15
2012
From Left Field: What About Left Field?
An article by 
How great has the Mets team chemistry been this season?
Maybe it has to do with the fact that the team’s biggest headache—Jason Bay—has been sidelined for nearly three weeks with a broken rib.
Bay has been cleared to resume baseball activities and will be heading to Port St. Lucie this Thursday. Terry Collins told reporters after last night’s game that Bay will play in minor league rehab games before joining the big club.
However, back to the idea of team chemistry, what happens when Bay returns?
Kirk Nieuwenhuis has been a breath of fresh air both offensively and defensively in his first Major League action. He’s already been displaced from his natural center field position with the return of Andres Torres. Torres has been on a hot streak since returning, so no one has argued with Collins decision to move the youngster to left.
But with Bay heading back, who’s the odd man out in the outfield? Lucas Duda is starting to find his stroke, and once again Nieuwenhuis and Torres are playing well.
Frankly, Bay should be the odd man out. While he showed a little bit of pop through his first 50 at-bats, he also struck out 17 times—many of which with runners on base.
Maybe the solution here is to set up a platoon with Bay, Duda and Captain Kirk. Against righties, Duda and Kirk play—no questions asked. But against a tough lefty, Bay can spell one of the young left-handed hitters.
Duda actually is hitting .306 this season against lefties and just .230 versus righties. Nieuwenhuis meanwhile has struggled against southpaws, hitting just .176.
Though Bay is making an incredible amount of money compared to Kirk, winning baseball games is the team’s priority. If Bay shows in his time against left-handers that he’s healthy and can be consistent with the bat, he will get his share of playing time.
But what would sending Niuwenhuis back to the minors after a great showing do to the young man’s confidence? He played his heart out over the last month and a half and gets rewarded with a demotion…it doesn’t seem fair.
It would be useless to have Kirk sit on the bench when he could be further developing in Triple-A. If Collins is committed to a platoon however, Kirk would still get enough playing time to stay fresh.
Let’s see how this situation plays out. I hope Bay comes back tearing the cover off the ball—giving Collins the difficult decision of what to do with Kirk. That would mean Bay is hitting and driving in runs, helping the team win and finally earning his paycheck.
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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Captain Kirk should be in the line up every day, can’t say that about Bay.
I would love to have all of them tearing the cover off the ball. Then Terry Collins would have to make a difficult decision of what to do with his revitalized outfield corps.
I think you need to see what Bay has left in him…he can’t perform and/or get moved if he’s on the bench and if you can’t move him, you’ll be stuck with him and the same problem next year.
Also, this team needs to start getting some real production from the right side of the plate other than Wright. Sadly, we need Bay to hit in order to keep this team in contention.
I personally would give Bay as many games in rehab starts that they can get away with…there is no need to rush him back. Once he is back, then I’d set up a four man rotation in the OF… Basically, Kirk would be switching out one of Bay, Torres and Duda almost everyday depending on the match ups. Sadly, we don’t know what this team will look like when Bay comes back…I’m not sold on Torres ability to produce or stay healthy.
Here’s the really crazy part, if they really wanted to win…once Bay comes back, they’d move Kirk to RF and Duda to 1st and bench or send down Ike. As bad a Bay has been, Ike has been worse and it’s been a month and a half! How long can we wait for him to come out of it?
BTW, one last thing…this is the new Mets…Striking out doesn’t matter as long as you’re seeing a lot of pitches.
Very interesting about Davis. The team collectively has been playing well enough that it has slightly masked Davis’ utter lack of production. Something’s wrong there and it needs to be straightened out.
being a little snide there?
But in many cases, a K really is just another out. as long as a by product of the approach is getting on base more overall, it doesn’t really matter if a few more outs are made via K.
the caveat of course is the situation. makes a difference if you need to just get a run in or runner over, so a productive out is fine. But, that should just be part of what each hitter is looking to do (adjust to the situation).
Bay in a right handed relief role sounds good. So where does that leave Hairston? Bay could even spell Ike at first.
Umm, pretty sure Nieuwenhuis is striking out at a ridiculous rate too.
This decision is at least a week away anyway. There’s enough playing time for all of them and if someone doesn’t hit they won’t get as much. Plus you’ve got 6 DH games in early June.
“Plus you’ve got 6 DH games in early June.”
LoL Ceetar for a second don’t ask me why I thought you meant 6 double-header games rather than Designated Hitter.
Needless to say there was a nice “Phew” that followed.
don’t jinx the weather gods.
I just realized the Mets have to play a turf game this year. This weekend. bleh.
forgot all about the DH games. That will certainly help get them all ABs.
Just about every poster says the same thing (bay essentially becoming Hairston, and only in a platoon role). Problem is, Terry is quite likely to go his own direction.
I would love to see if management has the guts to do to Bay what they did to Ollie P and Castillo.
I don’t see why you have to compound a bad financial move with a bad baseball move. Grab some pine Jay Bay.
The problem is who is sent down? Mike Baxter is the best pinch hitter but I guess the Mets could say he’s going to go down to get at bats but does he have any options left? Going to be a tough problem to solve.
Hopefully, maybe Acosta. He’s given up more runs than anyone in that pen (Yes, even more than Francisco).
Something I would not agree with but is a distinct possibility here….
They could very well send Ike down to get himself sorted, Move Duda to first for the duration of that proccess, Move Kirk to RF and make a space for Bay to play until Ike gets back.
Personally I would prefer they bench Bay until he wins his job back but I know the chances of that happening are NIL.
We have to face fact here…
They are going to play him until he is tradeable or there is only one year left to eat on his contract.
Even if he starts hitting the way we expected all that means is he will get shopped around to try and find someone to take him.