If Panic City wasn't already happening in Flushing the past month, the whole Michael Cuddyer bum knee fiasco sure has made it even worse. For weeks Mets Twitter and fans have been screaming for the promotion of top prospect Michael Conforto and to place Cuddyer on the disabled list, and late Friday morning they got their wish. 

Bringing Conforto up from Double-A has been a long discussed topic for the Mets the past couple weeks. Some people believe this move should have happened weeks ago, others feel a little more cautious.

Despite what anybody thinks, the Mets are facing desperate times right now and a move had to be made. This move was either going to be trading away some prospects for an extra hitter or calling up a top prospect who barely has a year of professional baseball under his belt. Neither decision was going to be an easy one for the Mets' management to make. But the decision they did make will either be one that comes with great consequences or with great reward.

Either way, Conforto will join the club at home against the Dodgers on Friday night.

Conforto has been hitting .297 with 12 home runs and 54 RBIs this season in the Minor Leagues between both Single-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton. He also has been hitting .325 in his last 10 games with Binghamton. 

The Mets were extremely reluctant to make this move due to the chance of ruining a highly regarded prospect early in his career. They believed that if he does get called to the Majors and does struggle, that could set him back.

Being drafted out of Oregon State in the 2014 MLB Draft, Conforto was recognized as one of the most advanced bats in the class. The other, catcher Kyle Schwarber, has already made a name for himself in the MLB this year with the Chicago Cubs. 

This is a kid who has been steaming with confidence and a few weeks back when Conforto competed in the Futures Game in Cincinnati, Ohio, he told David Lennon of Newsday, "“everyone’s going to compare themselves to those guys (players who have been called up from Double-A to MLB). Yeah, I’ve pictured myself as that person. And I do think I’m ready. But it’s not my call."

Just over a year ago Michael Conforto was playing collegiate baseball for Oregon State. Now, is the 22 year old being asked to be the savior of the 2015 New York Mets?

As Joel Sherman of the New York Post put it on Twitter: when a bear is chasing you in the woods you don't have to be the fastest, you just have to be faster than the slowest. Same thing goes for Conforto. He doesn't have to be the best option or savior for the Mets, he just needs to be a better option than Darrell Ceciliani, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, John Mayberry and Eric Campbell. Three of these four guys are batting under .200 for the season and the only one batting above that line is barely there. 

So no, Conforto doesn't need to be baseball's version of Jesus Christ for the Mets. He just needs to better than anyone else the Mets could place in Cuddyer's shoes. And the way Conforto has dominated pitchers in the Minor Leagues, he could even out grow those shoes.