This is a real weird signing for a few reasons. I get that Sheffield is an established player that comes cheap. That's a small part of the story though. Sheffield's best years came when he was using steroids. He hasn't played the outfield in a couple of years and know one knows what he'll do out there. Sheffield hit .225 last year with the Tigers.

When you go beyond the Sheffield specific issues you have to think about what this does to the clubhouse. This move impacts Fernando Tatis, Daniel Murphy, Marlon Anderson and Ryan Church to name a few. This is a real shakeup. I'm shaking my head on this one.

I think this move is almost on the same level as the Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano deal, even though the Mets aren't giving anything up. Whoever thinks that Sheffield is going to start, play well and be a dominant presense in the Met's lineup is absolutely out of their mind!! I don't know whether or not Omar was in his right mind when he signed Sheffield. It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Doesn't it tell you something when Detroit, one of the most devastated cities economically speaking, eats 14 million just to get rid of the guy?! I mean c'mon he's 40 years old, you'll be lucky to get .215 12 HR and 40 RBI out of this guy. This is really unfair to Murphy,Church, and other players on the bench who worked hard in camp to earn those jobs. It also sends a negative message to those players. The only positive you could argue is that he adds depth to the bench, but Sheffield is an atrocious fielder so how is this gonna work?

I hope all this is is a block against the Phillies, who supposedly had some interest in him.  He's not going to start, is he?  Backup RH-hitting power hitter off the bench, spot starter, sure, that's worth $400K I guess, plus he'd hit his 500th right off the bat for the Mets.  It's not an impact move, that's for sure.  At least Gooden'll be happy about it.

We don't need this diva, this is garbage!  All through spring training I've been listening to the FAN's podcasts and hearing about how good the team spirit is at the moment. What an insult to our corner outfielders who were lauded to the press when questions about bringing Manny to the Mets arose. "We like what we already have" might have been the quote from Minaya. What message does this send to them?

I really hope this doesn't bring down the likes of Church and Murphy but it's hard to believe  that this wouldn't already be playing in the back of these guys' minds.  I was really counting on/expecting  a breakout year from Murphy. I sincerely hope this doesn't jeopardize it! I just can't see any good coming from this acquisition, only negatives. It's completely nuts!

Jamie in Japan.

Listen, I have never liked Sheffield as a person either, I got real mad at him when he accused Joe Torre, one of the best managers of all time, of racism several years after he had already left the Yankees. I agree that his personality can be a little rough around the edges. But the fact is that our team DESPERATELY needs a right handed bat, especially a power bat. Sheffeild is a HOF bound right handed power bat. Manuel has already said that Sheffield is not cutting into Murphy's time at all, only Church's, and so this shouldn't affect Murphy at all. Church is a much better fielder and i'd guess he will start 70% of the games, as most pitchers are right handed anyway. For the other 30%, we can use Church as a late game defensive replacement, and Sheffield is certainly capable of a 15 homer season with just those few games! Sure, he's not gonna maintain a high average, but niether will some other guys on our squad like Delgado. Look at it this way: had we not signed Sheffeild, Marlon Anderson would have made the Opening Day roster. Marlon Anderson hit .215 last season, has no power whatsoever, is left handed in a lefty oriented lineup, and is in his late 30's! Sheffield, at a lower salary, has way more power, can hit for a better average than .215, is right handed, and is really not much older! Anderson had a terrible spring, and Sheffield is a much better fit on our bench than he is. We only paid this guy 400k over 1 season, it's not like we're making a commitment to him. If he doesn't work out, we'll just fire him and there's not much harm done. And for those of you who say he will affect the mental outlook of Murphy, Tatis, Church, Evans, and Anderson, well your right but that's a good thing. Murphy won't be affected, he's got LF locked down. Evans is still very young and was rushed to the big leagues last year due to injuries, so giving him another years seasoning in AAA won't hurt. Anderson in my mind should be fired, as he's no good anyway so i don't care what he thinks. and Church could use a little competition! last time his was fighting for a job was early last year, when he was hitting over .300 and was the hottest player on our team. then Alou got hurt, and Church was no longer fighting for playing time, and he got hurt too and then slumped for the rest of the year. Competition brings out the best in teams. Baseball is a business, and if our players aren't able to handle that then maybe we shouldn't have them anyway. Mental weakness has led to our late season defeciencies the last 2 years, and if our guys can't handle the pressure that comes with competing for a roster spot then how will they handle the pressure come September or (hopefully) October? So I don't have any problem with signing a HOF right handed power bat to bring some competition to our roster and improve our bench with a low risk, short term contract, even if as a person Sheff is a little screwy.

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?playerID=122111&statType=1

Only 2 years ago he hit .265 with 25 homers, 100+ runs, and 100+ rbi's, and last year he played hurt much of the year anyway. He is a lifetime .292 hitter and has 499 career homers. Maybe Sheffield is a little wacky, but if he's putting up a .260 20 90 90 line for us I'm not complaining. That is way more than Church can do, especially against lefties when the only other right handed hitters on our team are Wright and Tatis. And on a team with as many injuries as we've had the past 2 seasons, we need all the depth we can get. Honestly, look at the above career statistics and tell me you're not impressed and a little excited at what Sheff is capable of when he's healthy and rested.

I'll agree on Sheffield but disagree on Torre being one of the e best managers of all time.  Why was he a bomb then with the Mets, Cards, Braves (90% of the time) and Angels?  I could've won 100 games with those Yankees teams too by sitting there on a bench like a lump making a frog face next to Don Zimmer.