The Mets bench now looks something like this:

C — Mike Nickeas
IF — Ronny Cedeno
IF — Justin Turner
OF — Scott Hairston
OF — ?

As it stands right now, Mike Baxter seems likely to edge out Josh Satin for that fifth spot, if only because Baxter’s lefthanded-batting-ness and outfielder-ness fit better on the righthanded-hitting heavy bench.

– Patrick Flood, PatrickFloodBlog.com.

Yikes — doesn’t look so pretty when you spell it all out like that. Each guy is defensible in his role, but outside of Hairston there’s really not a lot of offensive might there. Turner can get on base a bit, which is useful.

But like Patrick points out, they’re all right-handed. And given the way Terry Collins relies on platoon matchups with his pinch-hitters, expect to see a left-handed hitter given that fifth spot, and expect that left-handed hitter to get hell of a lot of opportunities off the bench.

After the Hairston signing last week, some discussion surfaced over whether the Mets should or should not (and would or would not) re-sign Willie Harris, but if they’re going to carry Cedeno and Turner, there’s no real solid case for adding Harris to the roster. With two backup infielders in the fold, Harris’ defensive versatility becomes less valuable, and it can’t be that hard to find a better hitting lefty bat on the cheap.

Based on the Mets’ needs, they’ll likely be looking to fill that last spot with a guy who can hit left-handed and play at least a vaguely passable center field, depending on how comfortable they are with Hairston as the backup in center. Looking at the remaining free agents, it doesn’t seem like there are a lot of guys in their price range likely to do either of those things way better than Mike Baxter. Plus Baxter brings the additional upside of being 27 and under team control, so if he succeeds in the role he could fill it for a while.

Of course, a lot can still happen between now and Opening Day, and something almost always does.