The New York Mets have been pretty much irrelevant recently. But there’s renewed hope emerging from a 2014 season that flashed some upside. Here’s my breakdown on the ’15 entry and what might be expected from a franchise looking to become a player following a run of losing campaigns.
The best news for the Mets is the return of Matt Harvey. Expectations are supposed to be tempered for any pitcher just off Tommy John surgery, but it’s tough not to get revved up about Harvey picking up here he left off. This guy is a tremendous talent, and if you like baseball, even if you can’t stand the Mets, you have to be rooting for Harvey to get right back to his dominant form. He’s a fierce competitor and he’s a blast to watch. It’s early, but the early returns are extremely positive.
If Harvey is good to go, it transforms the Mets staff, and that’s even with the injury to Zack Wheeler. There’s no question the loss of Wheeler is damaging, and the Mets probably don’t have a true #2 starter. But Jon Niese is a decent southpaw, and in spite of a lousy spring to date, Bartolo Colon should be adequate. Dillon Gee had been slated for residence in the bullpen, but if he’s the #5, there are plenty worse options. Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero are talented prospects and Steven Matz is climbing the ladder impressively. With Wheeler, possible a very high end rotation. Without him it’s still a staff that I think can be above average.
I like the Mets bullpen. I’m not sure who emerges as the long haul closer, but there are a bunch of good young arms in this relief corps. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the NL version of the Royals. But I don’t see any glaring issues with what the Mets have for the crucial late inning work.
I expect improvement from the Mets offense. David Wright is perhaps not on track to be a Hall of Fame member, as was thought to be the case a few years ago. But he’s still well above average. David Murphy gets good grades at 2B and Wilmer Flores is a breakout candidate at SS.
Juan Lagares is a great center fielder and his offense is getting better. Michael Cuddyer won’t duplicate his Rockies numbers but he can still play and some mechanical tweaks appear to have Curtis Granderson on track to at least get back to a respectable level. I’m evidently just not ever going to be sold on Lucas Duda at first base, and the Mets depth chart is not exactly laden with stars.
Overall, this is not a team that I can foresee making a playoff push. It’s just not a complete entry at this point. Therefore, I’d have to lean Under on the win total option, but not by enough to justify a bet. I’ll slot the Mets into third place in the NL East and I’d look for another season right in the .500 neighborhood.