In this season where the Mets seemed to have five solid or better outfielders, who would have guessed that they would use Jose Bautista, Matt den Dekker and now Austin Jackson in the outfield? And let’s not forget that Phillip Evans, Kevin Kaczmarski, Ty Kelly and Dominic Smith have all played the OF, too.
The lengths they’ll go to avoid playing Wilmer Flores there know no bounds. And for that, I’m eternally grateful.
bruce and no ces
I’ve see Dan Murphy, Luca Duda, and Todd Hundley in the OF. George Theodore too. So, Wilmer likely wouldn’t be the worst.
Not to mention Roger McDowell and Jesse Orosco.
I’ve come around on Bautista and actually see value in bringing him back next year if he’s willing to take a cheap one year deal to extend his career. We’ll need a righty OF bat with Ces on the DL and he can back up Frazier and pinch hit/DH as well. He won’t figure to see much playing time until the inevitable injuries come but a righty power bat off the bench is nice to have.
Flores in the outfield? Wow the mind reels at just how horrific that would be.
And I though Flores already was the overpriced right handed power bar off the bench…Do we need a 38 yo version of this too? …while still not solving the major issues that confront the team?
Rusty Staub wasn’t fleet of foot either. Buts lets also remember Dave Shneck.
Joey Bats has been a pleasant surprise for the Mets. I agree that Joey Bats might be a good off the bench right hand hitting power bat. JB has also played a decent OF and 3B for the Mets too. I think they have already let him know that they will try to trade him to a contender, and also put it in his ear that they like him, and will be interested in him coming back to the blue and orange in 2019.
OMG a 37yearold who is hitting 230 is a guy we want to keep! And maybe resign Reyes too!
Bautista has an 803 ops with the Mets… he looks like he has a bit more tread, and He will probably find a spot somewhere next year. If he can find a way to survive on 200-300 ab’s…he might help someone.
Watching this guy at 37, having known of him as a “slugger”…. of the few good things this season, Bautista showed Me that he was/is a heckuva a baseball player. Well conditioned and well rounded. I’ve missed the best part of his career, but he’s won Me.
The open thread is one of the great innovations in Modern Sports Blogging. Is there an awards show for this stuff????
As for the original poster and the caution about HiJacking other threads—every once in a while, it’s a powerful buzz to take 4-8 other baseball vagrants captive to my posting whims
🙂
E-
you sound slightly damaged by all those years rooting for the Mets. I can relate.