With a little over a month left before Spring Training, the Mets still have a few holes to fill.
Left Field: The plan for 2009 is to have Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis platoon the position. Murphy hit .313 in 131 ABs, while Tatis hit .297 in 273 ABs. Tatis was out of baseball for two years before 2008. While Murphy has a lot of promise, and Tatis might continue to be a competent bat, there are just too many question marks to not even explore other options.
Which is why I was surprised to read that Omar Minaya, the king of landing big name players (Martinez, Santana, Beltran), has "no interest" in Manny Ramirez. Ramirez is a raker with a long list of issues, but I'll take 500 ABs from him over the 500 from a Murphy/Tatis platoon. For all the headaches Manny causes, if getting him prevents another September choke job, then do it.
Starting Rotation: Only Johan Santana, John Maine, and Mike Pelfrey have a spot locked down. The last two rotation spots look like a Spring Training battle between Tim Redding, John Niese, Bobby Parnell, and Freddy Garcia. Just having Freddy Garcia, who hasn't pitched a full season since 2006, battle for a rotation spot speaks volumes of the lack of depth in the rotation.
Other than re-signing Oliver Perez, I'm hoping Minaya is keeping tabs on Ben Sheets. Yes he has injury issues, but Sheets did start the 2008 All-Star game, and personally, I like him more than the "Jekyll-Hyde" Perez. Plus, there would be less of a financial commitment to Sheets, as at most, he's looking at a two year deal. Perez is asking for five years, and I'm really not comfortable giving five years to a guy who imploded with the Pirates just three years ago.
Keywords: Ben Sheets, Bobby Parnell, Daniel Murphy, Fernando Tatis, Freddy Garcia, Johan Santana, John Maine, John Niese, Manny Ramirez, Mike Pelfrey, New York Mets, Oliver Perez, Omar Minaya, Tim Redding
