New York Mets Season Preview

The New York Mets are entering year 2 of the Sandy Alderson era and things are rather bleak. The Metropolitans lost their starting shortstop and the defending batting champion to free agency without even tendering an offer. The other most exciting thing that happened to them this winter is Jon Niese’s nose job. One of the biggest stories surrounding the club is whether or not star third basemen David Wright should still be on the team or whether or not they should dump him and rebuild in earnest. Also, they moved the fences at Citi field in, that should be good.

Projected Lineup:

1. Andres Torres (Cf)
2. Daniel Murphy (2b)
3. David Wright (3b)
4. Ike Davis (1b)
5. Lucas Duda (Rf)
6. Jason Bay (Lf)
7. Josh Thole (c)
8. Rueben Tejada (ss)

Projected Rotation:

• Johan Santana
• Jon Niese
• Mike Pelfrey
• RA Dickey
• Dillon Gee

Strengths:

Ike Davis is back. He mysteriously missed a vast majority of last season after a freak ankle injury but he has returned to bring his 26 career home runs into the clean up spot.

Johan Santana is back. Well, at least for 140 or so innings. Johan missed all of last year but he is scheduled to make the Opening Day start. The Mets had made him the second highest payed left handed pitcher ever and they deserve some return on their investment. Johan has been very good when healthy but has struggled to stay in the rotation. Mr. Met expects big things out him this season.

Some people think Lucas Duda is good.

Weaknesses:

Let’s see, where should I begin? (Full disclosure, I’ve been waiting for this since we started these Season Previews)

I’ve written extensively on this team on the blog and my thoughts are well chronicled. I think David Wright is a very good player but incapable of carrying a team on his own. The pieces around him are not a suitable supporting cast. They aren’t reliable, they aren’t proven, and they aren’t very good.

Rueben Tejada: Can you say Rey Ordonez 2.0? Tejada is the Mets version of Jose Iglesias, a shorstop who can certainly field but doesn’t know which end of the bat to hold. Last season he hit .286 in slightly less than 100 games but it was an amazingly soft .286 and I promise he won’t do it again.

Josh Thole: He’s exactly the kind of player the Mets always have: someone you’ve never heard of who wouldn’t start on any other team. Thole had 3 homers and 40 RBIs last season. Nice.

Ronny Cedeno, the worst player in baseball, was signed by this team.

Let me go on a little Mets rant here for a second. I’ve written it before but I’ll say it again, the Mets will always be the 2nd team in New York as long as the Wilpons own them. The fact that the Madoff stuff is more or less over is irrelevant. This has been a franchise characterized by wasted money, wasted talent, incompetence and losing. Sandy Alderson is a great baseball mind and I like him. The fact that the same stupid mistakes are continuing is just further evidence that the problems here go beyond the GM are a result of a systematic culture started and perpetuated by the ownership. This team is absolutely awful, they are the butt of jokes all over the baseball community. They are virtually guarenteed to finish last in the NL East and they deserve it. That they didn’t even make an offer to Reyes, the face of the organization, is inexcusable. If I were a fan, I’d be utterly fed up with this organization and I certainly wouldn’t give them my money by a buying Duda jersey or going to watch this terrible team play.

Storylines:

What effect will the new field dimensions have on the Mets hitters, particularly Jason Bay?

How will Johan Santana perform?

How will Ike Davis rebound from his injury shortened season? He has the potential to be a star, will he show it?

Most importantly, what is the Mets plan and when will we see it?

Prediction:

73-89, last place, NL East. The Mets are clearly the worst team in the NL East. They won’t compete in this division, or any other.

Bold Predictions:

• Daivd Wright will be an Angel by August 1
• Ike Davis will hit .289 with 28 homers
• Lucas Duda won’t
• Reuben Tejada will hit .210

-Max Frankel