12
2012
NL East Showdown: Where Do The Mets Rank?
An article by Craig Lerner
ESPN Sweet Spot with an interesting way of ranking the NL East. They ranked all five teams by position and used a regular rank score of 5 points to 1 point for first place to last place. Check out the main article on ESPN to read all the commentary which accompanied each ranking.
Catcher
1. Brian McCann, Braves
2. Wilson Ramos, Nationals
3. Carlos Ruiz, Phillies
4. Josh Thole, Mets
5. John Buck, Marlins
First base
1. Freddie Freeman, Braves
2. Ryan Howard/Jim Thome, Phillies
3. Ike Davis, Mets
4. Gaby Sanchez, Marlins
5. Adam LaRoche, Nationals
Second base
1. Chase Utley, Phillies
2. Danny Espinosa, Nationals
3. Dan Uggla, Braves
4. Daniel Murphy, Mets
5. Omar Infante, Marlins
Third base
1. Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals
2. David Wright, Mets
3. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
4. Chipper Jones, Braves
5. Placido Polanco, Phillies
Shortstop
1. Jose Reyes, Marlins
2. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies
3. Ruben Tejada, Mets
4. Ian Desmond, Nationals
5. Tyler Pastornicky, Braves
Left field
1. Michael Morse, Nationals
2. Martin Prado, Braves
3. Logan Morrison, Marlins
4. Domonic Brown/John Mayberry, Phillies
5. Jason Bay, Mets
Center field
1. Shane Victorino, Phillies
2. Michael Bourn, Braves
3. Emilio Bonifacio, Marlins
4. Andres Torres, Mets
5. Roger Bernadina, Nationals
Right field
1. Mike Stanton, Marlins
2. Hunter Pence, Phillies
3. Jason Heyward, Braves
4. Jayson Werth, Nationals
5. Lucas Duda, Mets
No. 1 starter
1. Roy Halladay, Phillies
2. Josh Johnson, Marlins
3. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
4. Tim Hudson, Braves
5. Johan Santana, Mets
No. 2 starter
1. Cliff Lee, Phillies
2. Gio Gonzalez, Nationals
3. Mark Buehrle, Marlins
4. Tommy Hanson, Braves
5. R.A. Dickey, Mets
No. 3 starter
1. Cole Hamels, Phillies
2. Jordan Zimmermann, Nationals
3. Anibal Sanchez, Marlins
4. Jair Jurrjens, Braves
5. Mike Pelfrey, Mets
No. 4 starter
1. Brandon Beachy, Braves
2. Vance Worley, Phillies
3. John Lannan, Nationals
4. Jonathon Niese, Mets
5. Ricky Nolasco, Marlins
No. 5 starter
1. Mike Minor, Braves
2. Carlos Zambrano, Marlins
3. Dillon Gee, Mets
4. Chien-Ming Wang, Nationals
5. Joe Blanton/Kyle Kendrick, Phillies
Closer
1. Craig Kimbrel, Braves
2. Jonathan Papelbon, Phillies
3. Drew Storen, Nationals
4. Heath Bell, Marlins
5. Frank Francisco, Mets
Bullpen
1. Braves – Jonny Venters, Eric O’Flaherty, Kris Medlen, Cristhian Martinez, Anthony Varvaro
2. Marlins – Steve Cishek, Edward Mujica, Mike Dunn, Ryan Webb, Randy Choate
3. Nationals – Tyler Clippard, Sean Burnett, Henry Rodriguez, Ryan Perry, Tom Gorzelanny
4. Phillies – Antonio Bastardo, Michael Stutes, Dontrelle Willis, David Herndon, Jose Contreras
5. Mets – Bobby Parnell, Jon Rauch, Pedro Beato, Tim Byrdak, Manny Acosta
Intangibles
1. Marlins
2. Phillies
3. Braves
4. Nationals
5. Mets
The final tally
1. Phillies, 58 points
2. Braves, 56 points
3. Marlins, 49 points
4. Nationals, 48 points
5. Mets, 29 points
Right off the bat I saw that Ramon Ramirez was not included in the Mets bullpen. Ramirez had a huge season in 2011 and if you included him and left of Pedro Beato, I would have ranked the Mets bullpen #2 behind Atlanta.
I’m not convinced that Ike Davis should be ranked #3 and in fact given the Ryan Howard injury I would have ranked Davis #1. Plus he’s a better defender and more rangy than the two ranked ahead of him.
R.A. Dickey ranked last as a No. 2 pitcher is way off. I’m not saying he’s first or second, but last place, no way.
I’ll lay 3:1 odds that Lucas Duda outperforms Jayson Werth this season. Make that 5:1.
What are your thoughts? Was this a fair assessment?
About the Author: Craig Lerner
I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.
31 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 28 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 35 | .493 | 7.5 |
| Phillies | 34 | 37 | .479 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 40 | .385 | 14.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 47 | .319 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/18/2013
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I was excited to see that the Mets had at least one player at the top of the list when I saw Jose Reyes, then of course “Marlins” was next to his name. Still hurts to see a bit.
Doesn’t look like they included Francisco in Mets pen either?
Oh nm listed him as closer. Missed it
I think Ike was rated bellow the Howard/Thome because he spent most of last season injured. If he shows himself healthy, he’ll be at the top.
Duda is getting shafted.
Also, how exactly did they quantify “intangibles”? the whole point of referring to intangibles is to not use numbers.
man leftfield must be really bad for bay to make the list
it’s a list of all the expected starters in the NL East. He’s the starting LF for a team in the NL East.
Gee wiz sandy junior, we should have been number huh huhu huh ? please donal ask daddy why they don’t believe we’re the best.afterall you are the greatest gm ever, well at least you were when roids were getting going.
Wow, by my count duda got shafted, but it evens out in 3B, david wright is not better than hansley R, also, tejada should be last in there, i like niese, but he’s not better than nolasco imo, thole should be last as well and everything else is right where it should be… Mets had 26 points in my ballot..
The hate for your own amazes me. Hanley over Wright at 3B? Based on what? Hanley had a worse season last year and has yet to play 3B in the majors.
TRS… shut the **** up… i am not hating on wright, i like hansley better than wright, is that so bad?? is funny how you wright lovers are quick to make excuses for everytime mr unclutch does bad but quick to point out how others fail or do wrong.. i’d trade wright 10000000000x for Ramirez, hell, i’ll drive that choker out of towm myself…
LOL, so explain to me using any logic at all how “but it evens out in 3B, david wright is not better than hansley R” is even true?
I love it – when others point out, with facts, about other players on other teams, in general conversation, ALEX68 calls them for being fans of that team (Go root for your Braves – sound familiar), yet it’s ok for him to root for so many players on other teams instead of the guys wearing Mets across their chest. He’s not a hater, but if you ever defend a MET that makes you an excuse maker and a “xxx lover”…………….now that’s what I call genius.
Saying a guy that has NEVER played the position in MLB is better than the guy currently playing it for the METS is just blatant………..you can’t make this shite up.
so you honestly think wright is better than ramirez??? ok.. i will respect your opinion then…
How can you say Hanley is when you have never even seen him take a ball at 3B?
LOL…you’ve hated Wright from way back when you posted numerous times on Metsblog – before the ban.
Your choice, no one’s taking that away from you.
What the heck are intangibles? Who has the nicest hair?Do they explain what they mean by intangibles?
Intangibles are factors as: teamwork, leadership, experience, desire to win, clubhouse rapport, competitiveness, etc. The Mets are under the cloud of financial distress inflicted by the mishaps of ownership. That state of distress impacts all the players on a psychological basis thereby depressing their intangibles. They are in the cellar intangibly as well as tangibly.
I loved this article…I liked eat even better when I posted it on this website yesterday…thanks for the credit, Craig.
This looks to be pretty accurate, you can’t really make much of an argument against any of the assessments. This nightmare, which is the New York Mets, is going to continue for a couple of more years (like 4).
It…not eat. Don’t know where that came from. I must be hungry. It is lunchtime.
I have the Mets with 35 points without the ridiculous intangibles category. How do you assign a ranking to that? That’s just the “I need some way to justify my picks category”.
Catcher, agreed
1B 2nd
2nd agreed
3rd agreed
SS one lower
LF one higher
CF I don’t see Emilio being what he was last year but more of what he has always been around 70 OPS+ but that might still be a push with Torres.
RF I say 4th maybe even 3rd if Heyward does not rebound.
1 agreed
2 I would say 3 maybe 2.
3 is not Mike Pelfrey to start with but if you are placing him there, sure.
4 agreed
5 Gee may actually be #1 if you are placing him there. It just depends on how his stats do the 2nd year.
ESPN has a terrible bias against the Mets and it’s even very pronounced when they broadcast the Mets. ESPN radio blasts them all day long and when Gammons and Neyer were there you could count on a few Mets jabs every week on Twitter. Olney never gives the Mets the benefit of the doubt. The sad part is we have to support them by going to Rubin’s blog because he’s the only beat writer who busts his ass to get Mets news to us.
They are onest about what’s ging on.. this team sandy alderson and the sabergoons put together SUCKS!!!!!!!!! 69-93 baby…. here we go!!!
Thing is, we’re going nowhere this year – much like the last several years. They’re just spending less to do it.
The idea is to build a sustainable winning franchise. Problem is we had to it rock bottom for the Wilpons to finally get it. Once again….thanks, Fred.
SRT, if it wasn’t for injuries would you been saying the same thing?? even in 2010 we were ravaged by injuries and couldn’t hang on, we were fighting for playoffs position even though bay did nothing and reyes was still up and down, we fought as a team but injuries once again just like in 2009 derailed our season, in 2011 we simply had no shot, IN 2012 IS EVEN WORST… but no, is not sandy’s fault he mishandle negotiations with reyes and try to mock him aftewards, is not sandy he got eamus, hu, thayer, boyer, chris young, carrasco, byrdak, hairston, harris and co on this team… no, is the wilpons fault.. BIG PICTURE RIGHT???
If Sandy had made every move you wanted this off-season, how many more wins would they have? Not to mention he did not have the money to do half the stuff you want done.
69 wins is too generous
The reason for the ESPN bias is that is earned. The Mets are a recognized laughingstock and why wouldn’t you expect the media to broadcast that simple reality back at us everyday. The life of a Mets fan isn’t easy and not about to change for many years to come. Learn to like it as it’s not going away. The Dodger fan of the 40′s and early 50′s learned to love their media symbol of the lovable bum. The original Mets fans of 1962 learned to love the bumblers we had on the field beginning with Marvelous Marv. So that’s the model, learn to love what you have and what we have is a bottom performer and a butt of jokes. That’s the reality and it can’t be shaken off easily. Learn to like it!
just remember on paper the Red Sox were supposed to win the world series.
I thought it was fair enough for a made up list. With injury concerns and unknowns given weight it seems about right. The Mets looked O.K. until the pitching came up. We got massacred there didn’t we. I guess I never really broke down our division that way. This is not going to be an easy season unless everything falls The Mets way.
I have two points, my first point is MY fix to this list in MY OPINION, (this is my list so I don’t want someone getting their panties in a bunch, I’ll respect your opinion as long as you respect mines) my fixes are
Ike Davis #1 at 1B, if Prince doesn’t join nationals, #2 if Prince does sign
Daniel Murphy #2 at 2B
Lucas Duda #3 at RF
R.A. Dickey #2 at 2nd Starter
Jonathon Niese #3 at 4th Starter
Dillon Gee #1 at 5th Starter
Mets Bullpen #2 at Bullpen
Team Totals are Phillies 52, Braves 48, Mets 43, Nationals 41 OR 45 (45 if Prince DOES sign), Marlins 41
My second point is, this “rating and foreshadow of a chart” still indicates the Mets aren’t as far as some doubting, non-believing, no faith, two faced, alleged Mets fans believe they are. I myself is a Mets fan and I believe in no chart, opinions, off-season etc. let my faith and heart change my opinion on my hometown team and my all around favorite franchise because I love them and Im loyal. Also for people ripping Sandy Alderson, just know that Wilpons think that a few extra bucks is more precious than a championship caliber team and also if Sandy did sign Reyes, Gio and Burhele then all of you would become total hypocrites just as when Omar signed Pedro, Beltran, Bay, Delgado, etc. So know what you want and stick to it, don’t just start whining, kicking and screaming like children when the going gets tough and you realize you were wrong. Me personally I stand with Sandy and I believe hes leading us to the right direction, might be tough but I watch every Mets game because I love the journey instead of the destination and adding an amazin’ memory to my amazin’ Mets history and storied franchise. With all that said…LETS GO METS!!! (period)