Brown available

With the news today that Ben Johnson's ankle isn't heeling as fast as hoped and that he won't be ready for opening day, the Mets really need to consider signing another right hander. There really isn't a major league ready bench player in the minors behind Johnson and I think Gotay is too much of a risk to be considered the final bench player. As I documented in another post Gotay didn't respond well to his role as a bench player and only hit .190 over the last two months of the season. Just as it was detrimental to the development of Milledge to ride the bench the same can be said for Gomez.

Outfielder Ben Johnson, who suffered a broken ankle in August, isn’t progressing optimally and is not expected to be ready for the start of next season. source Daily News

There are several free agents available including Kevin Mench and Bobby Kielty. Another option became available today when the Royals non-tendered Emil Brown. The 33 y/o outfielder played in portions of five major league seasons from 97-01 with the Pirates and Padres as a part-time role player. In 05 he got his second chance with the Royals and has been a full time outfielder for the last three years. He is a lifetime .262 hitter, in 05 he had 17HRs with 86 RBIs and hit .286. Brown might be the perfect right handed bench player, who wouldn't clog up the outfield long term and would'nt cost that much......

Royals non-tendered outfielder Emil Brown.
The Royals are keeping Brandon Duckworth and the rest of their arbitration-eligible players. Brown led the Royals in RBI each of the last three seasons, though that was with a ridiculously low total of 62 last year. He hit just .257/.300/.347 in 366 at-bats last season. Brown should land with a team in need of right-handed hitter to start against lefties. He's worth $2 million or so as a fourth outfielder. source Rotoworld