CHICAGO -- Even with Jordany Valdespin's demotion, the Mets still are very heavy in terms of middle infielders.

With Ruben Tejada and Ronny Cedeño starting Monday, the bench consists of infielders Justin Turner, Daniel Murphy and Omar Quintanilla as well as the backup catcher and outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who is sitting against Cubs left-hander Travis Wood.

Terry Collins acknowledged it is not an ideal bench configuration, but the motivation was twofold: The Mets did not want to part with Quintanilla until they are positive Tejada is past any potential additional quadriceps trouble. And, the Mets are concerned about losing Quintanilla off waivers once they try to demote him.

"I thought it was very important to make sure we had another guy who could play shortstop in case Ruben happens to have a relapse of some sort," Collins said. "We just took a shot right now. I like (Quintanilla's) bat off the bench. I like his defense. We'll make some adjustments. And Jason Bay is going to start working out today. He's going to start his progress back. ...

"When we made this decision, we were worried about losing Quintanilla. And we were also worried about if we lost him and Ruben had a relapse, we might have some problems."