It's that time of the year. Spring Training 2016 is underway and baseball fans all around the country are counting down until April 3rd.
However, right now, I'm here to talk about the Mets. If some part of your family is from Long Island, are kind of assholes, and love hearing Gary Cohen yell "IT'S OUTTA HERE!" this post is for you.
After years of sorrow and frustration, the Mets are obviously a legitimate threat to win it all. If someone had told me in 2014 that the they could win in 2015 or 2016 I would have thought they didn't watch baseball. So without further ado here is the 2016 Preview/Predictions for the New York Mets.
After years of sorrow and frustration, the Mets are obviously a legitimate threat to win it all. If someone had told me in 2014 that the they could win in 2015 or 2016 I would have thought they didn't watch baseball. So without further ado here is the 2016 Preview/Predictions for the New York Mets.
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POTENTIAL OPENING DAY DEPTH CHART
Rotation
1. Jacob deGrom 2. Matt Harvey 3. Noah Syndegaard 4. Steven Matz 5. Bartolo Colon (eventually Wheeler)
RP Blevins RP Bastardo RP Robles RP Reed CL Familia
RF Grandy 2B Walker 3B Wright CF Cespedes 1B Duda C d'Arnaud LF Conforto SS Cabrera P
Catcher
Travis d'Arnaud
Kevin Plawecki
1st Base
Lucas Duda
Wilmer Flores (Not a joke)
2nd Base
Neil Walker
Ruben Tejada
Wilmer Flores
3rd Base
David Wright
Wilmer Flores
Shortstop
Asdrubal Cabrera
Ruben Tejada
Wilmer Flores
Outfield
Michael Conforto
Yoenis Cespedes
Curtis Granderson
Alejandro de Aza
Juan Lagares
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When I take a look at that roster, I see the best pitching staff in the league, a strong bullpen and a pretty good, not great lineup with a good bench. (despite having Wilmer Flores being the backup 1st baseman)
The infield.
While I like the lineup, there are a few question marks. Lucas Duda was extremely inconsistent throughout the whole year. He had 8 home runs in July, but hit .178, on the contrary, in August, he hit .308 with 3 home runs. What was promising is that Duda actually hit .285 against left-handed pitchers last year, but only hit .230 against righties. This is obviously a massive improvement from past years against lefties, but his hitting against righties was not promising. It's obvious Duda has upside, but his strikeouts and inconsistency scare me.
While David Wright hit .289 last year in limited games, I am VERY nervous about him this year. I feel Collins will have to rotate Tejada and Flores in at third a lot to keep Wright fresh. Wright is the glue of this team and he will need to be in the lineup is much as his back lets him, but keeping him healthy over the course of the year is the most important thing.
The middle infield is new. I like Neil Walker ALOT and think he is a very serviceable replacement for Murph. A switch-hitter with a clean swing and good range in the field, I have no problem with losing Jon Niese for him at all (that should go without saying). Asdrubal Cabrera is eh. Not good, not bad. Call me crazy, but I would rather have Wilmer in at short with Tejada backing him up. Flores and Cabrera practically had the same seasons at the plate. Cabrera, .265 15 HR, 58 RBI. Flores, .263 16 HR, 59 RBI. Flores isn't the best at short, but he's only 24. I don't mind the Cabrera signing, but I would have been perfectly okay without it. For some reason Flores is the backup everything, so until people see him at first base, I don't really know how I feel about it. (Kinda worries me to be honest, but its not the end of the world)
On to the outfield.
Did Cespedes get overpaid? Was it worth it? Well, he hit 17 home runs in 230 at-bats and the Mets went 37-22 with Yo and were a completely different team the day he was inserted into the lineup. Amazingly (and obviously), the Mets are a win-now team. They made it to the fucking World Series last year. Spending $75 million for three years may seem excessive to some, but it is more than necessary. Sure he is a left fielder, but Lagares will replace Conforto in late games. Sure he drives weird cars and brings pigs to Spring Training, but he is the guy who was the Mets most important midseason acquisition in I don't know how long. Simply put, the Mets need Cespedes and the fans need Cespedes.
I love Michael Conforto. Love him. What a fucking swing. He came straight from Double-A and impressed. I know .270 isn't much to ride home about in the grand scheme of things, but playing in a big city in the midst of a hot streak, he performed as well as a guy straight from Double-A could. He can't really hit lefties, but that's the beauty of having Lagares. He serves as not only a defensive replacement, but a solid righty bat against LHP.
I was wrong about Curtis Granderson. I thought he was an atrocious signing and did not fit the Mets. I guess I was kind of right in 2014, but wow was I off in 2015. He walked 91 times, good for 9th in the MLB and hit 26 home runs from the leadoff spot. Despite not having an arm, he played a very solid right field. More importantly, he was consistent. He may have hit .259, but as Billy Beane says, he got on base. He was setting the table for Duda and Cespedes. If he can repeat last year, expect to see a lot of RBIs from the middle of the order.
On to the bullpen.
Good. Blevins and Bastardo will hold down the lefties. Robles and Reed may be risky. Considering Robles is young and Reed forgot how to pitch in the playoffs, it can be a problem. However, with the starting rotation the Mets have, they should be fine. Luckily, Jeurys Famila is filthy. Yes, I know he blew 3 games in the World Series. I hear about it every goddamn day, but he throws a 97 MPH sinker with sink that very few have been able to match. So, for the bullpen, they should be serviceable, and thats all they need to be. (P.S. Jenry Mejia is retarded. Needed to throw that in.)
Last, but not least... THE BEST FUCKING PITCHING STAFF IN BASEBALL.
It's really not an argument at this point. The New York Mets' pitching staff is the best in baseball and will be for a long, long time. The top three could be number ones on any other team, maybe not Syndegaard, but shut-up. deGrom was nasty from his first to last game of the season. He has three nasty pitches, four total. His 95 MPH fastball, mixed in with his 90 MPH slider and 83 MPH curve, are just not fair. With a 2.54 ERA, and 205 strikeouts, its a bit surprising he didn't finish higher than 7th in the Cy Young race. After deGrom are Harvey and Syndegaard. Matt Harvey, whatta guy. Dude is almost as filthy as deGrom. High 90s fastball, movement on every breaking ball, mixed with a nice change, its just not fair. Syndegaard, 99 MPH fastball from a 6'6" frame, its just scary. Steven Matz, Big Sexy, and Zack Wheeler (later in the year) round out what is the best rotation in the league, and maybe in the last 20-30 years. I mean, I could go on and on about this staff, but you get my point. LFGM.
I'm hyped.
Predictions
2016 New York Mets: 94-68
World Series Champions
#LFGM
The infield.
While I like the lineup, there are a few question marks. Lucas Duda was extremely inconsistent throughout the whole year. He had 8 home runs in July, but hit .178, on the contrary, in August, he hit .308 with 3 home runs. What was promising is that Duda actually hit .285 against left-handed pitchers last year, but only hit .230 against righties. This is obviously a massive improvement from past years against lefties, but his hitting against righties was not promising. It's obvious Duda has upside, but his strikeouts and inconsistency scare me.
While David Wright hit .289 last year in limited games, I am VERY nervous about him this year. I feel Collins will have to rotate Tejada and Flores in at third a lot to keep Wright fresh. Wright is the glue of this team and he will need to be in the lineup is much as his back lets him, but keeping him healthy over the course of the year is the most important thing.
The middle infield is new. I like Neil Walker ALOT and think he is a very serviceable replacement for Murph. A switch-hitter with a clean swing and good range in the field, I have no problem with losing Jon Niese for him at all (that should go without saying). Asdrubal Cabrera is eh. Not good, not bad. Call me crazy, but I would rather have Wilmer in at short with Tejada backing him up. Flores and Cabrera practically had the same seasons at the plate. Cabrera, .265 15 HR, 58 RBI. Flores, .263 16 HR, 59 RBI. Flores isn't the best at short, but he's only 24. I don't mind the Cabrera signing, but I would have been perfectly okay without it. For some reason Flores is the backup everything, so until people see him at first base, I don't really know how I feel about it. (Kinda worries me to be honest, but its not the end of the world)
On to the outfield.
Did Cespedes get overpaid? Was it worth it? Well, he hit 17 home runs in 230 at-bats and the Mets went 37-22 with Yo and were a completely different team the day he was inserted into the lineup. Amazingly (and obviously), the Mets are a win-now team. They made it to the fucking World Series last year. Spending $75 million for three years may seem excessive to some, but it is more than necessary. Sure he is a left fielder, but Lagares will replace Conforto in late games. Sure he drives weird cars and brings pigs to Spring Training, but he is the guy who was the Mets most important midseason acquisition in I don't know how long. Simply put, the Mets need Cespedes and the fans need Cespedes.
I love Michael Conforto. Love him. What a fucking swing. He came straight from Double-A and impressed. I know .270 isn't much to ride home about in the grand scheme of things, but playing in a big city in the midst of a hot streak, he performed as well as a guy straight from Double-A could. He can't really hit lefties, but that's the beauty of having Lagares. He serves as not only a defensive replacement, but a solid righty bat against LHP.
I was wrong about Curtis Granderson. I thought he was an atrocious signing and did not fit the Mets. I guess I was kind of right in 2014, but wow was I off in 2015. He walked 91 times, good for 9th in the MLB and hit 26 home runs from the leadoff spot. Despite not having an arm, he played a very solid right field. More importantly, he was consistent. He may have hit .259, but as Billy Beane says, he got on base. He was setting the table for Duda and Cespedes. If he can repeat last year, expect to see a lot of RBIs from the middle of the order.
On to the bullpen.
Good. Blevins and Bastardo will hold down the lefties. Robles and Reed may be risky. Considering Robles is young and Reed forgot how to pitch in the playoffs, it can be a problem. However, with the starting rotation the Mets have, they should be fine. Luckily, Jeurys Famila is filthy. Yes, I know he blew 3 games in the World Series. I hear about it every goddamn day, but he throws a 97 MPH sinker with sink that very few have been able to match. So, for the bullpen, they should be serviceable, and thats all they need to be. (P.S. Jenry Mejia is retarded. Needed to throw that in.)
Last, but not least... THE BEST FUCKING PITCHING STAFF IN BASEBALL.
It's really not an argument at this point. The New York Mets' pitching staff is the best in baseball and will be for a long, long time. The top three could be number ones on any other team, maybe not Syndegaard, but shut-up. deGrom was nasty from his first to last game of the season. He has three nasty pitches, four total. His 95 MPH fastball, mixed in with his 90 MPH slider and 83 MPH curve, are just not fair. With a 2.54 ERA, and 205 strikeouts, its a bit surprising he didn't finish higher than 7th in the Cy Young race. After deGrom are Harvey and Syndegaard. Matt Harvey, whatta guy. Dude is almost as filthy as deGrom. High 90s fastball, movement on every breaking ball, mixed with a nice change, its just not fair. Syndegaard, 99 MPH fastball from a 6'6" frame, its just scary. Steven Matz, Big Sexy, and Zack Wheeler (later in the year) round out what is the best rotation in the league, and maybe in the last 20-30 years. I mean, I could go on and on about this staff, but you get my point. LFGM.
I'm hyped.
Predictions
2016 New York Mets: 94-68
World Series Champions
#LFGM
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