The 2008 Outfield

With the post season only eighteen games away and the off season riding on its coat tail, the Mets are going to have to decide on an outfield for 2008.

Now although this shouldn’t be too much of a tough decision to make, as to what to do, I will throw my two cents in as to what I believe they should do.

First of all, Shawn Green is going to be a distant memory come December. He just can’t hit, field or run the way he used to. I’m not saying that he is a useless player, he could be a strong bat off the bench, much the same way Marlon Anderson is. I just don’t think myself or any Met fan could sit through another year of one hoppers that should have been easy outs for a decent outfielder. So Shawn Green is going to be gone at season’s end.

Now, I’m torn on the Moises Alou topic. He is known as a player who will be hurt for a substantial amount of time during a season and Met fans saw it first hand this year. But when he is in the line up, he is a force that isn’t easily dealt with. I would have to exercise his 2008 option for 7.5 million and keep it in the front of my mind that when he goes down and he will, that Carlos Gomez will only be a plane ride away from assuming left for half the season.

That only leaves right field to deal with.

Going on his performance this year, Lastings Milledge has more than proven to me that he is ready and more than capable to handle right field. Hitting .284 and having 5 home runs, 25 runs batted in and 3 steals in only 155 plate appearances he has proven that he can handle Major League pitching. The only thing that continues to fool him is the breaking ball, but there is only one place where he can absolutely learn how to control himself when that pitch comes, the Majors. His defense has also improved from last year (2006 - .977 to 2007 – 981) as well.

So there you have it. The Shea Nation analysis of, what should be, the Mets 2008 outfield.

LF: Moises Alou/Carlos Gomez
CF: Carlos Beltran
RF: Lastings Milledge