Sheffield, who turns 41 in November, was a limited role player this past season, and although the Mets are desperately in need of power in their lineup, the team will almost certainly not pursue the slugger.
Sheffield, who hit his 500th home run this past April as a Met, brought his ever threatening presence to the plate on a team which struggled to hit home runs, however, like most Mets players in 2009, he dealt with nagging injuries throughout the season and finished with only 10 homeruns and 43 runs batted in while hitting for a .276 average in 100 games played.
Jeff Francoeur’s 15 round-trippers led a team which included only 5 total players who finished in double figures in homeruns. Daniel Murphy followed second on the team with 15 homeruns while David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Sheffield all totaled 10 each.
The Mets, who are optimistic that the 2010 squad will be a healthy one, still have several voids to fill to seriously compete for a division title. Power and pitching will definitely be the priority this off-season.
Eight Mets players are eligible for free agency. Carlos Delgado, J.J. Putz, Brian Schneider, Alex Cora and Ramon Martinez have already filed leaving only Fernando Tatis and Elmer Dressens who have not yet filed.
