Mets Head Into September as Spoilers

For the first time since the 2004 season, the Mets will not be playing meaningful games in September. The Amazins first year at Citi Field has been marred by injuries to key players such as Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado, which has greatly hindered the offense. The pitching staff has also been devastated by injuries to John Maine, Oliver Perez, and now Johan Santana. With Livan Hernandez's release two weeks ago, Mike Pelfrey is the only starter left in the rotation from when the Mets broke spring training at the beginning of April.

What was suppose to be Santana/Pelfrey/Perez/Maine/Hernandez has now turned into Pelfrey/Redding/Parnell/Figueroa/Misch. I would say that's a pretty big turnover and downgrade from the first group.

The only players that are still playing that started in the opening day lineup are Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy, Brian Schneider, and David Wright, who will be back in the lineup at Colorado tomorrow night. Castillo and Murphy are the only ones that have not had a DL stint this year.

The bullpen has stayed intact for the most part, except for J.J. Putz's elbow injury in June that will sideline him for the rest of the season. His loss proved to be huge for the Mets, since Bobby Parnell struggled after a promotion into the setup role to Francisco Rodriguez. Putz's injury forced everyone in front of K-Rod to move up a spot, with only Pedro Feliciano and Brian Stokes being able to consistently flourish down in the pen.

The Mets will have $40 million come off their payroll with the expiring contracts of Delgado, Putz, and Bill Wagner among others. While the free agent class for this offseason is pretty thin, the Mets will use the final month to evaluate who could fill a role on the 2010 team. Here is what to watch.

1B Daniel Murphy: He struggled earlier in the season with his outfield defense and hit bat. He was not swinging at good pitches and struggled to get on base. The change to first base has made him much more comfortable in the field, which in effect has made him feel better at the plate. Murphy is hitting .277 the second half of the season, and he has been solid with runners in scoring position. While the HR and RBI totals are low for a first baseman (7 HR, 46 RBI), he is only 24 years old and will have time to develop as a hitter. His defense at first has been very good surprisingly. He moves very well around the bag, and he throws the ball down to second base effectively. I think the Mets will wind up keeping him because he has played well defensively and has swung a better bat in the second half.

C Brian Schneider and Omir Santos: Schneider is a lock to be gone this offseason. You cannot have a player in your lineup hitting below .200, enough said. Every time he is up, he hits a weak grounder to the right sidet. Santos got his chance when Schneider went on the DL in April, and he played so well that the Mets wound up trading Ramon Castro and keeping Santos to platoon with Schneider. Santos has hit decently well for his first MLB season (.267, 6 HR, 33 RBI) and has thrown out 32% of all base stealers. Santos should get a chance to compete for the starting job, but the Mets will probably bring in a proven vet to platoon with him while Josh Thole gets more seasoning in the minors.

Outfield positions: Carlos Beltran will be patrolling center next year, and Jeff Francoeur will be playing right after rejuvenating himself and recovering from a funk in Atlanta. Left field will be a position the Mets will have to address in the offseason. Fernando Martinez could be the prime candidate to fill that spot, but he still needs more seasoning in the minors after a brief stint with the Mets in June.

Angel Pagan is receiving the bulk of the playing time in center, and he has done a nice job getting on base and covers a lot of ground in the outfield. The Mets should definitely bring him back as a reserve. Gary Sheffield still leads the Mets in HR with 10, and I'm not counting Francoeur since he has not hit all his HR's with the Mets. Sheff wants to play again next year, but he might not be offered a contract because of his age and attitude towards management. Cory Sullivan has proven to be a hard working player and will use the last month playing for a job with the Mets or for a free agent contract.

Starting rotation: Bobby Parnell used to be a starter in the minors until converting into a reliever. He is now being asked to start after all the injuries to the rotation, and he has had one excellent start and four poor starts. In his six shutout innings against the Giants on August 14th, he through a ton of first pitch strikes by throwing that hard fast ball and mixing in his off speed pitches. In his bad outings, he has struggled to throw strikes and is giving up a lot of big hits. I think his best role is in the bullpen as the 8th inning guy because he can throw heat coming out of the pen, and I don't think his other pitches are developed enough to be a solid starter. The Mets also have Santana, Pelfrey, Maine, and Perez coming back barring a major move, and they need to add a number two starter behind Johan after watching the guys behind him struggle mightily this year.

There has also been a lot of speculation about whether manager Jerry Manuel and GM Omar Minaya will be back. I will touch on those issues after the season, but Jerry's job all depends on if Omar comes back or not. It all depends on what kind of effort the players put out there in September and the Mets final record.

(Photo Courtesy of NJ.com)