The Fifth Dimension: Luis Hernandez at Second Base???

According to the New York Post, Luis Hernandez – who has played a whopping 22 career games at second base, is set to be named the starting second baseman for manager Terry Collins, and the New York Mets.

Hernandez has a lifetime batting average of .245, with four career home runs(including one on a brokern foot), and the Mets were his third team in his first four season of the majors.

Let's assume for a second that this is actually true. I suppose there are two things at play here. For one, I will give Terry Collins some guts for going outside the box, if nothing else. Now, if this doesn't work, Collins will be second guessed, until the cows come home. However, he at least took a stand for something he believed in. Either that, or he just doesn't know the pressure cooker he's walked into. Welcome to New York, Mr. Collins.

As for the second thing, Collins and staff were evidently not overly impressed by any of the other four candidates' performances, which includes Daniel Murphy, Brad Emaus, Justin Turner, and of course, Luis Castillo.

Castillo has the most soap opera-ish story here. Reportedly, if Castillo is not named the starter, he has requested to be let go. I'm sure there are a lot of Mets fans who will oblige him.

Now, the other thing I will say that the Mets' season will not make or break with Hernandez being the second basemen. That will be up to the big boys, and we all know who they are.

One final thought – it's a long shot, but could this move actually be a sparkplug that this team desperately needs to shake things up, before the season begins? Probably not, but the question is worth asking.

Feel free to pass along your thoughts, either here, or at my Bleacher Report column. Until next time...

Bats to the Future: Are These New York Mets Stars on the Rise?

    While I was watching today's spring training game between the New York Mets and Florida Marlins, there were two things that jumped out at me. First, the fact that the Marlins will have some very long days in the field this year, as they have in past years. Second, if you look at it, the Mets do actually have some homegrown talent looming on the horizon, if not ready to knock down the door to the big leagues.

    Earlier this week, I talked about Lucas Duda as a possible replacement or stop gap move, should Carlos Beltran be unable to give it a go, when the bell rings for Opening Day on Aprill 1^st. Well, I will even take it a step further by saying that Duda could be a long term solution, if and when the Mets decide to unload Beltran, and his remaining contract on another team – this is greatly assuming that the Mets take a nose dive in the standings, sometime this season. Duda has shown considerable power from the left side of the plate, both in spring, and last year as a mid-season call-up. Could be a sign of the future in the Mets outfield? I certainly will not rule it out.

    Now, that brings me to a couple of candidates for the second base job in Justin Turner and Brad Emaus. While neither of them have jumped out at anyone in spring, they certainly have to be considered for the future. They are both still very young, just as some current Mets were, not too long ago.

    There is a guy that I have always liked, and that's Nick Evans. He's someone that can certainly hold his own with the bat, and always seems to find his way somewhere in the mix, at least over the last couple of seasons, even though he has not been able to stick with the big club for any extended length of time. Just maybe, this season will prove to be different. Time will tell.

    Now, while I do not consider Dillon Gee a hot prospect, he certainly has as good a chance as anyone to make the back end of this rotation, if he can pitch well enough. I think the same would go for a guy like Pat Misch, especially if Oliver Perez gets banished to the bullpen permanently.

    There are certainly other names that you can throw into the discussion, and I will leave that up to you guys. For right now, those were the prime suspects that I was thinking of.

    If you can imagine for a second – a lot of those young guys, to go along with the youth that's already there, such as Josh Thole, Ike Davis, and even David Wright and Jose Reyes, who are still in their 20s. Of course, the only question remaining is does that make a championship team? Hard question to answer, I would think.

    Now, by some miracle, if guys like Fernando Martinez and Rueben Tejada round into form, that would make things all the better. Being that those 2 guys were just reassigned back to the minors, don't count on it happening anytime soon.

    Feel free to pass along your thoughts, either here, or on my Facebook page. Until next time...

Extra Bases with Korbid Thompson

Spring Training Developments

    With another 3 weeks before Opening Day, maybe it's time for some assessments of exactly where we are at with our beloved New York Mets.

    I'll start with the situation in right field, and Carlos Beltran being out for a few days with a sore knee. It's certainly not good, and while it opens the door for someone such as Lucas Duda(.296, HR, 2 RBI this spring) to show what he can do, I'm sure that's not what the Mets brass was anticipating, heading into spring training. If Beltran is not 100% by Opening Day, do you risk putting him out there, and exposing him to further injury? Remember the multiple Jose Reyes injury debacles over the years, and those were at the beginning of his career. Duda, along with Willie Harris(we all know about his glove vs. the Mets) would be the prime candidates for a fourth outfielder. Any way you slice it, those are not great options, at least to the untrained eye.

    I'll move along to the continuing saga of Oliver Perez(1-1, 9.00, 5 BB, 4 K). He has now been reassigned to the Mets bullpen. I'm not sure if it will make a big difference, or even if Perez will make the team, period. You would have to think on some level that this demoralizing for Perez, as he was reduced to once a month mop-up duty last year, under Jerry Manuel, and now this. Given the state of the Mets bullpen before you give the ball to Francisco Rodriguez(which is another story), I don't think you can entirely rule him out.

    Speaking of the bullpen, that brings me to Jason Isringhausen(0-0, 2.25). He has appeared to open some eyes in camp, so far. As I mentioned, given the state of the bullpen, particularly the instability of Bobby Parnell, and the departure of Pedro Feliciano, Izzy could fit in anywhere from the 6^th to the 8^th innings. I know it's a scary thought for some Met fans, but I could think of worse.

    Speaking of which, I think Luis Castillo(3 for 14) is putting up at least somewhat of a fight for the second base job. He's drawn a couple of walks, and has a couple of hard hit balls this spring, but I still don't think it will be enough for him to overtake sentimental favorite Daniel Murphy(.292, 6 RBI). Even if Murphy didn't get the second base job outright, he will still be considered valuable as a guy who can play third base, first, and a little outfield, although I wouldn't test that theory, if I were Terry Collins. Brad Emaus(.167 average) could probably use more seasoning in the minors, while Justin Turner(.167, 1 RBI) hasn't fared too much better. It looks like in the end, it will come to Murphy and Castillo.

    Also, it looks more and more like Josh Thole is coming into his own, while Ronnie Paulino is just trying to get back into the United States. Maybe I was wrong about there being competition for the catcher's spot. Wouldn't be the first or the last, unfortunately.

    Talk to you next time...

Very Few Openings for Opening Day

    This week, I wanted to talk a little bit about the position players with our beloved New York Mets. Now, a lot of the slots are settled already, especially with the announcement of Carlos Beltran voluntarily moving to right field to accommodate Angel Pagan.

    I think that Carlos did that as much to avoid the every day questions, just as much as the fact that he is not physically ready to take the center field position. Now, some of that is his own doing, being that he waited too long to have his knee surgery done, and hence, this has become the end result.

    Having said that, with Jason Bay back in the fold, there really are only 2 positions out of the starting eight that you would consider up for grabs. I'll start with the less obvious one, which is the catching position. While the young phenom Josh Thole has certainly impressed, and he is perceived to be the starting catcher on Opening Day, I don't believe he is guaranteed the job, just yet. Veteran catcher Ronnie Paulino will be given a look by new Mets manager Terry Collins – as soon as his visa problems clear up, that is. After all, he did have 316 at-bats with the Marlins last year. However, until he can get out of the Dominican Republic, and finish out the the 8 games remaining on his 50-game suspension for violating the league's drug policy, it's all pointless.

    As for the second base job, it looks as though the top 3 candidates there are upstart Justin Turner, the re-surging Daniel Murphy, and the virtually hated Luis Castillo. We'll start with Murphy. We know that the guy can hit. Only question was could he catch a cold at second base? If so, Met fans would love to hand the keys to him, and revoke Castillo of his. So far in the spring, his .250 batting average is good enough to lead the 3 candidates.

    With Justin Turner, he is an unknown, to say the least. He will definitely need an extended look in the spring to find out if he is a serious contender to head to New York.

    That bring us to Mr. Castillo. While he is not winning this 3-man race at the moment, nothing would shock me, when it comes to him. After all, there are only a handful of Mets fans and media – if that – who thought he would make it this far.

    We can always worry about the bench, towards the end of spring training.

    Also, I'll get more into what I think this lineup needs to produce, when the bell rings for the regular season on April 1 in Florida.

    One other side note: Carlos Beltran will be doing some DHing, at least for the next few games, it seems. From first glance, he is running well, which is always a good sign. We'll see if that lasts over 150 games in the regular season.

    In the meantime, let's roll forward, and talk to you soon. My audio thoughts can be heard this season on the New York Mets Audio Minute at http://mets.lexy.com.

    As a New York Mets fan of now 27 years, I have seen the good, the bad, and the absolute ugly. As a matter of fact, between the Wilpons trying to stay afloat, and the players in denial about how many pieces are missing from this team to make them into a contender, somebody could definitely write themselves into a movie deal on the chronicles of this team.

    I'll stay away from the team' financial woes for now, and concentrate on the one thing that matters, and that's what happens in between the white lines. Right now, with Johan Santana expected to be out of action until at least the All-Star break, Mike Pelfrey is your Opening Day starting pitcher on April 1. After that, I'm not expecting a new version of Generation K to emerge, even with the return of Jason Isringhausen to the Mets' bullpen.

    R.A. Dickey(11-9, 2.84) performed well last season,  but I'm not expecting much from Jon Niese(9-10, 4.20), and who knows what you're getting from recent acquisitions Chris Young, Taylor Buchholz, and Chris Capuano? It will take a small miracle, and some pure wizardry from the think tank of Sandy Alderson, J.P. Ricciardi, and Paul DePodesta to stay in the N.L. wild card race by mid-August, assuming that Carlos Beltran and/or Jose Reyes do not get traded before then.

    As for the bullpen, the Mets took a big hit, with Pedro Feliciano bolting for the Bronx, not only games-wise, but if Feliciano pays dividends for the Yanks, that will not bode well at all for the aforementioned braintrust. Speaking of the aforementioned, that brings us to Jason Isringhausen. After his 14-year absence from the Mets, Izzy wants to give it one more shot with his original team. It would be scary if he became an integral part of this team, but with the existing state of the bullpen, don't rule it out.

    After all, Francisco Rodriguez is not out of the clear of his legal troubles, by any means. I shudder to think what this bullpen will look like, if K-Rod loses it again after a game, particularly one he doesn't pitch in.

    Well, the one silver lining here is that it's almost baseball season again. No matter how you feel about your team, the breeze of the summer can make it all better - well, maybe. I'll put in my two cents on the position players next week. Until then, thanks for reading this inaugural edition of Extra Bases.

    During the baseball season, be sure and catch me, along with my partner, Matt Dagastino on the New York Mets Audio Minute, which can be found at http://mets.lexy.com.