So I’ve slacked really hard on my position-by-position review of the Mets farm system. Well, that and the team went out and hired a new General Manager and reshaped the entire front office, which is kind of a big deal. I’m using these to start lining up my thinking for my overall rankings. I want to finish the infield with shortstops and third baseman this week and finish the series the week after.

So, today we move on to second base. Second base was a black hole for the Mets in 2010. By Fangraphs’ WAR, the team’s -0.4 WAR was the second-worst in all of baseball, ahead of only the Cleveland Indians. The Mets’ keystoners combined on a .269 wOBA, making their offensive contribution dead last in all of baseball. Since the Mets derived so little value from secondbase in 2010, it should be the easiest place to improve in 2011.

– Toby Hyde, MetsMinorLeagueBlog.com.

Toby’s right, you know. Second base should be the easiest place for the Mets to improve in 2011.

Problem is, I’m not sure there’s an obvious answer. Everyone loves Orlando Hudson, and if he’s available for as reasonable a cost as the one-year, $5 million deal he got from the Twins last year, he seems like a good choice for a quick upgrade. According to Fangraphs, Hudson has not been worth less than $5 million — or less than $7 million, really — since 2003.

For a while I was certain the Mets would be best-served by signing a utility guy who could open up the season starting at second, back up shortstop, and transition into a backup role if and when one of the Mets’ younger second-base options proved worthy of everyday play. I mentioned Edgar Renteria as a possibility in this space, and I know others have brought up Juan Uribe and David Eckstein.

None of those guys represents as certain of an upgrade as Hudson does, though they should all come a bit cheaper. Hudson has never played shortstop in the Majors or Minors, though, so his acquisition would mean the Mets likely need an additional infielder to back up Jose Reyes. Ruben Tejada could theoretically field both middle infield positions in the Majors, but it seems silly to commit a 21-year-old to a backup role when he could be polishing his game in Triple-A.

Justin Turner has a career .806 OPS in over 200 games at Triple-A. He played some shortstop and some second base for the Bisons in 2010, though I don’t know much about his defensive acumen.

If the Mets opt not to look outside the organization for middle-infield help, Turner probably represents their best option. Daniel Murphy is now playing second regularly in the Dominican Winter League, though, again, I have no idea how he’s performing at the position. If Murphy can capably field the spot, perhaps he could fill the lefty-hitting half a platoon with Turner.

But again, I’m not sure there’s an obvious choice. With Murphy, Turner, Tejada and Reese Havens in their system, it seems like the Mets would be best served not handing out any multi-year deals to veteran options. At the same time, none of those prospects (except perhaps Turner) appears ready to man the position in the short term.

These thoughts are haphazardly compiled because I’ve had a long day of meetings and studio responsibilities, and I’ve got to leave early to boot. And I feel like I’ve been trying to come up with a good, creative way for the Mets to fill their second-base spot every offseason since I started writing for SNY.tv in 2006. At this point I might be out of ideas, so if you’ve got any, feel free to share ’em.

And of course, they’ve still got Luis Castillo under contract for another year.