With Football season over, and a week away from pitchers and catchers, its time to dive into back into New York baseball. We're gonna kick off our two part New York baseball preview with the team from Flushing.Key Additions: Jason Bay (LF), Frank Catalanotto (Util), Kelvim Escobar (RP), Josh Fogg (SP), Gary Matthews (OF)
Key Losses: J.J. Putz (RP), Tim Redding (SP), Brian Schneider (C), Jeremy Reed (OF)
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2009 was a season to forget for Mets fans, they went 70-92 finishing 4th in the NL East. It wasn't that the Mets were a bad team to begin the season, they just managed to have almost everyone of their starting fielders and ace pitcher go down with injuries. Here are some keys to the Mets 2010 season.
Pitching, Pitching, and more Pitching: Pitching wins championships, the Yankees power house offenses of the mid 2000's have proved this. The Mets do not have the pitching to compete with the rest of the NL East. Omar Minaya went about this offseason the wrong way. Yes Jason Bay was a good signing, and yes he did sign some good role players.
But the Mets needed pitching above hitting and they failed to address that need. The money spent on Jason Bay should have been put towards John Lackey. While the Mets failed to address their biggest need, their division rival only added one of the best pitchers in the game, Roy Halladay. The Phillies, Marlins, and Braves all have pitchers 1-5 that they can throw out their on any night and best Mets pitching. The Mets rotation stands right now as: 1. Johan Santana, 2. John Maine, 3. Mike Pelfrey, 4. Oliver Perez, and 5. Josh Fogg. That is hardly a scary rotation, They all posted era's above 4 except for Santana. If the Mets hope to compete for a playoff spot they need to make a push for a pitcher during the season, a number 2 pitcher.
David Wright and Jose Reyes:
Last season David Wright seemed to forget how to hit home runs. To say he didn't have a good year would be a lie because statistically he certainly did: .307 Avg. , 10 HR, 72 RBIs, 88 Runs, 27 SB, .390 OBP. Thats a line that most players would be happy to have, but when you have hit at least 30 home runs the past two seasons its a drop off. It also didn't help Wright that he had pressure from fans, and that he had no protection in the line-up due to all the injuries. Mets fans are afraid that Wright cannot hit homeruns in spacious Citi Field, but the guy can hit and if he can't hit home run's I'm sure the Mets wouldn't mind moving the walls in a tad. Jose Reyes will be back next season and thats great news for the Mets. But can he return to form, and be a catalyst for the offense. Jose's game is centered around his legs, but he tore his hamstring last year and has had a history of hamstring problems. The Mets need to hope that he can be at the same speed he used to be, but a guy with that many leg injuries becomes a question mark now.
No More Injuries:
The Mets cannot afford to have the amount of injuries they had last year. They are already going to be without Carlos Beltran for the beginning of the season. The signing of Catalanotto and the trade of Gray Matthews were both two good moves that help the bench. With an improved bench it should help alleviate the hurt of injuries, but again Omar invested in the wrong end of the team. There is still no solid back up if one of the starters goes down with an injury and that could hurt them more than anything.
That being said the Mets are not a playoff team this year. There are 7 teams with better teams then them and three are in their own division. My prediction for the Mets this coming season is that they will go 84-78, finish 3rd and miss the playoffs. They have a very good line-up, one nearly as good as the Phillies, but the pitching staff is going to be what kills the Mets this coming season.
comments, suggestions, inquiries, and hate mail can be made out to 35isntenough@gmail.com
Pitching, Pitching, and more Pitching: Pitching wins championships, the Yankees power house offenses of the mid 2000's have proved this. The Mets do not have the pitching to compete with the rest of the NL East. Omar Minaya went about this offseason the wrong way. Yes Jason Bay was a good signing, and yes he did sign some good role players.
But the Mets needed pitching above hitting and they failed to address that need. The money spent on Jason Bay should have been put towards John Lackey. While the Mets failed to address their biggest need, their division rival only added one of the best pitchers in the game, Roy Halladay. The Phillies, Marlins, and Braves all have pitchers 1-5 that they can throw out their on any night and best Mets pitching. The Mets rotation stands right now as: 1. Johan Santana, 2. John Maine, 3. Mike Pelfrey, 4. Oliver Perez, and 5. Josh Fogg. That is hardly a scary rotation, They all posted era's above 4 except for Santana. If the Mets hope to compete for a playoff spot they need to make a push for a pitcher during the season, a number 2 pitcher.David Wright and Jose Reyes:
Last season David Wright seemed to forget how to hit home runs. To say he didn't have a good year would be a lie because statistically he certainly did: .307 Avg. , 10 HR, 72 RBIs, 88 Runs, 27 SB, .390 OBP. Thats a line that most players would be happy to have, but when you have hit at least 30 home runs the past two seasons its a drop off. It also didn't help Wright that he had pressure from fans, and that he had no protection in the line-up due to all the injuries. Mets fans are afraid that Wright cannot hit homeruns in spacious Citi Field, but the guy can hit and if he can't hit home run's I'm sure the Mets wouldn't mind moving the walls in a tad. Jose Reyes will be back next season and thats great news for the Mets. But can he return to form, and be a catalyst for the offense. Jose's game is centered around his legs, but he tore his hamstring last year and has had a history of hamstring problems. The Mets need to hope that he can be at the same speed he used to be, but a guy with that many leg injuries becomes a question mark now.
No More Injuries:
The Mets cannot afford to have the amount of injuries they had last year. They are already going to be without Carlos Beltran for the beginning of the season. The signing of Catalanotto and the trade of Gray Matthews were both two good moves that help the bench. With an improved bench it should help alleviate the hurt of injuries, but again Omar invested in the wrong end of the team. There is still no solid back up if one of the starters goes down with an injury and that could hurt them more than anything.
That being said the Mets are not a playoff team this year. There are 7 teams with better teams then them and three are in their own division. My prediction for the Mets this coming season is that they will go 84-78, finish 3rd and miss the playoffs. They have a very good line-up, one nearly as good as the Phillies, but the pitching staff is going to be what kills the Mets this coming season.
comments, suggestions, inquiries, and hate mail can be made out to 35isntenough@gmail.com
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