Reese Kaplan - The Mets' OTHER Black Hole

With all of the talk about upgrading the shortstop position precious little has been written about improving left field.  Thus far this year we’ve seen Andrew Brown, Chris Young, Eric Young, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Bobby Abreu, Eric Campbell and probably a game or so from Matt den Dekker, too.  None has staked a claim to the position, though at .330 a case could be made for giving Campbell an extended look.  His strength, however, appears to be positional versatility, replacing Justin Turner in that role on the roster.

Moving forward, however, it wouldn’t appear that any of these players are long term solutions.  As we all know, Chris Young is mercifully on a one year deal, Eric Young has demonstrated the Peter Principle at work, Bobby Abreu’s fountain of youth is running dry, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis continues to strike out at a prodigious rate and has shown flashes in the past only to succumb to the almighty K.

Unfortunately there isn’t much help down on the farm either.  Cesar Puello has improved somewhat since his awful start, but he’s not making enough noise to deserve a promotion.  Matt den Dekker hasn’t had the chance to adjust to the next level, but he’s already 27 years old and still not playing in the big leagues.  Andrew Brown was on fire in AAA until he rode the pines for Terry Collins, but he’s not recaptured his stroke after returning to Las Vegas.  Brandon Allen is another AAAA type of player.  It would seem that until Brandon Nimmo is ready, the outfield cupboards are pretty bare. 

I’m not naïve enough to think that a Carlos Gonzalez or Giancarlo Stanton are realistic possibilities, but the Mets really should be targeting folks like Joc Pederson of the Dodgers who could likely provide a solution for the position for the foreseeable future.  The Mets should be dangling some of their available players – starting pitchers, pitching prospects, 2^nd basemen – to see what they could do to gain a cost-controlled player who can man the position as they continue their quest for a winning record.  Yes, giving up a prospect like a Rafael Montero would hurt if he went onto a solid major league career, but the fact is that the team’s offense is its Achilles heel and they need to make strides to contend.   Solving the LF and SS dilemmas will go a long way in that regard.