24 year old David Wright is already one of the best third basemen in all of baseball. Wright played in 154 games last season and he hit .311 with 96 runs scored, 26 homers, 116 RBIs, 20 stolen bases and a .912 OPS. Wright does need to work on his defense as he showed below average range and made 19 errors. Wright will have another great hitting season this year for the Mets, but he definately has to get better on defense.

33 year old lefty swinging David Newhan will likely be Wright’s back up at third base. He didn’t play there at all last season for the Orioles, but he is a solid defender at the hot corner. He missed a lot of last season due to injury and he only played in 39 games and he hit .252 with 4 homers, 18 RBIs and a .668 OPS. Newhan will be a solid back up for the Mets this season.

37 year old Damion Easley can play third in a pinch, but he’s not a good defender there. In 20 games at third for the Diamondbacks he made 3 errors and didn’t show much range.

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23 year old switch hitting Jose Reyes had a monster season for the Mets last year. He played in 153 games last season and he hit .300 with 122 runs scored, 17 triples, 19 homers, 81 RBIs, 64 stolen bases and a .841 OPS! Those are amazing numbers and he might even get better as he almost doubled his walks be becoming more selective at the plate and that’s a big reason why his batting average took a .27 point spike. Reyes didn’t have a good season on defense as he made 17 errors and didn’t show much range. If Reyes can fix his defense he will be an MVP candidate soon for the Mets. Look for him to have another monster offensive season for the Mets this year.Â

37 year old Damion Easley will likely get some playing time at shortstop. He played 27 games at short for the Diamondbacks last season and he old made 2 errors there, but didn’t show a lot of range.

24 year old Anderson Hernandez will also try to make the Mets and back up Reyes. He played in 10 games at short for the Mets last season and didn’t make any errors….but his range was a little bit below average.

The Mets have signed 32 year old Jose Santiago and 29 year old Mike Bynum to minor league contracts. Santiago is a reliever that last pitched in the majors in 2005 (5.2 innings for the Mets). Santiago has pitched in 229 major league games in his career and he has compiled a 17-22 record with a 4.36 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. He is a longshot to make the team.

Bynum is a lefty starter who last pitched in the majors in 2004 with the San Diego Padres. He has pitched in 29 major league games (8 starts) and he was 2-5 with a 7.73 ERA with a 1.73 WHIP. He is even a longer shot than Santiago to make the Mets roster.

The Mets have signed 40 year old Sandy Alomar to a minor league deal and have invited him to Spring Training. It’s not likely that he will break camp with the Mets unless Paul LoDuca or Ramon Castro get injured. Alomar played in 46 games with the Dodgers and White Sox last season and he hit .278 with a homer and 17 RBIs in only 108 at bats. His defensive abilities are starting to wane as he only threw oout 12% of the runners that tried to steal on him last season.

37 year old switch hitter Jose Valentin had a huge comeback season to save his career. Valentin hit .271 with 18 homers, 62 RBIs and had an .820 OPS. He also had a great season defensively as he only made 6 errors in 782.1 innings as second base. He also finished third in the Bill James range factor out of all starting second basemen in the majors! Valentin only hit .219 against lefties last season so that’s why they signed Damion Easley to start against lefties. Look for Valentin to have another solid season this year.

37 year old righty swinging Damion Easley was signed as a free agent to handle lefty pitchers for the Mets. He still has great range and is a solid defensive 2B. He doesn’t hit for much of an average anymore as he only hit .233 last season. He did have a .741 OPS and cracked 9 homers and knocked in 28 runs in only 189 at bats. Look for the Mets to get good power and defense out of the 2B position this year, just don’t expect a high batting average.

The Mets brought in 25 year old righty swinging Ruben Gotay to compete with Easley in the Spring. Gotay hit .265 last season with 12 homers, 64 RBIs and a .728 OPS in 129 AAA games. He didn’t play in the majors at all last season. He has batted 434 times in the majors and has a career average of .242 with 6 homers, 45 RBIs and a .652 OPS. Unless there is an injury Gotay will likely start the season in AAA for the Mets.

24 year old switch hitter Anderson Hernandez will likely start the year in the minors as he had a rough time in 25 games for the Mets last season. He only hit .152 with a .406 OPS in 66 at bats with the Mets. He hit a very weak .246 in 104 minor league games last season. He’s a long shot to get any playing time with the Mets this season.