The Mets took almost all of their free agent dollars this winter and gave them to 31-year old righty swinging Jason Bay. Bay played in 151 games for the Red Sox last season and he was 142 of 531 (.267 avg, .921 OPS) with 103 runs scored, 36 homers, 119 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. Bay did whiff 162 times last season so don’t expect him to put up a .300+ batting average in 2010 but what he will do is bring big time power to a team that didn’t have much of it last season. Bay is not just a hitter however as he didn’t make any errors in 150 games in LF last season while showing outstanding range. Bay also had 15 assists from LF last season as he often dares runners to challenge him.

35-year old switch hitting Gary Matthews was brought in over the winter in a trade with the Angels and he will be one of the Mets’ backup outfielders in 2010. He played in 12 games in LF for the Angels last season and he made 1 error while showing out of this world range.

28-year old switch hitting Angel Pagan is also back to provide depth for the Mets. He played in 20 error-free games for the Mets last season in LF while showing out of this world range.

21-year old lefty swinging Fernando Martinez is considered to be the Mets’ top prospect but he got a rude awakening in the majors in his first taste of it last year. Martinez played in 29 games for the Mets last season and he was 16 of 91 (.176 avg, .517 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 1 homer, 8 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Martinez also played in 45 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 51 of 176 (.290 avg, .877 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 8 homers, 28 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Martinez didn’t make any errors in 11 games in LF last season for the Mets and he showed above average range there and had 1 assist.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE LF IN 2010: A