Carlos Beltran will be out for over 12 weeks and will miss opening day plus some after undergoing knee surgery. His absence leaves a void for the Mets in centerfield. What the Mets do depends on how they feel about the status of Beltran and the outfielders they currently have on their roster, specifically Angel Pagan.
If the Mets make an outfield signing it means:
A. They don’t trust Angel Pagan
and/or
B. They don’t feel as though Beltran will recover well and they see the injury as lingering throughout the rest of the season
If the Mets stay put and don’t make a signing it means:
A. They have faith Angel Pagan can do the job
and/or
B. They expect Beltran to recover well and get back to old form
People on twitter are pretty split on this. Some people believe Pagan can get the job done while Beltran recovers/rehabs and others feel they must make a signing because the Mets tried to make do in 2009 when they had injuries and it didn’t work out.
The list of current free agent outfielders includes Rick Ankiel, Johnny Damon, Xavier Nady, Reed Johnson, Rocco Baldelli, Jonny Gomes, Jermaine Dye, and Marcus Thames among others. Citi Field has a lot of area to cover in centerfield so obviously some of the names aforementioned may not be a good choice defensively for the Mets. A lot of people are circling Ankiel’s name on that list.
What do you think the Mets will do? Will they dip into the free agent pool or will they stay put and try to stay afloat while waiting for Beltran’s return?
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I’m so torn over this issue. I’m still wondering why Carlos didn’t get the surgery sooner? Maybe he tried to wait it out and see if the pain would subside or something? I dont know. But 12 weeks is a long time and with a bat like his not in the lineup its going to hurt early on, especially when we need lineup chemistry with some new players in there. As I tweeted to you before, Pagan is solid contact hitter and a above average outfielder so I wouldnt mind him for a little while. Having said that, Pagan’s deficiencies are brought to the fore when he plays for extended periods at a time, so signing a player for a year such as Ankiel wouldn’t hurt. Plus that player can be a good situational hitter over the course of the year and sub-in in case of another injury (god forbid).
R the Yankees and Damon any closer or is the Yankees pursuing someone else for L field