2010 Turning Into 2009

So the Mets ended 2009 without their starting shortstop, center fielder and first baseman. Now we find out the Mets will begin 2010 without their starting shortsop, center fielder and first baseman.

We’ve known about Carlos Beltran missing the start of the season for a while now. He’s still rehabbing after knee surgery. We’ve suspected Jose Reyes would miss Opening Day, but after a quick comeback from his thyroid problem, we had hope he’d be make it back by Monday. Word now is that he won’t. And now the trifecta — Daniel Murphy is out.

We’ll start with perhaps the most important player on the team — Reyes. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman reports the Mets will put Reyes on the DL to start the season. He would be eligible to return in less than a week, and would probably just miss the first five games. If that is indeed the case, that’s not too bad at all, considering Reyes was initially looking at missing the first month of the season or more.

As far as Murphy, he has a sprained knee, and will miss anywhere from two-to-six weeks. Your first reaction might be “it’s Ike Davis time.” Well, it apparently won’t be. Mike Jacobs is set to start at first. This could not have come at a worse time for Murphy. He needs to prove himself as a competent first baseman, and he can’t do that from the bench. And what happens if Jacobs is providing the power the Mets sorely lacked last season when Murphy is ready to come back? How can they justify benching Jacobs for a guy who is basically keeping first base warm until Davis is ready in 2011? Tough break (or sprain) for Murphy.

In other Mets moves, Pat Misch has cleared waivers and has been assigned to Buffalo. That’s good news. Misch is pretty good, and will eventually land in the Mets bullpen at some point during the season.

And Oliver Perez has been moved down to the fifth spot in the rotation. It’s almost where he belongs — he belongs on another team.