Sheff and the Mets

The Mets sign Gary Sheffield and plan to use him as an outfielder. That means Sheffield will certainly take playing time away from Daniel Murphy, Ryan Church and Fernando Tatis.

"He's more than welcome," Church said. "He's a great player and he's just another piece for us.

"I can't control what they do," the right fielder added in regards to potential at-bats he'd surrender to Sheffield, who played exclusively at DH last year in Detroit. "I just have to always be ready to play every day."

Murphy, who Manuel penciled in as the starting left fielder coming out of spring training, added: "We're here to win a World Series. If the organization and Omar (Minaya) think he's going to help, let's go get him."

Both Manuel and Minaya indicated that Sheffield is more likely to play right field than left and said the righty slugger can balance the Mets' lineup, which has been dominated by lefthanded hitters in recent seasons.

Sheffield brings 499 career home runs to the Mets. He'll get every chance to prove he can still hack it at the MLB level. It's a good move for New York, which has a rather unimpressive outfield situation for a contender.

Fantasy Impact: For Sheffield owners, this is about as good as it could get. Your injury-prone bopper will get a bunch of at bats, and he'll be part of an above average lineup. For Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church owners, this drops both players into a full-time platoon.