I’m a little worried about where our power will come from in 2009.
We can easily count on Carlos Beltran to hit at least twenty-five homers and most likely thirty, but then what?
The Mets don’t have that prototypical power hitting corner outfielder in left field or right.
The most homeruns that right-fielder Ryan Church ever hit in a season was fifteen, and at 30-years old, he isn’t getting any younger or better.
Who knows what we can expect from the platoon of Dan Murphy and Fernando Tatis?
Murphy is not a power hitter. The most homeruns in his professional carer was thirteen which he did last season between the minors and the Mets, and in 2007 with AA Binghamton.
Tatis… Well, he’s the wildcard… He hit eleven homers in about half a season, while striking out at an incredible rate. The thing is that being the righthanded component in the platoon projects to about 225 at-bats if you throw in a dozen or two pinch hitting appearances.
In a best case scenario, I see about 50 homers from our current outfield, but it could be far less in what is expected to be a death valley for power hitters in Citi Field.
When you throw in the feeble efforts that the Mets will receive behind the plate and at second base, the pressure will be on David Wright and Carlos Delgado to pound the ball at least as good as they did last season if not better.
Don’t look for any pop on the bench either… Of course the bench hasn’t been set in stone yet, but when your choices are Marlon Anderson, Jeremy Reed, Cory Sullivan, Alex Cora, Argenis Reyes and Rob Mackowiak, you have to be a little worried.
The Mets are banking their post season hopes on this platoon. I hope they know what they’re doing.
Regarding Daniel Murphy, Im sure the Mets are projecting him as a future .300 hitter with 20 + homeruns. Whether or not this will happen remains to be seen, but most guys who develop into 20-30 home run hitters were not big power hitters in the minors. I think if you look at guys who hit 25 or more homeruns in a minor league season, most turn out to be disappointments if and when they reach the majors. I think this is a topic worthy of more research and I just might do it. That being said, I’m sure Mets fans would be more comfortable if the team added a righty power bat into the mix.
personally i dont care if only beltran write and delgado hit the only homeruns, as long as the corners have some production
umm wasnt there a report saying Citi Field was a launching pad, or am i misinterpreting what you said
Your points are meaniningless. This is real baseball, not fantasy, and you don’t get extra points for the number of home runs you hit.
Magiqal, you heard right.
CitiField is projected to be a pitchers park just like Shea was, but Adam Rubin of the daily News reported that the Mets had a secret batting session in the new park and that the hitters were launching shots out of the park.
Later on some thought there were many reasons, cold air, no seats installed yet, no people in the stands obviously, and that had a lot to do with it. Regardless, the mets are prepared to extend the walls five feet if necessary, according to that same report.
Reality Chuck – Actually you get one point or run for every homerun, and four points if the bases are loaded. And the Mets lack of power is a concern for many. There are currently to many “ifs, ands or buts” that the Mets are basing their future on. Come on, you knew that already didn’t you?
I bet beltran gets 30 plus. I can see church getting 15-20. Plus lots of doubles. The Tatis and murphy platoon will get at least 20.
Plus guys like pagan playing off bench or resting the starters.
Wright will most likely get 30, and Delgado may as well.
Reyes may get 15 plus lots of triples and doubles.
Castillo is good for getting ball out of infield 10-20 times so the power numbers hsould be fine;-)
Why does it matter how many home runs the outfield hits? Are you equating homeruns with runs scored and slugging percentage?
If Beltran hits .288
has 17 homeruns, 105 rbi’s and scores 115 runs,
Would you call that a bad year?
If Church hits .280 has 23 home runs, 95 rbi’s and scores 100 runs. Is that a bad year?
If the platoon of Tatis and Murphy hits hits about .270 has a total of 24 homeruns, 80 rbi’s and scores a combined 70 runs scored would you call that a bad year?
Homeruns don’t mean anything to this Mets team.
The make up of the Mets is all about slugging percentae and runs scored.
The 6th hole in the lineup is going to be the key! Church needs to have break out yeear, which I think he will.
If Ryan Church and or Beltran change their game so that they can hit 30+ homeruns we’re in trouble!
The ONLY player in the Mets lineup whom can be judged by the number of homeruns he is hitting is Carlos Delgado. It may very well be tht the Mets get into the playoffs in 2009 w/ only one player hitting more than 30 homeruns
DO people realize how difficult it is to score more than 110 runs in a season?? And then think about how difficult it is for a player to have more than 110 rbi’s and score more than 115 runs in the same year. Are you all 12 yrs old or what??? Who cares how many homeruns a player hits!
Yea i understand chucks reasoning, homeruns are nice, but they arent the very part of the game that keeps teams in the race, theres probable three other hits that can bring in runs joe, singles, double, triples, and hey ever sacrafises, but joe…i thought you knew that already…we’ll be fine this year, as long as we bring in sheets or perez were golden, and if we happen to get manny which im pulling for i guarentee were in the world series hands down..
from your mouth to God’s ears Mike…
The entire OF (and I do mean entire OF) hit 58 HR with tons of games lost to injuries in 2008. Murphy reminds me of Paul O’Neill in some ways and O’Neill never had big time power but was always on base. Murphy will be fine given time to develop but he will never hit 30-35 HR per year. HR’s really don’t matter that much.
The Phillies didn’t win with their hitting, they won with their pitching.
Ryan Church also only played like, at the most, 80 games a year with the Nats, and oart of the season last year, so that doubled is about 30.
The Mets have signed two… TWO more outfielders (Corey Sullivan and Rob Mackowiak) as if we didn’t already have a crowded outfield situation. I presume it’s because a trade is in the works. That also makes me wonder if the way we envision our outfield… today… isn’t the way it’s going to be this season.
I wouldn’t get so convinced of a deal based on the Mackowiak signing. Every team signs a bunch of players to minor league deals and invite them to spring training. They are not just signed to compete for remaining positions, many of them are needed to fill out AAA rosters. Through most of the offseason AAA rosters will consist of a dozen or less players. There are 400 to 500 minor league free agents every year and about 80% of them are from AAA rosters. The non roster invites that do not make the team are needed to fill out the AAA rosters.
The Sullivan signing, however could be a sign of a trade in the works. Do not base any assumptions on non roster invites. If players are added to the 40 man roster that lead to an overload at a position then that could be an indication of something coming but don’t get carried away assuming non rosters invites are any indication of something further.
What worries me now is that I just heard the Phils are considering Wigginton. Wiggy is probably not the difference maker, but he is exactly the type of player we need–versatile, can play in the outfield or infield, right-handed hitter, and a guy with serious pop in his bat. The guy also has what a lot of people were raking the Mets over the coals for last season–grit and toughness.
If your worried about HRs, Wiggy, if he gets enough PAs, is pretty much guaranteed to hit 20-25 HRs in 2009. Of course, HRs do not always win games, but you can’t deny that power is a useful thing to have. It’s one very important weapon in a team’s arsenal, and there’s a psychological component as well when you know that a guy is a HR threat. Wiggy may not be a slick fielder but he’s competent and will also hit for a decent AVG. These recent 4th, 5th outfielder signings are practically but not entirely are waste of time and $. If the Phils get him, we could be in trouble.
I don’t understand why home runs would be so important.
Just check some stats in 2008:
- Brewers: 198 HR ; 750 runs
- Braves: 130 HR ; 753 runs
ok, it’s better to have some power hitters, but it’s not essential (mets have power anyway)
HRs are nice to get. Runs scored are what wins games. I would settle for pitching -defense and a line up of 8 28o hitters. With about 75-85 HR.