Opening Day is four days away and a lot of Met fans are excited. It’s safe to say that the seven-week narrative that has been spring training is played out. Issues and surprises have been covered ad nauseum. We fans can get excited about the springs of Jonathon Niese, Matt Harvey and Ike Davis. We can shake our heads and mutter “same ol’ Mets” at the injuries to Shaun Marcum, David Wright, Daniel Murphy, Justin Turner and Matthew Den Dekker. We can wonder if Zach Lutz is ready to take a spot on a major league roster. We can worry over Ruben Tejada’s offense, Bobby Parnell’s experience as a closer and Jordany Valdespin’s personal equipment. We’re ready for it to all become real.
The elephant in the room, of course, is the issue that’s been fretted over since October: what about the outfield? The song all spring has been about how little has been done to improve it. Yes, there were the abortive attempts to acquire Justin Upton and Michael Bourn, but the more cynical among us smell something fishy. It’s amazin’ how the Mets just missed out on both of them – we were told after the fact. We were also informed that further attempts to pick up an at-least-decent, established outfielder would be made as the spring wore on. That lasted until a week ago, when GM Sandy Alderson told us the Mets are going north with what they have. 
Like Tom Hanks half-way through Castaway, we now know that no one is coming.
The only thing left to do, then, is to try and piece together a competent outfield with the pieces on hand. It’s too bad there’s no unlimited substitution, like in football. The spring has revealed that the Mets have guys who can fill specific roles and could even represent some classic baseball archetypes. There’s Kirk Nieuwenhuis – in the absence of Den Dekker – representing the all-glove, no-bat defensive player. There’s Lucas Duda, this era’s version of Ron Swoboda: he has the ability to smash prodigious homers, but will stack up the strikeouts and show only a passing interest in catching the ball. There’s Marlon Byrd, the veteran who has seen it all and is there to squeeze out what’s left of the great talent he arrived with and lend experience to the green kids on the green. There’s Collin Cowgill, a young vet who’s still trying to harness his natural gifts and there’s Mike Baxter, best suited as a lefty hitter off the bench. None of this is going to make anyone forget the OFs of the Big Red Machine in the ‘70s (George Foster/ Cesar Geronimo/Ken Griffey), the revered Mets of the ‘80s (Mookie Wilson/Lenny Dykstra/Darryl Strawberry) or even the squad of their last pennant winner (the less than stellar Timo Perez/Jay Payton/Benny Agbayani). It will be a helluvan an accomplishment if they can cobble one decent looking player – stats-wise – out of these five disparate components.
But still…
It’s almost Opening Day.
LET’S GO METS!
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In terms of defense I would put Cowgill at the top of the list after Den Dekker.
I think Cowgill might end up being an ok MLB outfielder. Byrd can join the list, but only if he stays healthy.
I want Captain Kirk to succeed so much, just because like Baxter, he’s a guy who puts his head head down, plays the game right and doesn’t rely on flashy talent. Hope they can put it together…
I miss hearing announcers say Benny Agbayani.
And Timo Perez bruised my hand with a line drive when I went to see the Toledo Mud Hens play a couple seasons back, true story.
You list 5 OF but didn’t name Valdespin. At this point, it seems to me that Quintanilla is going to make the club. So, who gets the last spot — Turner or Valdespin? I guess Turner could open on the DL but that only delays the inevitable.
Isn’t that what they did in Oakland? Platoon the outfield and first base? I remember they even platooned their catcher and third base man. Wait a second! They basically platooned all of their positions until someone proved to management they were capable of playing every day. It’s like having a competition while playing your games at the same time. I am still waiting for Fred to expand on his statement that the Mets will spend about the same as last years payroll. What happened? Maybe someone from SNY can ask him. That is if they have the backbone to do so.