Can Anyone Play Second Base?

Photo courtesy: Michael G. Baron
"Forget it. I'll play it myself."

The battle for second base is shaping up to be, well...less than stellar. Please don't hate me for saying this Mets fans, but it's looking like Luis Castillo may be the best of the bunch.

The thought of Castillo being the opening day second baseman is enough to send Mets fans into a frenzy, and set my Twitter feed ablaze with angry messages.

With the current crop of players being less than impressive, Terry Collins has decided to mix things up and add Luis Hernandez to the group vying for a job at second base.

Hernandez got off to a hot start in Sunday's game against the Cardinals, driving in two runs on a triple. 

Of the previous fab four in contention for the position, Daniel Murphy has the highest batting average at .303, followed by Castillo with .263. Brad Emaus is hitting whopping .200, while Justin Turner is doing even worse at .130.

Unfortunately for Murphy, this isn't a hitting competition, it's also a fielding competition. Murphy made two errors in Saturday's 12-0 loss to the Braves.

Hernandez could make things interesting. The media has been saying for a few weeks that it's Murphy's job to lose. Collins' addition of Hernandez to the second base mix may be his way of saying Murphy isn't all that far from doing just that.