Today I'll discuss pitchers and catchers.
To the catchers-
Only because this is the simplest when you understand that this is Travis d'Arnaud's job to lose with the caveat being he needs 2015 to be his breakout year. His backups are Anthony Recker and Taylor Teagarden (in that order) and neither have shown me they can be a starting catcher for any organization. Both are serviceable as backups so it is crystal clear that d'Arnaud will be the guy squatting behind the dish, and expectations are high, to be sure.
He's being handed the most promising pitching staff in the majors, so his game-management skills shouldn't be put to too great a test. The challenge defensively will be to keep base runners in check and I think d'Arnaud should be aggressive. I'd like to see him, early on, show that he is NOT afraid to pick off runners and throw to first base often. Take those chances and get in the minds of potential base stealers. The mental edge he could grab would be huge, and anything less than 35% of base runners caught stealing would be unacceptable. Ideally I'd like that number closer to 40% but that's asking d'Arnaud to be elite. To me, Travis d'Arnaud is the most exciting player the Mets have defensively because his potential is tremendous and he's right at the point in his career where he should be starting his prime.
Offensively d'Arnaud needs to be more than just consistent, he needs to be a force, and by force I mean clutch. Naturally we want a catcher to flirt with 30 home runs and 100 rbi's, but I would be content with doubles in the alleys and singles to right with runners on first. The power numbers don't need to be high for d'Arnaud to be clutch and protect his mates in the lineup.
To the pitchers-
Only the Mets can have too much of a good thing. To most teams, excessive starting pitching is generally a gold mine of chips to play with but the Mets moved nobody in exchange for an impact player. The Mets have six seasoned, league-proven quality starters. Throw in Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard and that makes eight, count 'em, eight chips to play with. None moved during the winter meetings.
GM Sandy Alderson says he was shopping Jon Niese, but really the only public knowledge was he tried to dump Dillon Gee solely to get his $5 million paycheck off the books. A salary dump? With nothing in return? And there were no takers???
Like I said, only the Mets. (sigh) Here is my projected rotation:
Matt Harvey (r)
Bartolo Colon (r)
Jon Niese (l)
Zack Wheeler (r)
Jacob DeGrom (r)
Odd men out: Dillon Gee (r), Noah Syndergaard (r) and Rafael Montero (r).
I put Niese at number three only because he is the sole southpaw in the mix and I want at least one lefty throwing every five days. Montero has shown (in albeit limited exposure) that he is perhaps NOT the superstar the rumors led us to believe. Syndergaard has not even pitched at the major league level yet and Gee, I feel, can be on any starting rotation in the league.
To some degree it would make sense to go as far as spring training with the status quo because despite the potential, these starting five have some questions to be answered. To wit;
How will Harvey bounce back from Tommy John surgery? Will Colon win 15 games again? How bad will (NL rookie of the year) DeGrom's inevitable sophomoric slump be? Can Wheeler elevate himself to be the number two or three guy? Will Niese even be on the team come spring training?
If any of those questions are answered in the negative, the Mets will need the odd men out to step up and fill in the blanks, but what to do in the meantime?
I just don't know.
I think Sandy Alderson showed great restraint in not making a trade for the sake of making a trade. I'm ecstatic that he did not trade for Troy Tulowitzki. But it's disturbing to think he was willing to throw away Gee purely to dump salary. I hope Alderson is slyly lying in the weeds waiting to pounce on an All-Star caliber shortstop made available via trade. The reality of that happening is nil, but is he looking to further upgrade the bullpen? That makes for a great segue...
To the bullpen-
Why, oh WHY did the Mets not try to bring in Andrew Miller? It's bad enough he signed with the crosstown Yankees but the Mets did not even enter the sweepstakes! Alderson has been saying for months that they were looking for a lefty to join Dana Eveland in the bullpen and there was Andrew Miller, courting suitors. Yet the Mets showed no public interest. If anything happened behind closed doors, nobody's talking, but Met fans sure would have liked to think we were in the hunt for a guy that is as effective against righties as lefties.
Could you imagine Miller joining a bullpen that boasts a back end of Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia (two proven closers) and Bobby Parnell (another proven closer) returning from Tommy John surgery? Boys and girls, that's the 6th, 7th, 8th AND 9th innings LOCKED DOWN!!!
It hurts just to think about what could have been.
Instead Eveland, who is hardly lights-out, by the way, is being complimented by the re-signing of Scott Rice (coming off an injury), untested Sean Gilmartin whom they snatched up via the Rule 5 Draft, and Josh Edgin who, like a venereal disease, just won't go away. Those are the lefties. What of right-hander Carlos Torres? He has shown value in long relief and as an emergency spot-starter. Is he out of the mix thanks to the logjam at the end of the starting rotation? It doesn't seem fair.
The only certainty of the bullpen is Gonzalez Germen won't be there as he was designated for assignment over the weekend.
In conclusion, the Mets are banking on a bunch of guys with abounding question marks. Who rides the bench will depend upon how many pitchers they decide to bring out of spring training. They did not tender a contract to the speedy Eric Young, Jr so he's gone despite being a stolen base threat and being able to play second base as well as corner outfield.
The big picture begs even more questions. Assuming this group can win 90 games, is that enough to win the NL East? Consider what the rest of the division is doing...
Fans should be terrified of both Washington and Miami. The Nationals seem to be in an all-or-nothing mindset, putting all of their chips on the table now, considering how many of their key players become free agents after 2015.
The Marlins have been very active this offseason, trying to build a winner around Giancarlo Stanton and that crazy extension he signed last month.
Let's not forget about those pesky Atlanta Braves. Are you sleeping on them? I'm not. They are the cockroaches of the NL East. Come September you may not think they're around, but turn on the lights and there are the Braves; scurrying around, spreading disease and vying for a wildcard spot if not the Eastern crown itself. Disgusting creatures, those Braves.
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