While much of the offseason complaining has been focused on what the Mets haven’t done, or moves made that don’t help the team, it appears they are close to a decision that does positively benefit the 2010 roster- bringing back Fernando Tatis.

Tatis, due to his unfortunate tendency to hit into double plays last season, fell out of favor with much of the fan base. That is a shame, because Tatis is an extremely useful player.

As a bench player, a hitter who posts back-to-back seasons with OPS+ of 123 and 105 is a useful addition, regardless of position. That Tatis has held his own defensively at 1B, 2B, 3B, LF and RF makes the signing that much better.

Now, the rumored plan to platoon Tatis with Daniel Murphy is reasonable one- combining Murphy’s career .775 OPS against righties with Tatis, who managed an .822 OPS in 2009 against lefties, seems like a decent idea.

Add to it that on days when Murphy plays 1B, Tatis is free to play 2B, give David Wright a rest at 3B, or even spot Jason Bay or Jeff Francoeur, and you have a player worth signing.

Just for fun: in 2008-2009, Tatis has an OPS+ of 113. Jeff Francoeur, over that same span, has an OPS+ of 83.

One more idea, probably hypothetical: Fernando Tatis would be a far better option than Luis Castillo at 2B. As previously mentioned, Tatis in 2008-2009 has an OPS+ of 113. Castillo, over that same period, has an OPS+ of 90. So Luis Castillo would need to be a much better defender than Tatis at 2B to make up that massive gap offensively.

Thing is, Castillo would likely be massively worse than Tatis defensively. He was the worst everyday defensive second baseman in baseball last year and is a year older in 2010. While Tatis’ 2B defensive sample is way too small to draw any conclusions from it, his mobility and defensive range lead me to believe he is unlikely to be even as terrible as Castillo in the field, let alone worse enough to make up for the 23 points of OPS+ between them.

But Tatis doesn’t need to supplant Castillo as the 2B starter- something the Mets are unlikely to to anyway- to be valuable as a bench player. He’s a strong addition, and frankly, if the Mets aren’t willing to acknowledge that Luis Castillo is a sunk cost and just go sign Orlando Hudson, he’s a nice insurance policy at 2B, and many other positions as well.

Howard Megdal is the Editor-in-Chief of The Perpetual Post. He covers baseball, basketball and soccer for Capital New York, MLBTradeRumors.com, New York Baseball Digest and has written for ESPN.com as well as numerous other publications. He is the Poet Laureate for SBNation New York. His book about Jewish baseball players, “The Baseball Talmud,” is available for purchase on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold. His next book, "Taking The Field", is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will publish in May 2011.

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Tags: Fernando Tatis, Jeff Francoeur, Luis Castillo, New York Mets