While I was on vacation, the Mets got some guy. His name is Chin-Lung Hu, and he’s interesting mostly because he leads all Taiwanese-born Major Leaguers in most offensive categories. Of course, he’s one of only two Taiwanese-born position players that have played in the Majors, and he actually trails pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo in slugging percentage and OPS.

That’s the bad part: He’s not much of a hitter. He enjoyed one very good season in the Minors across two levels in 2007, but he almost never walks and has been downright Rafael Belliard awful in his first 173 Major League at-bats.

Apparently Hu is an excellent defender, though. If the Mets go with a platoon of Daniel Murphy and Justin Turner or Brad Emaus at second base, perhaps Hu takes the 25th spot on the roster as the all-purpose defensive backup and utility infielder. Like Alex Cora, except cheaper, better at defense, and hopefully never called upon to pinch hit.

Thinking out loud: That would make the bench whichever of Murphy and his platoon partner isn’t playing, Ronny Paulino, a fourth outfielder, Nick Evans or Lucas Duda and Hu. Evans is out of options, which probably gives him a leg up on Duda. Of course, if the fourth outfielder in question does not bat left-handed, the Mets might be forced to reconsider. Another good reason to pursue Fred Lewis.

Hu and tragic-homer-hero Luis Hernandez are both also out of options, but I’m maintaining hope that the Mets’ new front-office administration knows better than the last that its worth risking the loss of a player on waivers to optimize the 25-man roster.

Also, and most importantly, should Hu ever reach base safely for the Mets (or spell Ike Davis, for that matter), we’ll inevitably get a “Hu’s on first” comment from the SNY booth. And that gives me a good excuse to remind y’all that this is amazing:

Look: In reality, there were a few solidly awesome Mets moments in 2010, but this will be the only one that makes the TedQuarters Top 10 Things. I could have gone with one of the Ike Davis catches over the rail, or any number of amazing things Angel Pagan did, or Carlos Beltran’s first homer after his return to action. But somehow this seemed a fitting way to eulogize the end of the Omar Minaya Era.

Haters will point out that Luis Hernandez probably shouldn’t have even been playing on Sept. 18. They’ll show you all the evidence that Hernandez wasn’t anything like as deserving of a roster spot as Justin Turner, or anything like a credible Major League hitter. And they’ll complain that in spite of that evidence, Jerry Manuel made the diminutive Venezuelan his de facto starting second baseman for a short while due mostly to one good game in which the Mets scored 18 runs in Chicago.

Haters could also point out that, in fact, Hernandez might not have even been a better hitter than young Ruben Tejada. And they’d say that since Tejada was merely 20 at the time and still could play some role in the Mets’ future, he deserved at-bats to adjust to Major League pitching and audition for 2011.

Haters gonna hate, as they say. And Hernandez’s home run, one pitch after the foul ball that broke his right foot, was tragically heroic. With his front foot broken and Tim Hudson on the mound, with the Mets down 3-1 in the game and long out of the pennant chase, a 5’10” backup infielder with two home runs in 289 prior Major League plate appearances positively crushed one.

I happened to be listening on the radio when it happened, and I wish I could present Howie Rose’s call instead of the one above. I can’t remember it word for word, but he essentially used it to symbolize the Mets’ entire 2010 campaign. To me, it seemed almost a more apt description for Omar Minaya’s entire tenure: The Mets get surprising contributions from an unlikely source, only to have it ultimately go horribly and triumphantly awry.

The fruits of our earlier labors:

On the Garza for Mejia and Flores thing: You’ll see in the video that I say, in a typically hedged way, that I’d probably do it. 70 percent of TedQuarters readers and conversations with a few Mets fans and non-Mets fans have me at least considering otherwise.

Y’all know I’m all about keeping the farm system intact and building from within. Thing is, both Mejia and Flores seem pretty far off from impacting the Major League team, and so much can happen between now and when (and if) they do.

Garza, like I say in the video, is hardly an ace, but he has proven he can stay healthy and throw 200 big-league innings, plus he’s under team control via arbitration through the 2013 season.

Still, I get that Flores and Mejia are the Mets’ two best prospects, and Mejia seems like the guy in the system most likely to develop into a legit ace. And I happen to like Flores for a variety of reasons, even if he’ll have to move from shortstop and everything else.

I would love to be able to poll a larger sample of non-Mets fans to see what they’d say. And like Matt suggests in the video, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the Rays might be able to get a more enticing package of prospects — with at least one that’s ready to contribute in the Majors — than the Mets’ top pair.