10
2011
Whatever The Mets May Be In 2011, They’re Still Our Team
An article by 
There have been countless lost seasons in this franchise’s history, many of them gone before pitchers and catchers report in February. This is looking like another one of those years.
The Mets only did minor tweaking this winter and are no better now than they were when the season ended. They are putting their stock in the season in the hopes of Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran staying healthy, the continued development of Mike Pelfrey and some of their younger players, and encore seasons from RA Dickey and Angel Pagan.
In short, they are hoping everything breaks right, and even if it does, there are two holes in the rotation and a weak bullpen.
Still, the Mets are asking you to believe, with perhaps our biggest wish is for them to get rid of Oliver Perez before Opening Day.
As I look at the drifting snow and feel the cold, the warmth I usually feel this time of year because of spring training has slipped away like me on the ice this morning. Spring training is a time for optimism and hope, but this year realistic hope is around .500 at best. But, we knew this with the hiring of Sandy Alderson, who told us there would be no big spending this winter and he hoped the team would be competitive. That probably means a lot of close games before losing in the late innings.
Still, we follow the Mets because they are our team and are woven deep into our lives. We still love them like the gangly younger brother that embarrasses us. We are loyal to them because we know loyalty is about acceptance and we believe things will improve next year.
As we are distracted by football, we try to envision the snow gone, the grass green and lush and baseball occupying our spring nights. And, somewhere there is the hope this could be a fun summer regardless how it looks on paper now.
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
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Love the Mets.
.500 should be if everything doesn’t go right. hell, they were just under that even with all the train wrecks last year.
.500 if they avoid catastrophic injuries like in 2009, and guys that way underperfromed last year come back even close to normal for them.
if most everything really does break right, then they will be mid-upper 80s, so at least in the playoff hunt.
I would predict them as an 82-88 win team, with some (small) chance of being higher or lower.
I wish I shared your optimism. In what playoff hunt are you referring too? The Nassau Little League? The Queens Co-ed slow pitch league?
If the Mets “are in the hunt” for a wild card spot they need to finish with a better record than anyone of the following teams: Phillies, Braves, Cardinals, Giants, Dodgers, etc…
You honestly can see that happening?
Mike Pelfrey would need to win 13-15 games
Jonathan Niese would need to win 13-15 games
RA Dickey would need to win 13-15 games
No 4th pitcher
No 5th pitcher
NO LEFT HANDED Relief pitcher
Don’t get to factual or technical or I’ll dream Ollie will win 13-15 games. lol.
We, the fans, can’t let reality upset our dreams.
Look at it this way….
Lets assume for the sake of argument that its a down year for the wild card and 85 wins gets the Wild Card
Yes I know crazy. buts its the only way we are getting into the playoffs.. so how do we get to 85 wins??
Pelfrey………… 15 wins
Niese………….. 15 wins
RA Dickey ……… 15 wins
starter #4 …….. 10 wins
starter #5 …….. 10 wins
Total: 65 wins
85 wins – 65 wins = 20 wins
Bullpen has to come up with 20 wins to get to 85 wins
This is my mind is our only realistic shot at getting a wild card spot. ANd I don’t think its happening.
well, the mistake you are making is assuming that there will just be 5 SPs to collect the wins. starter 4 might be 3 guys.
Can Ollie give us 10 wins?
He can if we trade him for Jason Heyward
Lifer, I understand much of your incredulity re. mention of playoffs. NO ONE in any official capacity has mentioned playoffs between Sandy’s hiring & my typing this. COMPETITIVE typically means NO PLAYOFFS. .500 is competitive by most definitions as it implies u win half, u lose half if you are counted on to lose more than u win, that’s called an “also ran”. conversly being counted on to win more than u lose, that’s the definition of either a Champion or a Championship Contender. That’s when the POWERS THAT BE talk of Contending & important late meaningful season games”. Certainly it’s just as logical to describe 2011 in terms of what may go wrong; but I woyuld contend that the odds favor their going right as they went wrongh in ’09 & ’10.
Eityher way I could argue that your 13-15Ws for Pelfrey, Niese,Dickey are NOT extrordinary considerations & as regards #4 & #5 have u not heard tyhe names Capuano & Gee, no that wasn’t Seaver & Koosman, I said; but COMPETITIVE TEAMS don’t typically have fearsome 4 & 5s Champions & Contenders do, not mere Competitors. Tghe history of organized team sports is chock fell of UPSET WINNERS of something, no one’s predicting that, no one’s predicting anything more than sould another Miracle be in the offing these NYM will be positioned just as well as 10 or 12 other NL teams awaiting lightning. By June 30 ouravailable SPing options should be SANTANA, PELFREY, DICKEY, NIESE, GEE, CAPUANO. BTW contrary to popular opinion topnotch loogies are not rostered on every one of the 30 MLB franchises.
As relates to your skeptical consioderation for those SP u choose to conjecture upon, perhaps you’ver forgotten the dynamics of 1999 when the likes of these all were SP with mixed effectivenmess:
HERSIESER 32GS 13-11
LEITER 32GS 13-12
YOSHII 29GS 12-8
REED 26GS 11-5
ROGERS 12GS 5-1
ISRINGHAUSEN 5GS 1-3
WATSON 4GS 6-3
Somehow, sans any 15 game winner, that motley crew unexpectedly were postseason participants as COMPETITORS turned Contenders @ 97-66. Aiming for .500 is a first step in returning to contention status; though admittedly very disappointing at this juncture. With ALL the emphasis correctly placed upon rotational pitching; it’s certainly hard to imagine that the ’99 staff somehow accomplished a 97W season without anyone breakiong the 15W level. to further complicate the miraculousness of it ALL is considering they actually passed through a 1G playoff as well as a div series to get to the League Championship level
If u trukly ARE A “LIFER
SORRY, IT SHOULD’VE ENDED WITH…
If u truly ARE A “LIFER over the age of 10 youe most certainly should have realized it’s way too early to raise the WHITE FLAG over the Flushing Castle, in January!!!
Competative means having a team you can be proud of eve if acknowledging that maybe your a little undermanned but not out gunned because you don’t give s**t away and you take everything you can get in order to keep it close/make it hard to beat you. You may not have a big margin of error but by playing smart clean crisp baseball you manage to keep it close most of the time and when it’s close more often than not your walking out with the win. The way we played at Yankee Stadium when Bobby V was the manager. What some people refer to as over achievers are really just a collection of good talented players committed to winning and backed by a well conceived roster and a manager who knows how to use it and how to keep it prepared for when he does. All we ask for every year is guys who play together, play hard for each other, play smart and play to win and seize a fair portion of the wins their hard work put them in position to grab.
Are you forgetting about Capuano? I think he will have a much better year than expected. I also believe we will sign either Young or Francis. Either one has 15 win capability.
For everyone’s record, this is my 18yr old son’s initial post here @ MMO, my son with whom I am well pleased!!!!!
FYI, “ReyesAdvocate” is my prodgeny. While to some “MAMA GRIZLEYs” are given top protective of their young accoladfes; however I truly dubt anyone here wants to test the mettle of this LION regarding cub protection.
Welcome Reyesadvocate. You have a good Pop. Love the optomism.
Thank you t agee! I can tell you are a true fan! Im sorry all but I have to leave this nice chat and go to class. I’m sure you will see my name here again. However, I do believe Lifelong should change his name to “Sometimes”metsfan.
Good one Reyes. Keep your studies in mind and the Mets in your heart and you can’t go wrong.
Actually the Mets are not “our team.” The Mets belong to the Wilpons and that nice Saul Katz gentleman. We’re just lookers-on and occasional nuisances; like a runny nose to Fred, Jeff and Saul.
The Wilpons blow their nose with us. And we don’t seem to mind.
The Mets are my team I am sorry you can’t understand that this does not mean that you have legal claim to them.
The Wilpons can do their worse and the Mets will be my team. The fact that you can’t also relate to that is just sad as well.
The only thing that could make me no longer root for the Mets (this is hypothetical since I really am just guessing) is if they were taken away from me the way the Dodgers were taken away from Brooklyn.
Its the top of the 7th inng. RA Dickey has pitched a wonderful game but is now tiring. and walks the lead off hitter.. Mets lead 3-2..
Dickey allows a single up the middle…. 1st and 2nd no one out and the two big left handed bats are coming up for the Phillies..
What/s Terry Collins to do.. NO Felliciano to bring in, NO lefty to bring in.. unless Oliver Perez is out lefty out of the bullpen….
Yeah we’re winning 80+ games this year.. NOT! Get your heads out fo the sand people!
Somewhere between Omar’s 5th year and his 6th year is where we’ll finish. 71 wins on the low end 79 on the high. We’ll reclaim about 8 dead roster spots and start moving in a saner direction.
Do us all a favor and stop calling yourself a Mets fan. Thank you. Btw, Carrasco is capable against lefties. His delivery is very decieving.
Am I the only Mets fan who believes in this bullpen? I mean come on! We have one of the best 8th-9th inning combos in baseball!! Parnell hits triple digits then fools hitters with a slider. K-Rod is just plain nasty. This team can be very competitive. As my father always says, “Jason Bay will be our acquisition this year.” I believe he can hit at least 25 HR for us this year. I can see the same from Davis. Also, in a full season at Citi Field, Reyes can easily break the single season triples record. After he is on third, Pagan can either get a base hit or play small ball and squeeze. No one sees the Mets doing anything this year. Well, no one saw the Giants doing anything last year either. Oh yeah, didn’t the Giants win the Series? No one saw Zito having the year he had. Who knows what Niese or Capuano will do this year. I’m not saying that the Mets will win the World Series this year. I am, however, proving a point that METS62FAN made. Competitors can be champions because sometimes everything DOES go right. The Mets have a history of “Miracles” and magic. I am a die hard fan and I believe this is a competitive team. I am even confident to call this team a POTENTIALLY “Amazin” team. In my opinion, any MLB team with all-stars at 3B,SS,LF, CF, and 3 Pitchers should have a shot at the Playoffs.