After a harrowing three days at the VA Hospital dealing with a heart issue, it sure feels good to be home again. I always knew we had a great team at MMO, but I didn’t know how good until I fell off the grid and they all stepped up to keep things here running smoothly. When I was taken to the ER and admitted, I was in the middle of doing some work on the site which I left hanging. Some of you were left to see the site in some weird rendering depending on your browser. Everything should be okay now. Thank you all for your patience. Let’s talk some Mets baseball.
It looks like Terry Collins opened his mouth while I was away and the first thing I learned this morning was that he has canceled spring training for the Mets. There’s no need to tune in and watch any competitions because apparently Eric Young Jr. will be the team’s leadoff man, Jon Niese will be the Opening Day starter, Lucas Duda won a platoon role in the outfield, and somehow Chris Young may have pushed Juan Lagares to the bench, and possibly even to Triple-A. Why does he feel the need to start yapping every January? You may remember he also declared Brad Emaus, Andres Torres and Collin Cowgill his everyday leadoff men in his first three years with the Mets and we all know how that ended up.
If Young Jr. is the everyday leadoff man, then Lagares is out of a job. And if Duda is going to platoon in the outfield, then the Mets will be paying $7.25 million for Young to hit mostly against lefthanded pitching. If the plan goes according to what Collins announced last night, then this is what we’ll see in 2014:
Versus RHP: LF – Lucas Duda, CF – Eric Young, RF – Curtis Granderson
Versus LHP: LF – Eric Young, CF- Chris Young, RF – Curtis Granderson
Not moving Ike Davis or Duda this offseason will impact this Mets team in oh so many negative ways. Also, as I said from the moment we first signed him, I think the Chris Young deal made zero sense for this team and they could have used that $7.5 million toward getting Stephen Drew instead where they would have gotten an obvious upgrade. Chris Young upgraded nothing and only created a rather confusing hodgepodge in the outfield.
The Mets now have Young, Young, Granderson, Duda and Lagares in the outfield mix, and you can forget about Andrew Brown or Matt den Dekker winning utility outfielder roles at this point. And as for Cesar Puello or Dustin Lawley making their MLB debuts this season? Don’t pack your bags yet, guys…
