[poll id=”94″]

This required more than 140 characters in response so I figured I’d tackle it here. Then I realized I forgot to post an over-under poll this morning so I lumped them together.

If whatever happened to Bay when he joined the Mets was some sort of light-switch thing and he can flip it back on and again hit like he did for most of his career before he joined the Mets, I have to imagine Sandy Alderson and the SABRos would be thrilled to be able to part ways with Bay’s contract even if the outfielder is playing well. I’m not sure how long he’d have to hit, how long he’d have to do it or how much of Bay’s contract the Mets would be willing to eat, but since it doesn’t appear likely that Bay will contribute to the Mets’ next contender, it seems safe to say they’d love to clear some of his salary to (hopefully) invest elsewhere.

If the switch stays off and Bay plays the way he did in 2010 and 2011, it’s hard to see why he’d keep his starting job in the Mets’ outfield if the team’s outfield prospects in the high Minors succeed. There’s the personnel aspect to it, of course, and the arbitration-clock factor. But if come June both Bay and Kirk Nieuwenhuis are hitting like they did in 2011 at their respective levels and the Mets want to win as many ballgames as possible, it’d be difficult to justify keeping Bay in the starting lineup — especially if Lucas Duda is struggling defensively in right and would benefit from a move across the outfield.

But that’s all pure speculation and based on no actual inside information whatsoever. Also, if I’m considering those possibilities, I need also consider that Bay turns the dimmer switch just a bit back toward brightness and hits well enough to keep the Minor Leaguers at bay (npi) but not well enough to fetch interest in a trade. Or Nieuwenhuis gets hurt again, Juan Lagares returns to his underwhelming 2010 form, Matt den Dekker doesn’t hit and there are no young players ready in waiting if and when Bay struggles. Or Duda or Ike Davis gets hurt, prompting a defensive shuffle that brings a prospect to the big leagues but doesn’t replace Bay.

Essentially, there are many feasible scenarios wherein Bay is not the Mets’ starting left fielder by the end of 2012 and many in which he is. So all that meant nothing.

Bay started 92 games for the Mets in his concussion-shortened 2010 season and 121 games in 2011.

[poll id=”93″]

Santana’s changeup appeared in prime form all afternoon. He twice struck out Freese on the pitch. Both times Freese’s bat went flying into foul territory down the third-base line.

– Adam Rubin, ESPN.com.

So that’s nice to see.

Last night, Lucas Duda took a 97 mph Stephen Strasburg fastball over the left-field fence in Digital Domain Park, an opposite-field home run. It looked like this.

Busy morning, Twitter Q&A.

The Mets themselves, or Mets fans?

I’m obviously not in the players’ heads, but if I had to guess I’d say the off-field stuff surrounding the franchise weighs on them less than it weighs on us on a day to day basis.

They’re conscious of it, I’m sure, because they’re asked about it with some frequency and they’re not morons. But playing baseball professionally requires a ton of focus and it is always in every player’s best interest to perform as well as he possibly can. And I can’t imagine it behooves any outfielder chasing down a fly ball to be thinking, “What does this settlement mean for the future of the franchise? Did the Wilpons act in good faith?  Why is it so difficult to find informed coverage of this stuff that doesn’t seem like it has some agenda attached?” Most likely, he should be and is thinking, “There’s the baseball! Go get the baseball!”Or something along those lines.

Which is to say that it probably doesn’t affect the Mets’ actual focus on baseball, since they’re baseball players and focusing on baseball is just what they do. I hope that makes sense.

As for Mets fans, I’d guess the focus shifts more toward baseball once the baseball gets a little better. No one wants to believe it, but winning heals wounds and ends boycotts and shortens memories and everything else.

I saw a comment at Amazin’ Avenue earlier this offseason and I can’t find it now, but the commenter perfectly outlined what I’m hoping for from this season. He or she said he hoped that by the end of the year, we could squint and see what the Mets’ next good team looks like, and so by then we spend more time talking about that then talking about everything else. And that would be sweet.

A bunch of reasons.

First off, what’s wrong with Tejada? He has been banged up this last week, sure, but assuming he’s healthy by Opening Day, he’s a 22-year-old shortstop who managed a .360 on-base percentage in the Majors last year. He doesn’t look like he’ll ever hit for much power, but decent-fielding young shortstops who get on base aren’t exactly growing from the mangroves.

Valdespin is two years older than Tejada, hasn’t yet had offensive success above Double-A and has been hampered by discipline problems on and off the field. In Spring Training alone he has twice been called for batter interference. In 2010 he was caught stealing more than he walked. Last year he made 32 errors in 98 games at shortstop.

Valdespin appears to have a ton of natural talent but he’s just nowhere near as polished a player as Tejada right now. Valdespin’s exciting because he’s hitting well in the Grapefruit League and he’s an unknown, but if I had to bet on one of the two enjoying long-term Major League success, I’d take Tejada and it’s not even close.

Also, for what it’s worth, the Mets seem to be working Valdespin at second base more than shortstop this spring. He has played 52 1/3 innings at the keystone and only nine at short in Grapefruit League action.

I suppose, but I don’t think it’s likely. Everything I heard in Port St. Lucie suggested Parnell is going to make the team. Plenty can change between now and Opening Day obviously, but unless something does before I get around to doing my annual bullpen odds report, I’m going to have Parnell as a better-than-even-money favorite for one of the open spots at the back end of the staff.

But yeah, I guess there are various currently hypothetical scenarios wherein Parnell winds up starting the year in Buffalo in the name of roster flexibility — maybe they want to carry two lefties, say, or Chris Schwinden looks dominant in camp and they want to keep two long men to have ample options for giving Johan Santana rest. Again, neither seems likely right now, but since Parnell has options he’s probably the first to go if anything happens.

It sounds like the Mets want to keep Miguel Batista around — they’ll have to pay him a bonus and give him a June 1 opt-out clause to send him to Triple-A — and they’re probably going to add at least one left-handed bat for the bench, so there are roster machinations yet to be undertaken.

I was going to save this for closer to Opening Day but I changed my mind.

Context: The Mets won 77 games in 2011. Last July, they traded Francisco Rodriguez to the Brewers and Carlos Beltran to the Giants. In December, Jose Reyes signed with the Miami Marlins. Reyes and Beltran will be replaced by Ruben Tejada and Lucas Duda in 2012. The Mets revamped their bullpen in the offseason. Ike Davis missed most of 2011 with an ankle injury and appears to be healthy now. David Wright missed parts of 2011 and claims he will be ready for Opening Day.

I’m going with the Vegas line for this one.

[poll id=”92″]