Gotay to outfield?

The Mets outfield has not gotten any better and possibly worse then last year. The Mets do not have Shawn Green anymore, and they just traded away Lastings Milledge. The Mets re-signed Moises Alou and traded for Ryan Church. I am almost certain that the Mets will be trading Carlos Gomez in deal for what better be a pitcher. The starting outfield would consist of Alou in left, Beltran in center, and Church in right. Alou has played in fewer games every year since 2004 and will roughly play in 80 this upcoming season. Beltran played in 144 games last season and 151 the year in 2006; he’ll play around 145 games next season. Church played 144 games last season but just 71 in 2006 and 102 in 2005. Endy Chavez would be the 4th outfielder and it looks like he will be getting a ton of playing time, my guess is he will play 2-6 games a week. On their depth chart right now there are no other outfielders. Damion Easley can play outfield occasionally but that is all the Mets have in outfielders.

Luis Castillo was re-signed to a 4 year deal. This means Ruben Gotay will be his backup and ride a lot of bench. I believe it would be a smarter move to convert Gotay into an outfielder. He could get a lot of playing time and he is a pretty good hitter. Alfonso Soriano recently made the switch from second base to outfield so why can’t Ruben Gotay do it. I do not want to waste Gotay’s bat for just pinch hitting and the rare start. I would rather see him play outfield a couple of days a week.

Alou will be injured half the season, which mean Endy will start almost every game he is out. Easley could play but he might get injured again as he is pretty old and was out for almost the second half of the season last year. Gotay has potential; if he is not traded don’t waste his talent. Let’s see if he can play the outfield. If Manny Ramirez, Adam Dunn, and Pat Burrell can do it why cant a more athletic Gotay.