Michael Conforto has raked everywhere he has played, whether it was Oregon State University or the minor leagues.  He’s such an advanced prospect that Keith Law predicted before the season Conforto would be ready to be called up by August 2015.  When Keith Law has had a chance to back off a bit, he hasn’t; in fact, he has stated with the current state of the Mets, Conforto is their best option (yes, I linked to him answering my question on Twitter – it’s my blog).  While he acknowledged its a big jump, he did seem to believe Conforto could handle it.  Before dismissing this opinion, remember Keith Law is highly qualified to speak about baseball.

I bring this up because the Mets believe Michael Conforto  lacks minor league experience.  Right now, Conforto has played in 130 games and has had 574 plate appearances.  Specifically, he has played in 42 games with 182 plate appearance at Binghamton.  In Binghamton, the 22 year old Conforto has a triple slash line of .325/.407/.531.  No matter how you slice or dice it, these are great numbers.  These are Herculean when you keep in mind that he would be replacing the combined .169/.236/.344 of Nieuwenhuis and Mayberry.  Drastic times call for drastic actions.  Without a trade on the horizon, calling up Conforto would be the drastic move the Mets need to make.

It reminds me of 2003 when the Florida Marlins won the World Series.  Much like the Mets, the Marlins were mostly talented but not expected to really compete.  However, they fired their manager and replaced him with Jack McKeon.  While Trader Jack was the Marlins manager, one of the moves the Marlins made was to call up Miguel Cabrera.  The reason he was called-up?  The Marlins felt they “a little spark on the offensive side.”  At the time of his call-up, the 19 year old Miguel Cabrera had played in 69 AA games with a triple slash line of .365/.429/.609.  When he was called up, he was the clean-up hitter on the team.

Looking at the above-information, there are a few things you can conclude: (1) the Mets LF situation is dire; (2) Cabrera is better than Conforto; (3) the 2003 Marlins were better than the 2015 Mets; (4) you can call a young player up in a pressure filled situation; and (5) that young player can succeed.  Now, Keith Law never said Conforto was Miguel Cabrera, nor am I.  Seriously, who is?  Cabrera is an offensive machine.  He was so good he hit a HR off of Roger Clemens in the World Series.  The way the Mets offense is playing right now, the Mets won’t even get a chance to make the postseason.

I’m not asking him to be a “savior.”  I just want someone competent. At this point in the season, this shouldn’t even be an issued. Furthermore, the Mets have no one but themselves to blame. They built a roster with no depth. They failed to make a move earlier, even when we all knew it had to be made. Now, they have two choices: (1) roll the dice with Conforto or (2) average 2.83 runs per game and miss the playoffs.