The first full week of spring training games are in the books and there are a few observations I’ve made watching and reading:

Carlos Beltran:
I give him a high five for not making the centerfield battle a long, drawn out process. Pagan will take over his former duties while he makes the transition to right field. I have a new found respect for Beltran. I always like him and never had any of that “Blame Beltran” attitude everyone else has, but I still don’t see him as a part of this team after this season and hope he just has one good final year with the Mets. The new position may or may not help him, depending on what league he plans on going to, if he is given that choice. According to many a baseball writer, or announcer, he will actually have a hard time in right being Citi Field’s dimensions make it very interesting. He could shine or he could falter, but being a professional, I think he’ll figure it out and give himself a chance at being an outfielder next year with another team, rather than just an everyday DH.

Jose Reyes:
I still read about Reyes being traded…a lot. The more I think about, the more I think we need to keep him around. I really don’t see who else would fill his shoes, and I surely don’t think we have anyone in the minors with enough spunk to come close. Cerrone put up a pretty cool post about Reyes this week that pretty much sums it all up. I wasn’t a full on Reyes believer a month or so ago, but after looking at what’s available, and how much of the “fun” would realistically be taken out of the clubhouse, you gotta stick with the homegrown shortstop. You also would love to see Right and Reyes grab a ring on the same team, wearing our uniforms especially.

Dan Murphy:
Well, he’s not a full on starter at second base just yet, though I wish he was. It would be great to just get him in that role and try and see if he can get comfortable in that position and make it happen. Castillo is a joke and just needs to be let go already. Too bad we’re not trying to figure out the third base position, did you see him play against the Cards on Wednesday? He had a couple of great plays at the hot corner, which in turn was so frustrating! I remember actually letting out a sigh because it would be just our luck to have two good third basemen and no true fit at second. Murphy’s bat does make me want to keep him in the everyday lineup for the sheer fact that I don’t have much confidence in our rotation, at least so far. We may need more runs than we think in order to win.

Luis Castillo:
Well, Castillo made a few errors this week – and I’m not surprised. Let’s face it, the guy is washed up. Watching him play just makes us all wonder, I mean really wonder, why he is even a consideration anymore. I don’t even care about contracts at this point, he needs to go. He offers nothing to this team and all this talk about his mental status should just convince the Mets brass even more that it’s over. Let’s get this done already and move on.

Oliver Perez:
Talk about pitching for your life. Ollie was pretty much out the door before he pitched two scoreless against the Cards. Of course he did, why wouldn’t he. The only bright side to this situation so far is the Mets did make it clear he would not start this year, which at least give me a little bit of hope. He seems to be pretty good against lefties, but at this point, he would probably fold during the season and just revert back to his immature antics we all know him for. And all that talk about him “doing what I need to for the team” is a bunch of garbage. C’mon Ollie, give it a rest.

The Mets Rotation:
Young is looking good so far, Dickey had given us great stuff and Pelfrey is being Pelfrey. At this point in Spring Training, I need to see more of the pitchers to make more of a realistic observation. I know I just ripped Ollie, but he’s not a part of this rotation, nor does he deserve anything from anyone. Our true rotation is still getting all the rust off and I hope we can get that finished up this week. We all know pitching wins games and I hope to see more of a positive up swing this week.

I really hope Pelfrey starts to show what he can offer the team this year, and I’m talking about the good stuff. His first week was okay. Nothing to really write about, nor do I want to get on his back. Dickey always impresses us and I can’t wait to see how he handles great batters this year when it counts. Young is making us believers and I hope he is one of those lightning in a bottle situations. It would be great to have a solid three pitchers you can believe in until Johan gets back, and when that does happen, you never know how far this team could really get.