Herb G: Jimmy Durante’s take on the Mets’ shortstop situation.

“I got a million a’ dem.” That famous line by the great comedian could apply to the New York Mets’ options to fill the role of starting shortstop on this year’s version of Vaudeville in Flushing. Well, perhaps a million is a bit of exaggeration, but you get the point. At this time, the Mets seem no closer to a solution to their shortstop dilemma than they were back in November.

First there is the incumbent, Ruben Tejada, who, after a disastrous year, is following it up by surpassing his 2013 futility in this year’s spring training. Having already committed 4 errors in 9 games this spring and sporting the only sub .900 fielding average on the team, (.879) Tejada finally got a hit in Monday’s game, boosting his batting average to an almost respectable .120 (did I really say that?) with a still subterranean .314 OPS. As of this writing, Tejada is slotted as the opening day starter, having gotten another vote of confidence from manager, Terry Collins. Recently, Andy Martino wrote that there seems to be a consensus amoung several scouts, that Tejada is a solid player, but that he may be spooked by the NY market and by the negative attention he has been receiving. One scout described Tejada as the classic "change of scenery" candidate.

Then there is highly touted but defensively challenged prospect, Wilmer Flores, who until this spring, had not played a game at shortstop since 2011 because he was deemed not athletic enough or quick enough to play a credible shortstop. Now, after having gone through an agility and conditioning regimen over the winter, Mets’ brass has decided that Wilmer deserves a chance to show that he is a changed ballplayer and can handle short after all. Flores played shortstop for the entire game Tuesday, and did nothing in the field to embarrass himself. In fact, he made a rather nifty play in the ninth inning, going to his right to backhand a hard hit grounder deep in the hole, and then showed off his arm with a strong throw to first for the out. There has never been any question as to whether Wilmer can hit, although thus far, this spring, Flores too has not yet displayed much prowess. He went 1 - 4 in Tuesday’s game, an RBI single, but still sports a rather anemic .206 avg.

And the last candidate on the current club is the exact opposite of Flores, Omar (Q) Quintanilla, a fine fielder with no bat. Q should not even be in this equation, but with the poor showing of Tejada and the questions surrounding Flores, he has to be considered as long as no outsider is brought in to save the day.

Outsiders, you say? That’s where “I got a million a’ dem” comes in. I’m not going to go into a lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of all of them because it would take too long and they have been discussed ad nauseum on this and every other Mets blog for weeks, and I want to get to a pair that has only just cropped up. So, who, pray tell, are the “millions”?

Of course, you have to start with Stephen Drew. A significant upgrade over Tejada, qualifying offer, rated the 14^th best free agent by MLB Trade Rumors, (7 places ahead of Jhonny Peralta) lose a 3^rd round draft pick, writers consensus of Mets as most logical landing spot, Scott Boras, still unsigned, possible holdout until June. Many baseball executives continue to say that a multi-year contract for Drew would be the Mets best option, as it would give them a solid shortstop for 2015, when Matt Harvey returns and the Mets could be real contenders, and it would carry them until 2016 or 2017, when internal candidates Amed Rosario or Gavin Cecchini would be ready to assume the position. Enough said about him? OK.

Nick Franklin and Brad Miller of Seattle were possibilities. The signing of Robinson Cano and the emergence of Miller as the better choice for Seattle, however, have rendered Franklin surplus goods. Mets scouts are seeking to determine if they think Franklin can handle a starting shortstop job, since the Mariners moved him to second base for just about the same reasons the Mets moved Flores, only they waited longer to do it. Meanwhile, several Seattle scouts are following the Mets with radar guns and clipboards in hand, trying to determine what might be a fair return for Franklin. The Mariners had Joe McIlvaine, former Mets GM, scouting his former team at Tuesday’s game. It was originally said that the Mariners were looking for Montero, but it would be highly unlikely that the Mets would part with him for Franklin, so a lesser pitcher or package may have to do.

Arizona’s entries into the sweepstakes were Didi Gregorius and Chris Owings. It now seems that Gregorius has apparently lost out to Owings in the competition for the D-Back’s shortstop job this spring, so Didi is probably the man. Unlike Franklin, Gregorius has a great glove but his ability to hit may not be as good as Franklin. Owings could still be in the mix for the right return. The Diamondbacks have been talking about getting a catcher in return for one of their middle infielders, and it has been thought that it would take package built around Kevin Plawecki to do the trick. Arizona had 3 scouts scouring the back fields Tuesday, further fueling speculation centered on Plawecki. Recent news of Patrick Corbin’s injury and impending TJ surgery could change things, and Arizona may now be looking for an arm. In addition to Plawecki, the D-Back scouts were seen watching Noah Syndergaard, (yeah, really!) Jacob deGrom and Logan Verrett. (Hmmm, that’s a possibility, part of a package, perhaps) But all that is conjecture.

Suddenly, a new arrival on the scene presented a possible option for the Mets, bringing to mind another of the Great Durante’s famous lines. “Everybody wantsa get inta de act!” It’s not an act that teams want to get into eagerly, but the epidemic of arm problems among top starters is forcing teams to look for replacements, and the Mets, with their plethora of young pitching seems like a natural place to look, especially for a team that may have a shortstop to shop. That brings us to the most recent entry.

The Oakland Athletics’ ace Jarrod Parker is the latest high profile pitcher to encounter arm trouble, requiring his second Tommy John surgery, so he will be out for the season. Oakland is fairly deep in young, relatively inexperienced starting pitching, so they may indeed be looking for a starter with major league experience and seasoning to bolster their rotation. Meanwhile, Sandy Alderson’s protégé Billy Beane has a super shortstop prospect in Addison Russell chomping at the bit, and a fine regular shortstop in Jed Lowrie. Speculation was that Beane would wait until mid season to shop Lowrie, who will be a free agent at the end of the year, making room for Russell. But now, with an immediate need for an arm, what’s a GM to do?

Mention Addison Russell and Mets fans begin to salivate. The A’s #1 prospect, #18 in all of baseball, according to MLB.com, and #5 among all shortstops, Russell would be an incredible pickup for the Mets. The price for Russell would undoubtedly be steep, if the Athletics would consider trading him at all. The A’s would ask for an arm and a leg for their prized SS prospect, and that arm and leg would likely belong to Noah Syndergaard or Zack Wheeler. Syndergaard is ranked at #12 by MLB.com, 6 places above Russell, but Sandy Alderson might deem it a worthwhile trade, given the Mets depth in pitching and dearth of shortstops. For more on Russell, click on the following link.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130826&content_id=58486746&vkey=news_oak&c_id=oak 

More logical, however, would be Beane offering up Jed Lowrie somewhat earlier than he might have intended. Lowrie, though not as slick a fielder as some of the others mentioned, offers a very solid bat. Coming off an excellent offensive 2013, where he hit .290, with 15 HR and 45 2B, he would most probably provide much better offense than Drew, at a reasonable $5.25 million in salary and no loss of a draft pick. The drawback to Lowrie is that he is only under team control for one more year, a factor that might lower the A’s asking price for him. (Although, I’m sure all Met fans remember that the rental tag didn’t lower the price of Carlos Beltran when the Giants wanted him.) The fact that Lowrie is having a fine spring (.313/.343/.563, HR, 5 2B in 32 AB) further sweetens the prospect of snagging him. Another appealing aspect is that Lowrie can effectively bat leadoff, reducing the need to rely on Eric Young, and opening a spot in the lineup for Juan Legarres. If the Mets could sign Lowrie to an extension that would keep him in the fold until Rosario or Cecchini is ready to take over, they might be willing to part with one of their rotation starters for him. Dillon Gee has been mentioned as a fair price, and one that might appeal to Mr. Beane. But, of course, there is no certainty that Lowrie would forego free agency to sign an extension.

With all these possibilities, you would figure that the Mets will have to pull the trigger on one of them, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you???