Same Look Mets?

Barring any injuries, the 2010 New York Mets will have a similar look to their opening day lineup this year as they did last year, with only a few changes....Are these changes upgrades, downgrades or no grades?

2010                                                 2009                                   GRADE

C-   Omir Santos (Rod Barajas)               Brian Schneider                       UP

1B- Daniel Murphy                                  Carlos Delgado                    DOWN

2B- Luis Castillo                                      Luis Castillo                             ?

3B- David Wright                                     David Wright                       SAME

SS- Jose Reyes                                         Jose Reyes                            SAME

LF- Jason Bay                                          Daniel Murphy                        UP

CF- Carlos Beltran (Angel Pagan)          Carlos Beltran                       SAME

RF- Jeff Franceour                                   Ryan Church                           UP

P- Johan Santana                                      Johan Santana                      SAME

With the signing of Rod Barajas, it gives the Mets a veteran catcher, who has thrown out over 35% of baserunners and he can hit. Losing a healthy Delgado's bat is big, but he hasn't been healthy in 2 seasons so either Daniel Murphy or Mike Jacobs will suffice at 1B. Staying with Luis Castillo at 2B is so volatile because he finally hit really well last year, but he made possibly the worst defensive blunder in the history of the Mets since Bill Buckner. It is a question mark because no one knows which Castillo will be there at 2B, a good hitting, gold glove Castillo or a sub .200 hitter with stone hands. David Wright just needs to find his power again and everything will be fine at that corner of the infield. Jose Reyes, hopefully he has figured out what is wrong with him medically and he remembers how to steal bases again. Having Jason Bay in left field is a huge upgrade from the experiments the Mets had last year. He is a bonafide power hitter and he brings a lot of experience playing a wide open outfield. Not sure what Carlos Beltran has, and not sure if he does either. He is injured again and he will miss the first month of the season and this injury might still be affecting his ability to run the bases well and steal bases all together. Having a healthy Beltran means having a potent lineup and it means getting back one of the top defensive center fielders in the league. Jeff Franceour is a definite upgrade from Ryan Church. Frenchy can cover all of right field really well, he has a cannon for an arm and he is a good threat in the lineup for power and for average, protecting Wright, Beltran and Bay. Johan Santana has said that he feels the best he ever has this year. He said that his prior injuries and surgeries have not effected his preparation this Spring and that he is more then ready to take the mound on Opening Day. Unfortunately, the hopeful success of all of the pitchers behind Santana in the rotation is a mystery. It is too frustrating for this blogger to begin to try and look at the New York Mets 2010 rotation under a microscope.

All of the upgrades and changes to the New York Mets are contingent on them all staying healthy. It is like that with every team in the Major Leagues, except the Mets were the only team to have over 14 starting players on the injured list last season. We hope, as fans, that the Mets organization has done some work to re-tool it's medical staff. Having that many injuries in one season seems a bit out of hand.

Who are the better athletes?

Some sports writers, like ESPN's Tim Kurkjian, believe that baseball players are amongst the most well-rounded athletes in sports. That football players, for example, could not get into a batting cage and hit a fastball, or play third base and field a line drive hit by a major league hitter.

So it begs the question, which athletes, out of the top American sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey) are the most well-rounded? Meaning, who could play the other guys sports, as well as their own?

Football is a very, very physical sport, but with that being said, it doesn't mean that the players can succeed on a pro level in other sports. It's hard to picture an offensive lineman swinging a baseball bat and making contact. It is, however, easy to picture a guy like Terrel Owens (I know that he's not the most popular choice) playing basketball and hitting a three-pointer from the corner with a defender in his face. There are, I am sure, plenty of individual examples from each sport, showcasing an athlete with the skills to play 4 sports and play them well. The question is which athlete, overall and in general, has the best training and is in the best physical shape to give them the opportunity to be all around athlete?

They say hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports, but who, besides baseball players, could do it the best?