Mets Leaning Toward Dark Horse For Second Base

Who's going to play second base for the New York Mets on Opening Day? According to Mike Puma (via the Post),

The Mets are ready to shred their final four bracket and chart a different course at second base.

How different? Apparently the manager's favorite candidate wasn't a candidate two or three weeks ago ...

Disenchanted with what he has seen from Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy, Brad Emaus and Justin Turner this spring, manager Terry Collins is preparing to name Luis Hernandez the starter at second base, a source with direct knowledge of Collins' plans told The Post yesterday. The move will be contingent upon Collins convincing the front office to find roster space for Hernandez.

It's hard to exaggerate just how much Hernandez can't hit.

In 120 major-league games (290 plate appearances), Hernandez has a .245/.286/.298 line.

In 187 Triple-A games, he's got a .247/.286/.319 line.

And he fared little better in the lower levels, either. This is just who Luis Hernandez is: a fine fielder (we're assuming) who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. You can live with a shortstop like that, maybe. But second base is a little tougher. If Hernandez does win the job, I will consider him something of a symbol.

There are new sheriffs in town, and for a while they're just going to walk around, making sure everyone understands things are different. I can promise you, with metaphysical certitude, that by the time the Mets do get serious about winning baseball games, Luis Hernandez will be a vague memory.