15
2011
10 Things To Watch For Heading Into Spring Training
An article by 
Spring training is less than two weeks ago.
Though the New York Mets offseason has been mired by a lack of finances and now the money schemes of the owners, there is still much to look forward to this upcoming season.
If a few things fall into place simultaneously, who knows what we will be saying about this team in a few months?
They have talent and now appear to finally have some leadership.
Here are the 10 biggest developments to keep your eye on during spring training for the Mets.
10. Can the Mets Put the Madoff Scandal behind Them?
Earlier this week, Commissioner Bud Selig met with the Mets brass to discuss the team’s finances. There have been rumors that the Mets would like to complete a partial sale of the team by June.
Now reports have surfaced that the only reason Sandy Alderson took the GM job was due to pressure by Selig. Selig saw Alderson as the savior of the Mets.
Regardless of this off-the-field drama, there is one way to take the attention off these matters: win baseball games.
The Madoff scandal may have hurt the team’s finances, but they still have pieces to compete.
9. What Should the Mets Do with Their Young Talent?
While the Mets did not have a prospect in the top-50, they still have some young pieces that can contribute on the Major League level.
It looks like Jenrry Mejia will be starting the season in the minors as well as Ruben Tejada.
The real question marks surround Lucas Duda and Nick Evans. Both saw some time late last season and hit pretty well.
The Mets brought in Scott Hairston and Willie Harris to compete for the final two bench spots, so the best course of action may be to allow Duda and Evans to play every day in Buffalo and be prepared if a major injury occurs to a starter.
Fernando Martinez needs to prove he can stay healthy before being considered for the big club.
8. How Will the Players Coming Off Injuries Rebound?
Carlos Beltran missed the entire first half last year and struggled big time at the plate when he returned.
Jason Bay was having a mediocre season at best until suffering a concussion by crashing into the outfield wall in Los Angeles.
Jose Reyes was limited early in the season due to a thyroid condition.
New acquisition Chris Young started only four games last year and just 36 over the last three seasons.
These are all talented players and huge keys to the Mets’ success this year. They need to stay healthy and contribute for the team to make some noise.
7. What Will Be Dillon Gee’s Role?
Spring training may determine what the Mets plan to do with Dillon Gee.
Gee showed some promise in five starts in September, going 2-2 with a sub-3.00 ERA.
All of a sudden, the Mets rotation went from empty to overcrowded. Chris Capuano has pitched out of the bullpen before, so if the Mets feel Gee is ready, he would slide into the fifth spot with Capuano assuming long reliever responsibilities.
Gee is a great insurance plan to have, but it seems that the Mets will start the season with a rotation consisting of Mike Pelfrey, R.A. Dickey, Jon Niese, Chris Young and Chris Capuano.
6. How Will the Team Respond To No Johan Santana?
Santana had elbow surgery and hasn’t even begun throwing. Optimistically, he should rejoin the Mets after the All-Star break.
Though he is aging, he is still a bona fide ace in this league and leaves a huge hole atop of the Mets rotation.
Mike Pelfrey will attempt to fill that void, but it will have to be a group effort by all the starters.
One pitcher cannot pick up the slack of a Santana-type ace, so everyone will have to carry their weight.
5. What Will the Bullpen Look Like?
If you thought the Mets had a ton of options for the starting rotation, there are even more for the bullpen.
In no particular order, Bobby Parnell, Francisco Rodriguez, D.J. Carrasco, Taylor Buchholz, Taylor Tankersley, Tim Byrdak, Blaine Boyer, Manny Acosta, Pedro Beato, Pat Misch, Boof Bonser, Ryota Igarashi and (dare I say) Oliver Perez will be competing for seven spots.
That might only be six spots depending on the Dillon Gee/Chris Capuano situation.
Parnell, Rodriguez and Carrasco are guaranteed spots. Buchholz and Byrdak appear to be early favorites, but everything else is a crapshoot.
Spring training will determine who heads north.
4. How Will the Team Accept K-Rod?
As of now, K-Rod isn’t even on the 40-man roster, but he will have to be activated after spring training.
He claims to be healthy and ready to get back in action.
His season was cut short last year by that ugly incident, so it will be interesting to see how his teammates and the fans respond to him.
Everyone deserves a second chance. He was having a good season before the fight, so he hopefully has a little something left in the tank entering his contract year.
Based on the roster, the Mets will likely be involved in many close games, so it is imperative to have a strong closer for late in the game.
3. Who Will Play Center Field?
Angel Pagan “spread his wings” last year to the tune of a .290 BA and 37 SB. More importantly, he played a stellar center field defense for the first half of the season.
When incumbent Carlos Beltran returned, he immediately assumed center field duties despite his injured knee.
Pagan shifted to right for the remainder of the year.
If Beltran is healthy and shows he still has some mobility, it is his job to lose. Pagan has more experience in right, not only after last season, but also since he has been a fourth outfielder most of his career.
Terry Collins has said that he wants this dilemma solved early on during spring training so the two players can get comfortable in their respective positions.
2. Who Will Start at Second Base?
The Mets have plenty of in-house candidates to take over the second base position.
Luis Castillo is still around, and it looks like the Mets will be 100 percent sure he cannot play the position before handing it over.
Castillo has been in a steady physical decline during his entire tenure with the Mets. He did hit .302 in 2009, but he regressed so much last year that it seems the Mets are ready to go in a different direction.
Daniel Murphy looks like the favorite. He did not play last year due to an injury he suffered while playing second base. He has the bat, so if his defense can come around, he is a sound option.
Rule-5 pick Brad Emaus and Justin Turner will also get a look for the spot or even the utility infielder’s role.
1. How Will the Team Respond to Terry Collins?
Terry Collins joins the long list of men to take the helm of the New York Mets.
Many of the younger players are familiar with him since Collins served as a Minor League instructor last season.
He is known for his passion and intensity which can really wake up some of these Mets players in need of a jolt.
He doesn’t appear afraid to approach a player to get his point across.
While the games don’t count in spring training, it will be important for Collins to rattle off a few wins to build his team’s confidence.
Some analysts think that a change of regime was exactly what the Mets needed to turn things around.
The new regime is there, so let’s see how the team responds in spring training.
About the Author: Jim Mancari
Jim Mancari hails from Massapequa, N.Y. He recently earned a Master's degree in Journalism at Hofstra University. He is a devout Mets fan and takes pride in his team, despite their lack of success over the last few years. Like all Mets fans, Jim has plenty of hope. He also writes as the sports reporter for the Brooklyn Tablet newspaper and the senior editor of metroBASEBALL Magazine. Click my name to view my personal website.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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My bet is on Murphy playing 2nd base as you say. He will hit 20 HRs and 90+RBIs playing a everyday 2nd base. With that we have a 1-8 good lineup if all produce to their ability. With Thole behind him in the 8th spot,Thole will be able to hit Murphy home producing a lot of runs.All the pitchers have to do is keep the runs down and we will get the WC. Lets go Mets…..
Fans have been predicting these numbers for Murphy since ’09. He has yet to even come close
He didnt play 2010 and if they said it in 2009 it was while he was playing the game. That was his first full year in the majors. He had 12 Hrs (Ike had 18 in 2010)He also had 38 doubles. He lost time when adjusting to pitchers in early 2009 and had he adjusted to them earlier he would have had more. Look at his winter ball he had 4 HRs,23 RBIs in only one month.
One moneth, the month he didn’t get hurt!
I agree man. 20 jacks and 90 RBI might be stretching it for Murph. Especially from the seven hole.
far and away IMO the most important question is about the rebound from injury. If that is a success, the team has the talent to easily be a WC contender. The off the field questions aren’t likely to impact the players that much.
getting production out of 2B is the other biggie.
I hope Murph can put up those numbers.
not sure he could do that on his own, but platooning with a viable RH hitting partner, combined they could be in that range.
or platooning with a lesser hitting but superior defensive 2B could cut down the offensive numbers altogether but you are now stronger up the middle when this right-hand hitting counterpart plays.
Either way you look at it – Murphy will NOT be a starting 2B. I’ll have better grasp of our 2B situation once I see Emaus for the first time. Heck, Castillo isn’t even out of the picture yet.
My call? Best options defensively are Tejada & Castillo, I’ve yet to see Emaus. The starting 2B job is gonna come from one of those 3.
Bayonne you only post if Murphy is mentioned. You cant see him at 2nd and we know that. Get over it as he will be trhe 2nd baseman.
Murphy was hitting over .400 in the winter league where he had a lot of left hand pitchers because they changed pitching alot. He does not need to platoon. He said this helped him hitting against left hand pitchers which he did not get too much in the 2009 season.
Murphy was not hitting over .400 He was hitting over .300 then got injured. Murphy in no way shape or form should be starting on a regular at 2B. If I had to guess, he’s probably had about a dozen games starting at 2B in his career. At least so i’ve read on various sites.
Murphy DWL 28 games 103 AB’s .320/395/515 6 doubles 1 triple 4 HR’s 22 RBI 5 SB 1 CS 6 Errors at least 1 at 1B and 2 at 3B.
Hitting AA/AAA pitching isn’t what he was there to prove. I hope so but we’ll see.
Now playing at 2b Bugs Bunny!
He had played 2nd base in High School, fall ball in arizona and winter ball. He played 45+ in both fall and winter ball alone . Not a dozen.
I dont think he’s played 45 games in both arizona and winter ball, like you’re stating. I know I read from either Tony Hyde or Adam Rubin, that he’s not playing as many games at 2B as people think. He was shuffled around the infield and DH.
Lets say he did, do you really feel comfortable with a guy, with that amount of experience at 2B at the Major League level? Do you realize how difficult it is to play? Turning double plays, covering on stolen bases. Moving to his left and right on hard hit balls on the ground. Throwing while your body is going away from 1B, etc. Many said he’d be average to above average in LF and, we all seen how that turned out. Before you say his bat is above average, i suggest you check that..because it’s not.
I just checked the team he played for in the DWL and they have him listed as a 1B. Like I said, he wasn’t playing every game at 2B. I think he got a handful of games at 2B, but since no one can verify it, we all assumed he started every game at 2B and that wasn’t the case at all.
http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=1B&sid=l132&t=p_pbp&pid=502517
lidom.com is the website of the DWL. It’s in Spanish but you can find the boxscores that show where he played. I think it was about 18 games at 2B and 10 at 1B or 3B.
Thanks, T Agee. So in total professional ball thats 37 games at 2B. Because I checked baseball reference and they had him listed as 19 games in the minors. So he wasn’t a good 3B, wasn’t a good LF, was decent at 1B, but somehow this experiment will work fine at 2B. Honestly I hope he plays 2B in spring on TV so we all can see with our eyes how good or bad he does. I’m picturing something close to a train wreck.
Notagain, I fear that he will look OK at 2B in ST but get exposed once the games matter. 2B is one of the most difficult positions (much more so then SS) to learn and is critical to your pitching staff.
To me Murphy looked decent in LF excepting those 5 or so highlight reel errors which was really the result of extremely poor judgement by Minaya and in fact could have been severely mitigated by not trading Chavez (along with everyone else Seattle wanted) in that trade for an injured JJ Putz who was then allowed to pitch in the WBC in March.
With a LH flyball pitcher in Johan on the mound how could Murphy still be in the game in the 9th inning of a close game?
Incredibly stupid roster composition and thought process. Murphy, with a year in AAA at LF would not have made those errors but then who would have been playing 1B when Delgado went down? Your two biggest offensive positions manned by Murphy and Reed/Tatis. Whoa, great thinking Omar.
Looking back on it, it’s a shame no one in the Met player development group can ever accurately judge where a prospect might best be used when/if he arrives in the Big Leagues. Perhaps 4 years at catcher in the minors would have been Murphy’s best shot.
I Wonder what position Wilmer will be playing for the first time when he gets called up.
Are you Bayonne under a different name?
No it’s not me under a different name, I only use one name on this site and that’s the way it’s always been. If you still have doubts then write to the site administrators, they keep track of all IP addresses.
The real problem is your obsession about things that WILL NOT HAPPEN.
Do you even watch baseball? He’s NOT gonna be at 2B so forget it. While we’re at it let’s put Jason Bay as SS.
Murphy is gonna make the team but he’s gonna be a bench guy and that’s what the Mets need right now. What he should have been doing was working on his outfield skills instead of wasting time in a position he will never start at the major league level
NL Wild card teams is going to have to win over 90 games. Do the Mets have that kind of team this year?
with some health, a couple of breaks, and squinting just right, yes they can.
seriously though, they have the talent potential to do it, if it can finally stay on the field.
Mets have won 90 games three times since Cashen left. With as many moving pieces, distractions, new rehab cases, old rehab cases, Johan rounding into pitching shape around August 1st, what do you think?
Me personally I don’t expect much more than a hope for .500 but I don’t resign myself to the possibility the team can play above my expectations this year or any year so to answer your question of do the Mets have that kind of team this year?
I’d have to say I don’t think so but I’ve been wrong before with preseason projections so why should this year be any different?
couple of things…
Evans has to pass through waivers before you can send him to Buffalo.
and you mention that Beltran was out the first half and then struggled when he came back in the second, but you failed to mention that in September he hit .321 with a .967 OPS, 5 HR’s and 13 RBI, as July and August were basically his spring training and rehab.
Carlos Beltran will win come back player of the year this year. Hopefully it’s as a Met.
Good call on Evans.There will likely be a team willing to give him a shot at a bench role.
Boy I hope you’re right about Beltran. Either way, it’s looking like Beltran will not be a Met after 2011. He will likely try to prove at age 34 that he can still play so another team gives him a shot in 2012. Sadly, September meant nothing last year for the Mets so Beltran’s numbers, though impressive, were irrelevant. Let’s see him do that early this year.
oh, those numbers were very relevant, especially going into this year, since it showed that once he got his legs and timing back, he can still be a productive player. Hopefully he looks as good, or better, in ST so he can get off to that type of start.
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Still makes more sense than most comments on here.
this makes more sense than most of the stuff Bayonne says.
What are you saying makes on sense Russ?
I ain’t got no good english either!