Just Mets

With the Mets free falling through the standings and no clear path for improvement, the Mets are at least considering shifting the infield alignment in the short term.

Kristie Ackert of the Daily News says the team is discussing shifting Wilmer Flores to second base once Daniel Murphy returns from the disabled list, which will likely take place this weekend.

According to Ackert, the migration of Flores to second base is not because Flores has been bad at shortstop. Rather, he is viewed as the next best option to Dilson Herrera, who is reportedly being considered for a demotion once Murphy is activated.

If that’s the case, it’s not clear why Flores wasn’t shifted to second base when Herrera was on the disabled list.

If Flores was believed to be a competent shortstop, they probably wouldn’t be thinking about moving him to begin with. Of course, his play at the position has been subpar most of the time, yet he has remained there while playing Ruben Tejada at third base, a completely foreign position to him, in the midst of this horrific time with one poor defensive play compounding the next, specifically on the infield among the same group of players.

The proper alignment among those who are here or on the 40-man roster is to have Murphy at third base, Tejada at shortstop, and Flores at second base. This has been the proper alignment all along. Why they have continued with this experiment, especially in the midst of this horrific run, remains a mystery.

Of course, this is simply moving the pawns from one part of the chess board to another. The reality is Tejada should not be playing everyday on a good team, and despite his occasional home run power, it’s debatable how valuable Flores is and his .284 on-base percentage over his last 21 games is on a regular basis, especially with his sub-par defensive skills. And, while Murphy is a far superior third baseman than he is a second baseman, he isn’t exactly a Gold Glover at the hot corner, either.

Sure, there’s nobody else, but that is a part of the problem here.

The other part of the problem is there should be no more discussion and no more deliberating.

Action must be taken.