A Century of Poor Outfielders

Is it any shock that the Mets can sorely use an upgrade in the outfield this off-season? This has been going on all century long. The Mets outfielders have been less-than stellar since 2000. The following is a list of starters at each position each season. In years where there are two players, it is because the starter failed to play 100 games due to injury or trade:

Year	Left Field	Center Field	Right Field
2000	Benny Agbayani	Jay Payton	Derek Bell
2001	Benny Agbayani	Jay Payton Tsuyoshi Shinjo	Timo Perez Matt Lawton
2002	Roger Cedeno	Timo Perez	Jeromy Burnitz
2003	Cliff Floyd	Timo Perez Jeff Duncan	Jeromy Burnitz Roger Cedeno
2004	Cliff Floyd	Mike Cameron	Eric Valent Richard Hidalgo
2005	Cliff Floyd	Carlos Beltran	Mike Cameron Victor Diaz
2006	Cliff Floyd Endy Chavez	Carlos Beltran	Xavier Nady Shawn Green
2007	Moises Alou Endy Chavez	Carlos Beltran	Shawn Green
2008	Moises Alou Fernando Tatis	Carlos Beltran	Ryan Church Endy Chavez
2009	Daniel Murphy Gary Sheffield	Carlos Beltran Angel Pagan	Ryan Church Jeff Francoeur
2010	Jason Bay	Carlos Beltran Angel Pagan	Jeff Francoeur
2011	Jason Bay	Angel Pagan	Carlos Beltran Lucas Duda

What a collection of misfits and losers! A few observations:

— Can you believe the Mets won a pennant with that 2000 outfield?
— Right field as been a revolving door, with seemingly a different man each season.
— Over in left the only stability came during the Cliff Floyd years, and he only managed one injury-free season.
— Carlos Beltran was the one constant throughout these years.
— Only one player made an All-Star team — Beltran, five times.

Overall, not a great run of outfielders. Is it any wonder the Mets have only made the playoffs twice during this stretch? Injuries certainly played a role, but still, far too many players of dubious quality have roamed the outfields at Shea Stadium and Citi Field since the turn of the century. Do we have to wait until the next century before this is corrected?