Hot Stove: A rundown of each team in the offseason
and what they are looking to improve in 2012.
New York Mets: Moving
north along the NL east division, our next team, alphabetically, is the New
York Mets.
Projected Starting
Lineup:
1B Ike
Davis
2B Daniel
Murphy
SS Ruben
Tejada
3B David
Wright
LF Jason
Bay
CF Andres
Torres
RF Lucas
Duda
C Josh
Thole
Projected Starting
Rotation:
Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
Jonathon Niese
RA Dickey
Dillon Gee
Projected Batting
Order:
CF Andres
Torres
2B Daniel
Murphy
3B David
Wright
LF Jason
Bay
1B Ike
Davis
RF Lucas
Duda
C Josh
Thole
SS Ruben
Tejada
The 2011 New York Mets had a lot of problems. After being named a plaintiff in the
Madoff victims’ suit, owner Fred Wilpon was financially hamstrung and unable to
bring in any high priced free agents. If that wasn’t bad enough, injuries played a major role on
this team, with Jason Bay, David Wright and Jose Reyes all missing games with
injury and Ike Davis missing pretty much the entire season. However, Reyes came back strong and won
the batting title hitting 337. And
Carlos Beltran played well enough to get traded to the Giants at the trade
deadline. However the new concern
for the 2012 Mets (besides the financial issues) is the fact that the team’s
leaders in AVG (Reyes) and HR and RBI (Beltran) are no longer with the
team. And none of the other
players really stepped up. The player with the second highest average (Angel
Pagan, also gone) hit 262. David
Wright and Jason Bay are still with the team but neither really had a great
year, both hitting in the mid 200s and slugging 14 and 12 HR respectively in
that spacious, home run-killing ballpark.
They hope that those two can stay healthy and have better seasons this
year, and also hope to have a full season of Ike Davis to help them out. Outside of that, the Mets have a lot of
youngsters finding their way this season and most people don’t expect them to
be major contenders in the playoff chase.
The one area the Mets feel good about this offseason is
their starting rotation. Last
year’s rotation is missing Chris Young and Chris Capuano, but they are hoping
to finally have Johan Santana back and also are looking forward to a full
season of Dillon Gee. This
rotation won’t be ranked among the greatest in the NL, but it is solid. They have 5 good guys for 5 spots. Gee led the team with 13 Wins last
season and is back for a full season this year. Jonathon Niese was second on the team with 11 Wins, but
hopes to pitch a few more innings and lower that ERA. Mike Pelfrey was expected to lead the staff last season, but
struggled posting a 4.74 ERA and a 7-13 record. He’s looking to bounce back this year as well. RA Dickey might have been the best
pitcher on the staff last season despite only recording 8 Wins. His 3.28 ERA led the team, as did his
208 IP and 1.23 WHIP. The knuckler
hopes to have another good season in 2012. The final spot in this year’s rotation goes to former Cy Young
winner Johan Santana. Santana
hasn’t pitched a full season since 2008, and missed all of last year due to
injury. If he’s even half as good
as he used to be he could be the best pitcher on the team. His K numbers have dipped since he last
struck out 200 in 08 (146 Ks in 09 and 144 in 10). But a full season could see another 150 Ks and a low ERA. If they can have a healthy Santana, and
the rest of the staff is able to play as well as last season, the Mets will
join the Braves and Marlins with their strong staffs and give the NL East some
of the best pitching in the majors.
Beyond that the Mets feel fantastic about their bullpen spending
essentially all of their 2012 offseason money to improve it. They gave big contracts to Frank
Francisco and Jon Rauch. Some
think these two were overpaid (including me) but with a good bullpen and solid
starting pitching, the Mets will be in good position to lose a lot of low
scoring games with their anemic offense.
2012 Prediction: The
Mets look like they are in trouble this season. The Phillies have been the best team in the majors the past
couple years. The Braves were
greatly improved last year and at the very least look to be just as good. And the Marlins have had a big
offseason trying to improve their squad.
The Mets weren’t great last year (they finished 4th in the
division, 25 games out of first), and lost a lot. They traded away Francisco Rodriguez to the Brewers and
Carlos Beltran to the Giants. Then
they lost Reyes, Chris Capuano and Chris Young to free agency. And finally they traded Angel Pagan
away to the Giants in the offseason.
And they don’t have the money to go out and compete in the free agent
market and get new guys for their roster.
Right now they are laying low, trying to pay off the debts of Fred
Wilpon and preparing to be sued.
Unless he sells the team soon, Mets fans will probably be dealing with
subpar teams for the next couple seasons.
Up next…Philadelphia Phillies.
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