9
2012
Mets Offense May Be Better Than You Think In 2012
An article by 
For the first time in nine seasons, the Amazin’s will take the field without their sparkplug, Jose Reyes. When the 4-time all-star inked his 6-year $106 million deal with the Marlins, the general idea was that the Mets offense would be left in shambles. Although the production will not be the same, the perceived gaping hole in the lineup left by Reyes’ departure may not be quite as big as one would think.
I took the probable 2012 starters’ 2011 offensive statistics, and converted them to a 550 at-bat season. With Reyes, Beltran and Pagan not in the lineup next year, many of these batters are bound to get more at-bats than 550, so take these stats with a grain of salt:
The 2011 starting eight alone scored 601 runs, this starting roster would score 548. Under normal circumstances, this would be a huge drop off, but between the shortened fences, players like Duda, Thole and Tejada getting more opportunities to score/drive in runs and probable improvements from Wright and Torres, the 53-run gap would likely be reduced.
In 2012, the Mets could realistically see Wright, Davis and Duda hit 30 and 100 in the middle of that order. That alone can make a successful offense, but with any combination of Thole, Torres, or Tejada getting on base, this lineup could be a legitimate force to be reckoned with.
These stats aren’t exactly “sexy” by any means, but if properly managed, — which I believe Terry Collins is fully capable of doing– the offense has the potential to be a bright spot on the otherwise dim 2012 New York Mets season.
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
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I agree. Hopefully “realistically” and “probable” all work out. Heaven knows we need it to work out for the pitching as well!
Clayton i love your optimism, but i hate to tell you you’re wrong on this one.. i too hope davis and duda become 30 100 type players but i don’t see it yet, but most likely torres, bay and tejada will stink up the joint, thole will be even worst, wright might be gone by july, leaving turner or someone else at 3rd base, while murphy can put up nice numbers, usually the best hitter on a lineup will see less good pitches, so no.. i wish i am dead wrong, but without reyes in the lineup to preocupy pitchers and other players seeing better pitcher i.e fastballs this lineup will be amongst the worst in baseball…
ALEX, U NEEDN’T HAVE GONE SO FAR TO DISPUTE THIS ARTICLES’S CLAIMS AS I FOUND THE FIRST FLAW TO THE CONCEPT AFTERTHIS VERY FIRST SENTENCE;
“For the first time in nine seasons, the Amazin’s will take the field without their sparkplug, Jose Reyes.”
DID 2009 NOT HAPPEN?
I’D SAY 2009 SHOWED US A SAMPLE OF A REYESLESS SEASON!
62, hi, hope all is well, i’ve been saying that all week, is gonna get real ugly very quickly and fans (the few left) will tune out and stop going at once… after the first month, i think about 1000 people will be at shea stadium.. seriously this will become the new york pirates..
I worry about the astute judgements of a fan who still believes the Mets play at “Shea Stadium”
Nice try, but this lineup is not competitive against the standards of the NL East. I will not focus on the numbers you offer, but would like to offer the thought that FIELD players also have to guess what – play the FIELD. At least 3 of these players – Thole, Murphy, and Duda – are below accepted standards for ML fielders. However you may think their batting parameters will be, the real question is whether they will give back more runs to the opponent because of shoddy defense than they deliver at the plate. In other words, what will be their net production when you their offset hitting statistics by their defensive limitations?
Maskman — “… below accepted standards for ML fielders.”
Every major league team tries to put together the combination of players that optimize chances for success. I’m not aware of any single, accepted standard. If there was, Manny up in Boston, Jorge behind the plate at Yankee Stadium, the two Jeffs (Kent and Keppinger) at 2B, one of whom was an All-Star, and many others would never have played the game. Throw in Wilson Betemit and Vernon Wells, All these dudes are terrible but some have been good overall major league players.
If that ankle is truly healed, I have more faith in Ike having a nice season than Duda putting up those numbers you predicted. We shall see.
Not sure though what difference any of this makes when all is said and done given what our starting rotation looks like.
Oh MF, you skeptic. Duda is going to have a monster year. Thought I converted you to the fold last season?
Hahaha – this has to be none other than stick….
I’d love nothing more than to be wrong. Here’s hoping I am.
Clayton -
It’s fun to extrapolate numbers. I did that with the 2nd half of 2010 season with Daniel Murphy and he extrapolated to hit 63 doubles over the course of a regular season based upon my calculus.
Here’s a couple of thoughts:
- We’ll definitely have less team speed.
- We’ll probably have more regularity throughout the line-up. What does “regularity” mean? Probably less uncertainty as to what players will be available on a day-to-day basis. There was always an air of uncertainty as to the health status of Reyes, Pagan & Beltran. While we cannot predict injuries, I think that there will be less uncertainty.
- Provided everyone is reasonably healthy, I think our offense will be as productive, but in a slightly different way. I envision Terry Collins will utilize his bench more often, so the contributions of Turner, Hairston & Co. will be very relevant.
- Our mid-season call-ups might have a say in the overall performance of the team’s offense. For example, if Torres doesn’t produce and Niewenhuis is ripping the cover off the ball in AAA, look for an early season call-up. Also, if Daniel Murphy is hitting anywhere close to his capability and Reese Havens demonstrates that he’s ready for a promotion, don’t be surprised if Murphy gets moved to an AL team either for a young pitching or catching prospect.
- I’m really excited about this season because we’ve already been written off. I think with the improvements to the bullpen, a healthy starting 8, a reasonable performance from our rotation and healthy contributions from the bench, on a game-to-game basis, we will compete until the final run is scored or the final out made.
LET’S GO METS!!!
I think Murphy will either be moved to someone else for prospects or more likely, Wright is and Murph is moved to 3B.
NJstuck — Agreed. Murphy at 2B is a temporary move. He’ll go to 3B when Wright’s contract goes to a team that can afford him. At 2B, he’ll likely be replaced by Reese Havens if the winter rehab on Reese is successful. Here’s the pleasant surprise: the overall effect of these two moves will be a team that is more consistent offensively and has a lot of line drive doubles and 20 or so homers.
And hopefully that will provide a Catching prospect with something vs. Thole. I like Thole… as a backup catcher. Not as the primary backstop.
It may seem like a good thing that the Mets have already been written off and there’s really no pressure on them, but hopefully Terry Collins and this team knows how to handle themselves on a day to day basis in that sort of mindset. They are the underdogs, so they need to act like it, they need to play hard and they can’t let up on any plays. At the very least, I wanna see the game played the right way. Anything is possible with the Amazins
It has been a long time since 2006, an,d the METS have been the underdog every seaons since, and, what has itt gotten us? NOTHING AT ALL. We cannot compete with the NL East, every team is ahead of us in every area. We are weak and slow, and, full of questions. When you add the off field circus to the equation, we are a joke. Let’s hope that we can at least tangle with the NL east in 2013 or 2014.
2Cat – you wrote:
“- I’m really excited about this season because we’ve already been written off. I think with the improvements to the bullpen, a healthy starting 8, a reasonable performance from our rotation and healthy contributions from the bench, on a game-to-game basis, we will compete until the final run is scored or the final out made.”
Wow – that’s really terrific! Please pass the Madoff Kool-Aid so I can feel the same way.
But before I sip – let me put a fork in this team. We will come in last next season and the reason is all the holes left by bankrupt Freddie. We have a third starter in Dickey and we pray for rain. We do not have a closer as of this date. We have replaced the MLB batting champion and one of the most exciting offensive and defensive players in the game at shortstop with a punch and Judy pyjama wearing AAAA player. The outfield has huge question marks over each position, our first baseman hasn’t played in ten months and – oh yeah – we don’t have a starting catcher or second baseman.
Other than that – we’re fine. I’ll take that drink now.
I think calling this lineup “competitive” might be stretching things a bit. As of now, there are at least 3 what I’d call “black holes” in the lineup: SS, C, and CF, with LF very close to being one as well. These are the unknowns, if you will, positiions where you really don’t know what you’re going to get.
At SS, expecting Tejeda to hit .280 again AND drive in 60 runs is, IMO, overly optimistic. With 500+ plate appearances I expect closer to .240-250 and 35/40 RBI. Acceptable for a defensive minded SS, but not really impressive either.
At C, Thole might show the most improvement. I think it’s possible he could hit .270, but with what kind of power? HR’s will never be a big part of his game, so drawing walks and getting on base and hitting w/ RISP will be much more important with Thole. While I call C a black hole right now, Thole represents the best hope for improvement in ’12.
In CF, Torres is what he is: a defensive minded player whose best season with the bat is behind him. He’s 34 and coming off an injury plagued season following his one really good MLB season with the bat. I think you’re stats for Torres are probably pretty accurate Clayton. However, his defense is markedly superior to that of Angel Pagan as is his clubhouse presence so he makes up for the bat in other ways that Pagan couldn’t make up for his defensive shortcomings.
As for LF, a lot of “experts” see some improvement for Bay in ’12. I think the Mets would be ecstatic if he produces the stats you put up there Clayton. But I don’t know. He did hit very well in September, but you have to remember a LOT of AB’s were likely vs. other teams roster expansion call-ups who might have been shaky in their 1st time up in the Majors. I want to see that kind of improvement vs better quality pitching over a full season.
This team does still have some potential for a decent offense: a rebound by Wright, health for Ike Davis, continued production from Lucas Duda, and Daniel Murphy. But there are too many variables and uncertainties to really call this a competitive lineup. And, as is always the case with these Mets, there is the spector of injuries taking out a key player(s).
With all that being said, i think a 69-93 record for this team is what we will see this year… another losing season in the accomplish career of sandy alderson as a GM!
Alex68 — Your season projection of 69-93 works out to a .426 W-L percentage. I think it’s going to be more like .438 (71-91) or about .451 (73-89). But whatever the final numbers, we’re under water competitively and if and when we get better than these numbers suggest, critics will say we’ve risen to be mediocre. To any true Mets fan, it’s sad I think.
DES, IN CASE OF A “SUDDEN CONTEST” I WANT TO GO BACK ON THE RECORD OF HAVING PREDICTED A 64-98 FINISH THE MOMENT I REALIZED ALDERSON LIED ABOUT A 100-110M PAYROLL PARAMETER WHEN 80M BEVAME THE OBVIOUS TARGET HE WAS GIVEN!
BTW, ALEX, WHAT WOULD U HAVE DONE IF U WERE GM WITH AN 80M HARD CEILING PAYROLL?
BY MY FIGURES THEY STAND SOMEWHERE AROUUND 79.3M AT THIS MOMENT AFTER CEDENO & HAIRSTON @ 2.3 TOTAL.
considering a full 1/2 of that payroll is dead wood ( a SP that quite possibly never pitches in the majors again, and a LF that would be lucky to win a starting job in AAA), not a whole hell of a lot. The discretionary portion is just so small.
55/80 in 3 guys, none of whom did much last year, is not a recipe for success, or going to give a GM much flexibility.
METS62FAN — A 64-98 finish as you’re predicting works out to a .395 percentage and a lot of empty seats. It would be a case where half-price tickets for day of game sales would be the norm, not the exception.
Des, good morning my friend, i will say this, whether is 69-93 or 71-91 what is truly the difference?? this team will be out of it by mid april and fans (the few remaining) will completely tune out from going to the stadium, and i hope they will, it makes no sense for any fan to show up at the stadium given the situation… they put crap on the field and expect the fans to go watch them play? yeah, uhh no…
Alex68 — And a good morning to you buddy Alex. It’s not going to be pretty, is it? My hat is doffed to Clayton whose words spin straw into gold. lol
DES, HERE’S A THOUGHTH FOR WILPON RECAPTURE SOME CITI INVESTMENT $$$ AS IT APPEARS CALVARY CEMETARY IS FULL, PERHAPS THE OUTFIELD COULD BE APPORTIONED TO ALLOW FOR GRAVESITES SO LONG AS MARKERS ARE LIMITED TO GROUND LEVEL PLAQUES ALONE, THE REVERENT QUIET THAT WILL BE IN EVIDENCE WILL CERTAINLY ALLOW FOR THE SOLEMNITY REQUIRED @ MOST GRAVESITES.
might happen, but still hard to pin all that on the GM. No one is going to be romping to the WS when the team is flat broke, and he is carrying some significant fixed overhead.
Assuming Joe was correct in his prediction of the other day, and payroll for 2012 really does have to be slashed to 80mill, a full 1/2 of that is eaten up by a SP that may never pitch again, and a LF that would have trouble getting PT on a mediocre AAA team.
Actually, an honest question for you. Given all the same parameters, how much different do you think the results for 2012 would be if on the last day of the 2011 season they had canned Sandy and put Omar back in the GM seat, given Omar a shot at this off season?
any, point is, stop lying to the fan base about being competitive while putting crap on the field and talk about franchise players while letting reyes go and acquiring ronny cedeno. mind you, i like cedeno, but to be fair, on this team he will be ask to do more than on any good team.. he had a good day as some dumbasss described just because he “fixed” the bullpen he himself destroyed last year while fightin for the wildcard, people here give credit to him when something goes good, he should get same blame when the crap he puts on the field fails.. he’s getting the tim tebow treatment, gets credit when things go well, when they don’t is every body else’s fault… at least omar TRIED, this man is not even trying… come on..
Alex68 —
“he’s getting the tim tebow treatment, gets credit when things go well, when they don’t is every body else’s fault… at least omar TRIED, this man is not even trying… come on..”
Are you kidding or serious? Tim Tebow’s Broncos lost three games in a row and he took a lot of heat. You weren’t reading the newspapers apparently.
Also, no one doubts that Omar tried, certainly never me. So why do you keep bringing it up? Sandy is trying too, but you just don’t like what he’s trying to do. Whether we like it or not, the business of baseball runs the the sport of baseball. Sandy is a hired employee. In every business of any size, an employee is taught to implement his boss’ instructions. This is a fact, which is sometimes hard for younger employees to accept.
ALEX, ONCE MORE ALDERSON IS STILL ONLY AN EMPLOYEE NOT AN OWNER; HE FOLLOWS ORDERS & DIRECTIONS,; HE DOESN’T SET THEM.
GIVEN A HARD CEILING PAYROLL OF 80M TO SPEND CONSIDERING THE FOLLOWING PRESET COMMITMENTS:
SANTANA: 24M
BAY: 16M
WRIGHT: 15M
DICKEY: 4.25M
CARRASCO 1.2M
BYRDAK 1.2M
TOTAL: 61.65M
REMAINING PAYROLL: 18.35M
REMAING 25 MAN ROSTER OPENNINGS: 19 PLAYERS
SO, MY DEAER “ALEX,THE GM”, WHAT’S YOUR FIRST MOVE?
REMEMBER “ALEX68, THE FAN” WANTS IMPROVEMENTS THAT ARE MEANINGFUL; HE DOESN’RT WANT WRIGHT & BAY PACKED OFF FOR NOT QUITE READY MiLBers!
IMPORTANT CAVIAT…18.35M SPLIT AMONG 19 CONTRACTS MEANS AN AVERAGE 2012 ALLOWABLE SALARY NOT TO EXCEED $965,000 PER PLAYER WHAT IMPROVEMENT LEVEL PLAYER IS SIGNING FOR APPROX. DOUBLE THE NEW MINIMUM WAGE(480K)
ALEX, I AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE WITH BAITED BREATH
Clayton, I think you are a little overly optimistic, but that’s not really a bad thing.
I also think people are too down on Tejada. While he won’t be able to replace the production we got from Reyes, he’s not a black hole. If he can hit .260, have a .330 OBP and play solid defense, that is better than what most teams have at SS.
If, if, if. Tejada can’t run the bases and he has little power. So his contribution will be holding the fort down defensively. He’ll get slap singles, an occasional double, and some walks when they make him more patient.
He can run the bases, just not at Reyes speed. He’s no speed demon, but he’s not Mo Vaughn.
“So his contribution will be holding the fort down defensively. He’ll get slap singles, an occasional double, and some walks when they make him more patient.”
That is really not the worst thing, though. And it is far from being a black hole in the line up. His job won’t be to be a power hitter. He’ll be expected to be on base for the power hitters.
A guy whose major league history tells us will get six stolen bases in 160 games is at best just a smart runner — especially this kid who has good baseball instincts. And he’s not going to get any faster as he gets older. His SB’s numbers are similar to those of Daniel Murphy. So at least for the projected first half of the season until Murphy moves, we’ll have two middle infielder guys who, when they’re on the bases, can’t take advantage of a pitcher who is slow to the plate. This is discouraging.
I’m one of those people who see stolen bases as over rated, anyway. If he gets on base and can run at something near average speed, then it will be on the power guys to drive him in. He should be able to score from first just fine off a line drive into right center.
People shouldn’t expect him to replace Jose Reyes. It’s not realistic and its not fair.
there are plenty of reasonably quick guys, and good base runners, that don’t steal much.
As long as he can score from 1st on a double up the gap, and from 2nd on a single, then be happy with it even if he isn’t stealing a lot of bags.
any — when a player hits singles and can’t steal bases with two outs, it’s difficult to score from second base. Regarding scoring from 1st on a double up the gap, this also is more difficult.
Then let’s make fewer outs. Just kidding…but not really.
I think you’re holding Tejada to an unfair standard here. He’s not Reyes nor does he need to be. If he gets on base close to what he did last year (which was higher than Reyes) then he’s going to give the middle of the line up plenty of chances to drive him in, no matter how many outs.
Reyes SB numbers have been is constant decline since 2006. In 2006 he stole 76 and in 2010 he stole only 20, I don’t that a threat at all. I don’t think Reyes is the player we think he is. We will see what he does for the Marlins. I am so hsppy that we don’t have to hear the sparkplug stuff anymore, or, as Reyes goes so the METS go.
An analysis needs to be done for the power hitting teams that play against us at Cit Field. How many MORE runs will they score with the new dimensions.?
That was already done, if I remember correctly the study said the Mets still would have netted more homers than the competition.
I believe it was around 35 HR’s they lost compared to if they were still at Shea. I could be wrong though.
I’m part of the 99%…..that knows Jose Reyes will not play 115 games this year, or probably too many more season of his career because he will pull a hammy, gain and again and again.
Yes, this projected 2012 Lineup needs some tweaking, like i’d rather see some other ideas for a leadoff hitter come forth, possibly a good contact hitter like Murphy, or maybe a real starting CF not named Torres. If they trade Wright for prospects, can they please make a team take Bay and/or Pelfrey with them? The way the Mets luck goes, that would happen…and Pelf would win 16 games for the Cards and Bay would hit 39 homers for Colorado. The Mets have been cursed since the moment Adam Wainwright make Carlos Beltran look like…well… a frozen Carlos Beltran. Maybe now that they are teammates in STL, the curse is lifted..maybe??
GOTTA; WITH A ‘TUDE LIKE THAT MAY I SUGGEST ALTERING YOUR MONIKER TO “YOUGOTCHABELIEVE” IT’D BE SO MUCH MORE ACCURATE & BTW CAN U LIST EXACTLY HOW MANY OUT OF 9 SEASONS WERE AFFECTED BY HAMSTRING INJURIES TO REYES AS A NYM? EXACTLY 2! 2009 & 2011! CALF INJURIES, ANKLE INJURIES, THYROID HICCUP, OBLIQUE ISSUE, HAND SPIKED WERE OBVIOUSLY ALL PROBLEMS HE EXPERIENCED; BUT U SHOULD AT LEAST ACKNOWLEDGE THE 2009 ISSUE WAS NOT A TYPICAL HAMSTRING MUSCLE PULL,TEAR; IT WAS A VERY RARE HAMSTRING TENDON ISSUE(MISDIAGNOSED A MUSCLE PULL BY BOTH SF & LA DRS.) AS SUCH THE TENDON ISSUE WILL BE NONRECURRING AS THE SUPERFLUOUS TENDON WAS REMOVED SURGICALLY DURING THE OFFSEASON PRIOR TO 2010 SEASON COMMENCEMENT.
WHILE CIRCUMSTANCES BEING CHANGED SUCH AS FIELD DIMENSIONS, HITTING COACH INFLUENCE LIKELY PRECLUDES REYES’ LIKELY REPETITION OF LAST SEASON’S IMPRESSIVE OFFENSIVE TOTALS; HIS HAMSTRINGS SHOULD MORE THAN LIKELY NOT BE MORE OF AN ACTUAL ISSUE THAN THEY WERE AS A NY MET; ONLY FL PRESS WILL BE LESS INCLINED TO PILLORY HIM TO MAKE JETER APPEAR BETTER.
It will be interesting to see how productive this team is. But right now, it is reasonable to think they will score about the same number of runs, just with more power and less speed.
Here’s to hoping.
Don’t count Bay out just yet either. The offense could be surprising. One time with Goesaway Reyes on the D/L this lineup started to find itself and started scoring some runs. Your stats folks should take a look at that, it will prove interesting. Murphy was key. I can’t remember if Ike was out already.
If we can win with 4-5 runs we’re golden. DO we have the pitching to accomodate that?
There’s the question. DIckey can hold down the fort. Which Santana are we getting? Gee seems capable, Niese remains promising, Pelfrey needs ECT or something, We need a live reliable arm?
What do people think about Murphy/Parnell for B.J. Upton or Wade Davis from the Rays?
I am rooting for the Blue and Orange no matter what.
I still have a glimer of hope for Pelfrey. I also think that extrapulations are usually pretty good for veterans but fairly inconsistant when young players are the target. This team can finish third or so in the division but not without some serious luck.
While I agree the offense will be very productive, your argument is flawed. The case that your making for wright Davis and duda is way off. Wright is the only one of the three to reach 30 HRs and he is at least a few seasons removed. Davis has great potential and was on track for those numbers, but lets see him stay healthy for a season. And duda has potential, however, his sample size is so small as well. Furthermore without Reyes it means less guys on base and less fastballs thrown to mets hitters. Also the protection Beltran afforded the lineup is gone meaning that teams can pitch around wright, who might strike out more, duda and Davis more because Beltran is gone. The team can still be productive but to predict they will be based on trends is a little far fetched
Definitely gonna miss Jose but I don’t think the 2011 team — and the hitting coach Dave Hudgens — gets enough credit for the Mets performance. The 2011 team did very well in terms of NL offensive rankings:
- 2nd in Team Avg (.264)
- 6th in Runs
- 2nd in Hits
- 2nd in Doubles
- 3rd in Triples
- 2nd in OBP
- 3rd in Avg. in Scoring Pos & 2 outs
- 4th in Avg. w/Bases Loaded
Why does Tejada get so little respect?
He hit .280 with a .360 OBP last year in a pretty decent sample size.
No he isnt an allstar and is not Jose Reyes but the fact that he is 21 and has improved so much from 2010 to 2011 has me very optimistic that he can be a fairly productive mlb hitter.
Also, the thing that impresses me about this team is their patience and obp.
Wright’s & Bay definitely should go up. Wright at .345 wasnt even that awful and he is usually way above that.
If they keep laying off the bad pitches and hit the ones they know they can handle they should not be the 162 loss team everyone is predicting.
The idea that their defense will give away MUCH MORE than their offense brings seems valid. You can’t defend it by pointing out that Kent, Ramirez and Posada are examples of “bad fielders” on winning teams. Manny one of the top 3 Hitters of the past 25 Years!…YES…we can hide THAT GUY!!! Kemp?… became a “capable fielder”….again—a Major, MAJOR Bat!…probably a HOF Bat. Posada?….. certainly NOT a defensive impact catcher, but merely a lower end catcher…a PROFESSIONAL Lower end Catcher….WITH ALMOST 300 HOMERS AND 1000 RBI!
I don’t think you can profile Duda, Posada and Murph against THAT threesome….and BTW…that threesome never played together either.
The 2012 Mets have several guys who CANNOT field their positions.
In general the defense in the NL East is awful.
What no one ever responds to is that the Mets offense averaged more runs in the 2nd half last year than the first. That was with Beltran gone and Jose missing a significant part and playing chicken when he came back.
The return of Wright, the arrival of Duda as an everyday player and improvements from Tejada, Pagan and at points Bay contributed to an improved 2nd half offensively
Right so why should we expect such a huge drop off offensively this season?
especially with Davis back.
Let us all put on our rose collored glasses and be hopeful before the season starts. I’m not saying I’m expecting them to make it to October, but I’m hopeful they will be competetive. I like Bay and Wright to have bounce back years with the fences moved in. And I like Davis to pick up where he left off last year. And last, but not least I like Duda and Murphy to very good years. GO METS!!!!
Doesn’t matter if the team is doing well for if they can put up any decent figures, ownership is bound to send Wright and Bay packing by mid season to save money. Same with Santana. Don’t forget, the Wilpons stabbed the team in the back the past two seasons — when things were going well in 2010 they did not seek any help to improve the club and when things were going well in 2011 they actually sought to help out other clubs instead.
The players know it. The fans know it. The Commissioner knows it. But we will be told the club is building for the future.
Duda and Wright will have better numbers than that for sure. Plus, many are expecting Jason Bay to sort of bounce back a little bit so… the gap will be made up without a doubt. When converting the numbers to 550 ABs, the situation guys are playing in (pressure when up at the plate, batting order spot, etc.), as well as the fences, opposing pithing, and last but not least, injury. David Wright played hurt for most of the season. He played on, but he was feeling pain from early May probably until the end of the season. This offense really isn’t THAT bad.
EXPECTING Jason Bay to Bounce back…. HOPING is the word.
He’s a mystery to me…I don’t understand the change in his hitting ability, but 800-1000 ab’s is pretty defining. I think he needs to hit in the first 30-50 games…if he doesn’t, they need to release him.
Eraff, that was omar’s fault.. he knew that coming off a 36 hr season jason bay was going to turn into the biggest bust in NY since foster.. no matter how some ppl sugar coat his situation, this man is done, but hey, he hustles on ground balls so he gets a pass…
None of this matters if the Mets don’t get better pitching. That was the problem last year, and it very well could be the problem again this year.
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