Ben Shpigel has a profile of outfield hopeful Bobby Kielty, which is pretty funny as Shpigel talks to Jerry Manuel who claims, "he helped me lose my job, and now he wants me to give him a job? It don’t work like that."
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kielty has the largest differential — 69 points — between his career right-handed (.296) and left-handed (.227) batting averages among switch-hitters who have made their debuts since 1969 and have had more than 500 at-bats from each side of the plate.
No other active player comes close, with Houston’s Lance Berkman, who has a 42-point difference (.312 from the left side, .270 from the right), ranking second. Kielty has also pummeled some of baseball’s top left-handers, batting better than .290 against his new teammate Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Jamie Moyer, Scott Kazmir and Buehrle.
Unfortunately for Keilty, the Mets have an absolute logjam in the outfield. With four guys (platooning Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis in left field) pretty much penciled in already, there's really only one or two spots for players that can fit in the outfield.
As it stands now, I think Jeremy Reed is the first guy that will be riding the pine in Citi. After that, in order, I have Angel Pagan, Kielty, Nick Evans and Cory Sullivan. That puts two people in front of Kielty, as I see it.
Does this set the Mets up for a spectacular triple-A team or a spring training trade? It's too early to tell. Injuries and spring play will show how the roster will fill out.
