New York Mets
2010 Record: 79-83
656 RS, 652 RA, Pythagorean Record: 81-81
Manager: Terry Collins
GM: Sandy Alderson
Free Agents:
Taylor Buchholz, RP (1, $600k); Chris Capuano, SP (1, $1.5MM); D.J. Carrasco, RP (1, $2.5MM); Scott Hairston, OF (1, $1.1MM); Ronny Paulino, C (1, $1.3MM); Jose Reyes, SS ($11MM Club Option); Chris Young, SP (1, $1.5MM).
Minor League FA:
Russ Adams, 2B; Manny Alvarez, P; Boof Bonser, P; Blaine Boyer, P; Tim Byrdak, P; Raul Chavez, C; Jose Coronado, SS; Ryan Coultas, P; Jack Egbert, P; Jesus Feliciano, OF; Justin Hampson, P; Willie Harris, OF; Jesus Feliciano, OF; John Lujan, P; Brahiam Maldonado, OF; Jonathan Malo, 2B; Salomon Manriquez, C; Mike O’Connor, P; Val Pascucci, OF; Jason Pridie, OF; Alfredo Reyes, SS; Dusty Ryan, C; Chris Shelton, 1B; Taylor Tankersley, P; Dale Thayer, P; Kent Tsuijimoto, P; Les Walrond, P.
Rule V Pick:
Brad Emaus, 2B (Blue Jays); Pedro Beato, P (Orioles).
Trades:
Received Chin-Lung Hu (SS) from the Dodgers for Michael Antonini (P).
Waiver Claims:
None
Players Lost:
Cole Abbott, P; Jordan Abruzzo, C; Sal Aguilar, P; Joaquin Arias, SS; Michael Barrett, C; Henry Blanco, C; Yhency Brazoban, P; Brian Bruney, P; Chris Carter, OF; Mike Cervenak, 3B; Alex Cintron, 2B; Chad Cordero, P; Elmer Dessens, P; Derrick Ellison, P; Kelvim Escobar, P; Pedro Feliciano, P; Johan Figuereo, P; Jack Goldberg, P; Andy Green, 2B; Sean Green, P; Mike Hessman, 3B; Charlie Hinojosa, OF; J.R. House, C; Marhall Hubbard, 1B; Arturo Lopez, P; John Maine, P; Samuel Martinez, P; Dan McDonald, P; Ryan Mollica, 2B; Luke Montz, C; Michael Moras, C; Carlos Muniz, P; Brian Needham, P; Fernando Nieve, P; Jorge Padilla, OF; Hector Pellot, 2B; Richard Pena, P; Adam Pettyjohn, P; Trey Rackel, P; Elvin Ramirez, P; Omir Santos, C; John Semel, OF; Scott Shaw, P; Kurt Steinhauer, OF; Tim Stronach, P; Marcos Tabata, P; Hisanori Takahashi, P; Fernando Tatis, OF; Raul Valdes, P; Marinus Vernooij, 3B; Zach Von Tersch, P.
Top 15 Prospects
1. Wilmer Flores, SS
2. Jenrry Mejia, RHP
3. Matt Harvey, RHP
4. Fernando Martinez, OF
5. Cesar Puello, OF
6. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, OF
7. Aderlin Rodriguez, 3B
8. Reese Havens, 2B
9. Juan Urbina, LHP
10. Cory Vaughn, OF
11. Lucas Duda, OF
12. Jeurys Familia, RHP
13. Darrell Ceciliani, OF
14. Robert Carson, LHP
15. Jefry Marte, 3B
The Mets have 3 incredible prospects at the top of the list. I like Wilmer Flores quite a bit, even if he doesn’t stick at short; his bat will work at third. Jenrry Mejia is a close second; he’d probably be the top dog if the Mets would have been patient and not rushed him to the Majors last year. Matt Harvey can be a top of the rotation pitcher, if he can stand the strain of professional pitching schedules. Fernando Martinez has been in the picture for ever and still hasn’t proven himself at the big league level; time is starting to run out and he’ll be starting in Triple A again. 5-11 have the opportunity to be big league regulars, specifically Cesar Puello and Reese Havens. I also think Jeurys Familia and Jefry Marte could have breakout seasons.
2010 Review:
Nothing really went right for the Mets in 2010. Big free agent signing Jason Bay was ineffective and injured and ace Johan Santana missed a chunk of the season. Add in the Madoff scandal, and things really weren’t good.
Also factor in the decline of Carlos Beltran, the legal issues of Francisco Rodriguez, the mis-handling of Mejia, and the ineffectiveness of Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo. It was a definite black eye for GM Omar Minaya and would have to factor into his dismissal.
There were a couple of bright spots. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey finally had success, at age 36, after years in the minors (granted, he was in the Majors at times, but never successful). Slugger David Wright started to hit for power. Angel Pagan broke out and played better than Beltran.
2011 Preview:
With Sandy Alderson taking over for Minaya, there is hope he can right the ship. It’s expected that Perez and Castillo won’t break camp with the team. Beltran will move to right field to accommodate Pagan.
Alderson did bring in recovering starters Chris Young and Chris Capuano; they should provide upgrades over Perez.
Alderson also upgraded the front office, bringing in J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta; both have ties to Alderson from their Oakland days and both have run organizations (although not really successfully).
None of this should be enough to lift the Mets to the top of the standings this year. They have more baggage to shed and to make sure the owner has money before they can be at that level with the Phillies.
From the Bloggers:
Kerel Cooper, On the Black: This will know doubt be an interesting year for the Mets, on and off the field. I expect this team to play hard and be fundamentally sound. If healthy I think they have a good offense, top to bottom. I expect them to score a lot of runs this year. My concern is pitching (starting and bullpen). Johan Santana won’t be ready until June at the earliest and they have a couple guys in Chris Young and Chris Capuano who are trying to make their way back. I think they will be in the wild card race most of the way but at the end of the day I think they will end up somewhere/maybe a few games over .500 and miss the playoffs. Naturally as a fan, I hope I’m wrong.
A.C. Wanye, Mets Public Record: The expectations thus far have been extremely low for this year’s Mets club. With a new front office and manager, of course there is going to be trepidation. For the last few seasons, the Mets have been gauged by a lot of “ifs” and this season is no different. With Terry Collins’ decision to have Carlos Beltran start Opening Day in right field, assuming that his knee holds up, is just one of the scenarios that has to break right for the Mets to have any chance at succeeding this year.
On the bright side, the starting pitching will only get better as long as Chris Young and Chris Capuano stay the course. As for the offense, if Mets hitters are able to put up the numbers showing on the back of their baseball cards, then we’ll be alright on that front.
Paul, Random Baseball Stuff: The New York Mets enter the 2011 season with a lot of question marks. Will Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay and Jose Reyes be healthy and have productive seasons? Can the Mets find someone qualified to play second base at the major league level in the group of contenders they have in camp this spring? Can Chris Young and Chris Capuano stay healthy and return to All-Star form? When will Johan Santana return? How much of a distraction will the team’s financial situation cause?
I have no idea. If everything works out perfectly, I could see the Mets winning 87 or 88 games and making a run at the wild card. In a more realistic scenario, I expect the Mets to finish around .500 in third or fourth place.
Prediction:
3rd Place
Daniels from Inside Pulse contributed this prediction after this went live:
As the pre-season rolls on, more information has been leaking about the Mets’ owners’ financial shape. The most damning being the admission of a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball. At the very least, this explained a couple things. First, it explained their decision to fire their general manager because their on-field manager was an atrocity that cost the team 10-15 games (more on this later). Second, it explained why Sandy Alderson was scraped out of obscurity to run the team. Alderson, friend of Bud Selig and guy who they sent to clean up baseball operations in the Dominican Republic, was sent to the Mets to be The Wolf and protect the franchise’s value. As his back-up, the team hired JP Riccardi who is responsible for 1) the single worst contract in baseball (not rescinded until he performs like last year a second time) 2) another of the top ten worst contracts in baseball and 3) letting the best pitcher in baseball leave for nothing when the team was out of contention with a zero-percent chance to re-sign. That’s our braintrust.
And Sandy Alderson’s first move as General Manager? To hire Terry Collins as manager. Terry Collins who has been at the helm of the Astros for an epic collapse and lost his players so badly he had to resign mid-season. Twice. Once in Japan. Japanese people don’t even boo at wrestling matches. Sounds like exactly the type of manager the Mets needed. A guy who hasn’t ever successfully managed a team while there were other better brand name managers available.
So, where does that leave the team this year? Ultimately, pretty much the same place they were last year. If they stay healthy (somewhat unlikely given that Carlos Beltran and Johan Santana will start the season on the DL) the team that Omar Minaya built last year is good. The top of their line-up is solid. Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, and Jason Bay is a solid top five. Ike Davis and Josh Thole were solid rookies last season who need to avoid a sophomore slump. Daniel Murphy, who lost all of last season to injuries, will finally be able to try and save the Mets from their long nightmare that was Luis Castillo’s good defense and decent hitting.
The Mets problem, largely, will be their pitching. Without Johan Santana, they have no true ace. Mike Pelfrey and Jon Niese have the difficult task of trying to match last season’s great work. R.A. Dickey… well… let’s just say I’ll be stunned if he does this year what he did last year. While watching Dickey’s performance last year was fun, I don’t have any faith he’ll do it again. The bottom two slots of the Mets’ rotation will be made up of whomever they can find. The last two most likely candidates will probably be some combination of Chris Young, Chris Capuano, and Boof Bonser. I’d also imagine we’ll see prospect Dillon Gee sooner rather than later.
The Mets are about the same team they were last year with, hopefully, a better manager. I would not be surprised to see an eight-game upswing. I expect a big year from Reyes and a bounceback year from a Jason Bay who now understands the ballpark canyon. Carlos Beltran will likely get on the field if he has to be wheeled out on a gurney. As for the pitchers, the most infuriating part of the offseason was the fact the Mets let pitchers sign elsewhere without putting up a fight. They desperately needed to sign another premium pitcher because of Johan’s injury. They didn’t, which really just leaves a dim hope the Mariners do not want to pay the final 3-years/$60M on King Felix’s contract.
Over/Under (77.5): Over. 89-83, 2nd place, NL East. Sandy Alderson gets credit for Omar Minaya’s team.