Minaya's Dilemma: Who's at First?

A week into the season, Ryan Church was raking doubles and Daniel Murphy was the new hotness. Five weeks later, Mets fans are looking at a much different scenario. Church has seemingly fallen out of favor with Jerry Manuel and Murphy has been unacceptably bad in left field.

Many thought that Manuel would use Murphy to spell Delgado at first base and potentially groom him for a future at the position. However, that hasn’t happened. To this point, Daniel Murphy has played eight innings at first base (with another start coming tonight) and Carlos Delgado is on the DL for at least two months.

Manuel has gone to Jeremy Reed in Delgado’s place, who had played all of one inning at first base before this season. Luckily, Sheff is filling in admirably in the field. While that is a positive for the Mets, it also means that the 500 Home Run Club Member will have less in the tank come September and October.

What does all of this mean? Omar Minaya needs to make a move sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately for the Mets, it’s not very easy to stumble upon a stud outfielder or first baseman. That being said, it makes the most sense to get a role player at this point. They don’t need to shake up the clubhouse by adding an ego and I also don’t think it’s worth ravaging the farm system for a quick fix.

The Mets would be best served acquiring a wait-and-see player that will fill in adequately or that has decent upside. Shooting for the stars will only make the gamble more risky.

Read about Minaya's Potential targets at Bigleaguescrew.

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