evans will be another journeyman/part time player/bench guy, but still, a good one of those can be quite valuable.