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April 4, 2014 Buzz Joe Janish

Who Will Be Mets First Baseman?

During the postgame press conference yesterday, Mets manager Terry Collins stated that the first baseman who started against the Reds today would be the man to get the most ample opportunity — at least 60 at-bats — to win the job.

Who will it be?

Considering that Collins promised that Ike Davis would get “90 to 100 at-bats” during spring training (which never happened due to injury), I’d have to think that Davis is “the guy.”

However, the rumor — according to Andy Martino, Jon Heyman, and others with “sources close to the situation” — has it that Lucas Duda will be “the guy.”

Then again, maybe there will be a press conference announcing the signing of Kendrys Morales. If that happens, remember — you heard it here first. (If it doesn’t happen, forget you read this.)

We’ll know for sure by this afternoon when the lineup is published. In the meantime, what do YOU think? Will Davis be the guy? Should he be? Why or why not? Post in the comments.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. DaveSchneck April 4, 2014 at 8:16 am
    Joe,
    Yes, Who will be on first. Just remove the question mark from your title. Someone needs to tell the pitchers to throw a fielded ball to Who, not Naturally, unless Who is charging; then they should throw it to What. The defense has looked bad enough already, we con’t need more mistakes.
    • Joe Janish April 4, 2014 at 10:32 am
      How did I not take advantage of the old Abbot and Costello routine? It was a late night, I guess. Thank you.

      If Chris Young hadn’t gone on the DL, the Mets could’ve played four outfielders (TC has been talking about finding at-bats for all of those brilliant-hitting OFs he has), and just let the pitcher cover 1B. Or, have Dan Murphy cover 1B as the second baseman — just move him over a few more steps.

      • Dan42 April 5, 2014 at 7:41 am
        Isn’t it hard to cover 1B from shallow RF?
  2. Izzy April 4, 2014 at 8:47 am
    Ithink its just amazing how a team that has no ability to judge the ability of players who al lhave been in their org for years, can suddenly reach their outstanding or not decision by the uninspired play of all three for one whole game each. But then again this is Terry Collins who makes decisions that last for a matter of hours. He is the perfect manager for this org.
  3. DanB April 4, 2014 at 10:15 am
    Back in 2012, I said the Mets really won’t start rebuilding until the last of their big loans are refinanced. I was just going on what is public knowledge. So why be surprised that Duda and Davis are fighting for playing time? As soon as Davis is up for big arbitration money, he is gone. The Mets are in prolonged spring training and their first basemen of the future Is not for Alderson to decide but for the bankers negotiating with the Wilpons to decide.
    • gary s April 4, 2014 at 11:15 am
      “Prolonged spring training”..Very good..After all the idiotic flack about Murphy missing a few games, i heard someone say yesterday that the married players on the team should just have their wives get pregnant so they can deliver the baby in October..No worry about missing any games at that time of the year..
  4. Joe Gomes April 4, 2014 at 10:40 am
    Sandy the Clown Anderson will sign Carlos Delgado one of these days. He can no longer hit, run or field but Sandy the smartest GM in the MLB likes his approach at the plate.

    Just not sure if it is home plate or the plate at the food court.

  5. friend April 4, 2014 at 10:57 am
    http://blogbeckett.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/heardofme1.jpg
  6. crozier April 4, 2014 at 1:00 pm
    I didn’t get to this until after the decision was made. It’s easy to joke about how they (or do I mean “he”?) came to their (“his”?) decision based on the wealth of 2014 data available. But in reality they couldn’t wait for data; someone has to play regularly.

    I wouldn’t have been surprised by either choice, any more than I would be happy (let alone enthusiastic) about it. The argument for Duda is that he produced a high OBP while maintaining power (albeit via an absurdly high % of solo home runs, but I can’t imagine that anomaly continuing this year). Davis, on the other hand, markedly improved his plate discipline last year at the expense of power. Looking at it that way, it makes sense, in a relative way.

    It suggests the Mets will take anything for Ike at this point and move on, but I’m sure they’d replace Duda in a heartbeat if they could find someone with a decent 1B to deal for.

  7. murph April 4, 2014 at 1:24 pm
    Is Bonilla still under contract?
    • Dan42 April 5, 2014 at 7:45 am
      Only if getting paid counts.