While it’s likely that the Wilpon’s have been forced into a tight budget – and tighter than they would have followed during any other period of their ownership – bringing in future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez to catch is an opportunity they cannot pass up. Rodriguez’ two home runs over the weekend in the World Baseball Classic are enough evidence that he still hits.

And he’s going to come at a relatively low cost to the Mets, while they will markedly improve themselves behind the plate. Most importantly they would be adding an offensive threat they otherwise might not have had behind the plate.

The addition of Rodriguez would force the Mets to depart with Ramon Castro, whom they are on the hook for $2.4 million. It easy speculate from a lap top as if its play money, but the club needs to shore up its offense.

There’s uncertainty at three positions – rightfield, leftfield and second base. Of the three leftfield feels most solid in the hands of Daniel
Murphy. But Murphy is not an outfielder and there is talk he will be moved to 1B next year as Carlos Delgado may leave at the end of his own contract.

Ryan Church in RF must be considered a question mark post concussion syndrome and the Mets are counting on 2B Luis Castillo to regain form he’s not demonstrated in a handful of seasons. Crown jewel OF Fernando Martinez has shown promise, but also a habit of becoming injured.

Adding Rodriguez offers insurance against the potential that the line-up might be flawed.

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If he makes the club, he might be.

Its important to remember that the club that leaves Florida in April is gfar different from the one which plays in September. But the Mets roster is void of right-handed pop. The veteran Kielty can provide that. With the club likely to carry 12 to 13 pitchers again, it leaves fewer players to come off the bench. Kielty is likely to make the club along with a left-handed hitting OF, one catcher, and Alex Cora.

This assumes that the Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy enters the season as the left field platoon. The Mets need Kielty and Tatis to have good springs to solve balance problems. One lefty-hitting OF out of the group of Angel Pagan, Cory Sullivan and Jeremy Reed will battle for one roster spot.

The best hitters coming off the bench late in the game will come from the following list that’s not already in the game: Tatis, Kielty, Murphy and a lefty-hitting OF. Only in the chance the Mets opt to go with 11 or 12 pitchers will the bench change. All in all, this is not a bad roster to start the season.

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Adam Rubin writes effectively this morning about the glaring concerns that exist in the Mets everyday line-up. Says Rubin of the corner outfield positions:

Manny Ramirez hit .396 with 17 homers and 53 RBI in 53 games as a Dodger while lifting L.A. into the postseason in ’08. There’s no way Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis can provide comparable production. Still, with the Mets looking to maintain a $147 million payroll, Citi Field will open with a platoon of Murphy and Tatis in left field and not Ramirez. Murphy, who has remarkable plate discipline for a young player, hit .313 in 131 at-bats, and no longer qualifies as a rookie.

Tatis, the NL Comeback Player of the Year, who didn’t even play baseball in 2004 and ’05, hit .297 with 11 homers and 47 RBI in 273 at-bats. He separated his right shoulder diving for a ball in Washington on Sept. 16 and missed the rest of the season. Tatis opted for rehab rather than surgery and ultimately played in 38 games in the Dominican Winter League.

Right field remains a modest question mark as well. While Ryan Church appears to have post-concussion syndrome behind him, he did hit just .219 over his final 33 games, albeit after returning from a seven-week absence. However, before suffering his second concussion in Atlanta on May 20, Church was arguably the team’s MVP.

The most likely of the three to produce the kind of numbers a team would need in the outfield is the youngest of the three. Daniel Murphy’s gap power and clutch hitting gave the only boost the club received in the second half. The Mets need Murphy to win this job outright at some point in the season and return Tatis to the bench. Tatis was one of baseball’s feel good stories yet its unlikely he can reproduce the same numbers. The Mets will be weak a void of any power. If Tatis is in the line-up, no real threat from the right side will be on the bench if Nick Evans does not make the club. We can only hope that Church post concussion syndrome is behind him, but I have my doubts. A failure of Church to regain his early 2008 form will be detrimental to the Mets season. By all reports Citi Field has a large outfield and none of these three – save perhaps Curch has the kind of range needed.

Rubin then covers the issue of second base:

It’s no secret the Mets would have traded Luis Castillo and signed Orlando Hudson had Castillo not still been owed $18 million over the next three seasons.

So how long will Manuel’s patience with Castillo last if he underperforms? Remember, the manager started journeyman Ramon Martinez over Castillo at the end of the season. Manuel also rode Argenis Reyes through an 0-for-25 skid at one point as well, all to keep Castillo on the bench. The first signal of Castillo’s commitment level will be determined by his shape when he arrives in Port St. Lucie. Randolph was disappointed by Castillo’s weight when he reported last spring, although Castillo was coming off surgeries to clean out both knees.

If Castillo falters, newcomer Alex Cora could chip away at his playing time. This much is certain: Mets officials won’t hesitate to part with Castillo next winter, when the amount he’s owed is down to $12 million. But it appears Castillo has gotten the message as the Mets say he has been working out at the team’s Dominican Republic complex.

Castillo has not played well as a Met and his long-term signing by Minaya is one of a handfull of disasterous contracts he’s given to aging Latin stars. Minaya may be self conscience of this perception and may explain his hesitancy to bring in a Manny Ramirez or Pudge Rodriguez.

At any rate, the Mets need a comeback year from Castillo. And they need him to be able to bat second behind Jose Reyes. If the current personnel reamains the same – and the Mets 2B has to bat 8th instead of the catcher – one third of the line-up are outs. And with a weak bench, this does not bode well at all for a team that expects to compete for a division.

This makes Carlos Delgado a major key to success. Delgado clearly thrived under Jerry Manuel. And as Rubin says, Delgado hit .313 with 24 homeruns and had 70 RBI over his final 300 ABs. If the Mets can get these numbers over a season – and Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran stay healthy and have what can fairly be considered an average career seasons – it might be enough if the starters can get the game to JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez.

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Daniel Murhy had three hits tonight and produced the Mets two runs. Eddie Kunz popped his proverbial cherry a gave up a homerun, but added three grounball outs. Even in a close Mets loss did two who Minya would not trade contribute. The next stop for Kuntz will be to get the last three outs at Shea sometime this week. For Murhpy it will be another day as the number two hitter, but against lefthanders. If he succeeds, it solidifies the line-up and makes Rich Aurillas possible acquisition make more sense for the stretch run. He’s played only 1st and 3rd this season but can probably still provide innings at short. So if Murphy can play everyday in left, the Mets can send down Evans and acquire Aurillia. Chavez can be the number one OF replacement for defense. The wild card on any of this is whether of not Ryan Church can return. Still, non of those could ever be contemplated if the two Mets prospects in Kuntz and Murphy didn’t play like they are ready to be big leaguers.

UPDATE: It appears that Jerry Manuel was influenced by Pedro’s power of persuassion in the Met sixth with two out and a man on first. Grady Little is forever cursed by this that I dont feel Martinez means any harm by. But, no. Manuel did not use a pinch hitter in front of Jose Reyes and hot-hitting Daniel Murphy. As bad as the Mets have been some pinch hitting has been pretty good. Most notably in Argenis Reyes and catchers Ramon Castro and Robinson Cancel. This oppotunity was hot in its potential. Jose Reyes followed and has earned a reputation as a late inning RBI guy. A vetarn manager in Manuel was seduced by a veteran pitcher who wanted to stay in the game as had Grady Little. We saw the results.

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