With most of the Mets strength coming for the outfield and starting pitching, fans still see a hole at the shortstop position that they would like to see filled with a big name.
Names tossed around were Starlin Castro who the Cubs said they were keeping, Alexi Ramirez who will stay with the White Sox because of there potential playoff push this year, and Evereth Cabrera who has had issues with PED’s and issues with the law just to name a few. A household name that is still being tossed around is Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies.
Yes Tulowitzki sounds like it would be a fantastic pickup for the Mets, but has many issues for what they would be giving up to get him. First off, he will not be the same hitter anywhere else other then Colorado. With an extremely high altitude, and the easiest ballpark to hit in, Tulowitzki has had an advantage of hitting home runs at Coors Field his whole career. Tulowitzki hit .323 at with 99 home runs at home and .274 with 77 home runs on the road. Granted, those are very good numbers, but he is not getting any younger and is coming fresh off a season ending hip surgery.
Tulowitzki now turning 30 years old has just average 117 games per season since his rookie year in 2006. With the amount of young talent the Mets would have to give up to acquire an injury prone Tulowitzki, is not worth it. Save the prospects and cash to acquire a solid right-handed reliever which i believe is more important than a big named shortstop.
Enough about the other shortstops, now lets talk about the player who will most likely start on opening day, Wilmer Flores. Yes Flores did struggle in the the first half of the season, but did play good baseball in the second half of the season. Flores’s slash-line for the second half of the season was .257/.295/.408 which gives the Mets hope he can continue that during the beginning of the 2015 season.
Having a good end to a season can really boost a players confidence for the upcoming season. People also forget about his age. He is still a very young player at the age of 22. Playing him everyday with no fear of losing his job can be an advantage to him because it can release some of the pressure that was on him last year. Lat season, Collins would platoon Flores and Tejada which put Flores under a lot of pressure to play well in a short period of time. Flores has a chance to be a regular shortstop for the Mets if he can put up solid numbers this upcoming season. With Tejada returning as the backup this year, its going to be Flores’s job to lose.
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