8
2012
Can The Mets Be Next Year’s Orioles?
An article by 
The Mets are giving us other things to think about lately, such as the New York Giants’ secondary and an inability to put together a running game. Also a chance to lament about another September of non-meaningful games for the Mets.
The Mets are mired in fourth place, thinking about how a hot run could have them chasing .500, which would be a successful season. Personally, I’d rather have the collapses of 2007 and 2008 than what they are today. At least they were in a pennant race, and if you’re a baseball fan, that’s all you can ask for from your team.
Since 1997, when Orioles manager Davey Johnson was named manager of the year and fired the same day by Peter Angelos, the franchise that long symbolized baseball excellence had hit the skids.
The Orioles showed some improvement last year, but were still projected to finish last in the AL East. But the Orioles have some power, their bullpen has pitched well and they took an impressive 24-7 record in one-run games. That record, despite a negative run differential, is the probably the single most significant stat to explain why the Orioles are in a pennant race.
Conversely, the Mets are 17-18 in one-run games, symbolic of a team with sporadic power and an inconsistent bullpen.
Can the Mets improve enough from within to be a contender like the Orioles?
Baltimore has more power, where the Mets anticipated power from David Wright – he’s fallen short of expectations in that area- and Jason Bay and Lucas Duda haven’t provided much either. Maybe Wright and Duda will produce next year along with Ike Davis who has given the Mets plenty of thump this season, but he can’t do it alone.
The Mets certainly have to figure out the plan behind the plate and in the outfield – that won’t be easy.
Building a bullpen has proven to be a tricky proposition for Sandy Alderson two Winters in a row, but if he can accomplish that objective, perhaps Citi Field will be as alive as Camden Yards will be tonight. For now, you could actually hear the crickets chirping during a Mets broadcast.
It could be if the Mets split their losses in one-run games. Add nine wins and subtract nine losses and the Mets are right there in wild-card contention.
Split those losses in one-run games and the Mets are playing meaningful baseball in September.
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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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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Hi John — I love optimism but there is a limit. lol
Could the Mets be next year’s Orioles? Yup. If pigs could fly.
Sandy says there will be changes. But with no new FA then thru trades and promotions from within. I can’t see trades of any significance. The only way the mets could be the Orioles of 2012 is to be the miracle Mets of 1969 when thy beat the Orioles. With good SP we have the foundation to contend. The rest is up to Sandy to fill needs. We are assuming a payroll of 90-100M.
John. Do you and your lovely family plan on retiring to Florida someday to live out your golden years. I have the perfect piece of property for you in a gated community on the intercoastal waterway in Panama City. This is no bull. Please make an offer. Are my comments in anyway connected to your post-you bet!
sure they can. any team with enough talent to be ~.500 has a shot.
even the people who rail on the FO seem to say so. If the logic is that there were players available within budget that would have gotten them over the hump this year (instead of the ones they did get), then all they need is to pick better this off season!
the other variable (besides “luck”) of course is up/down years out of guys you have. If a few important guys decide to have breakout or career years together, the team will win a bunch more games.
No way in hell.
Absolutely not.
The Orioles were a sub 70-win team the last few years and going nowhere. But they went out an assembled a great bullpen to go along with their closer, got two starters and three position players to go along with what they had. There was no dismantling of what they had or promises of a five year plan. They tried to improve themselves which was something those in Flushing have not attempted to do in two years.
Not everyone is successful overnight like the Orioles but we have to remember – Omar too took a club that won just 71 games and in two years was one strike away from the world series. The next two years they broke our hearts with two late season collapses but that was still better than what we are doing now. Like his moves or not, the Wilpons at least allowed Omar to try and do something. What we have seen today is a front office trying to cut corners as much as possible for the benefit of the Wilpons retaining ownership while paying off debt. Once that is reduced, bet we are going to see a new vision once more and Sandy Aldeson retiring after accomplishing what he was hired to do.
How can anyone ask that question, It’s impossible for this team to do anything. Where is the leadership, where is the backbone, where is the mets should say yo let’s win and show poeple we can. They won’t cus the wilpons own this team. Like i said the wilpons leadership for the mets is going in the toilet if ya know what i mean. Please get rid of the wilpons and spare us mets fans of defeat. They won’t spend money, they won’t get players like they should, come on like nobody feels the same as me, then all of you don’t get it. You look up the track record of the mets since the wilpons have own this team, then comment.
Wonder why nobody has yet to refer in a positive manner about Sandy’s vision for the future and that if not in 2013, then by 2014, the Mets have little chance to be this season’s Orioles outside a miracle like 1969?
We’ve given our assessments. Let’s hear it from the other camp to offset our negative outlook.
Joey, asking them to expand on this so-called vision or how he’s going to make wholesale changes would be a kin to squeezing juice out of a dried out prune.
We’ve been asking them to state their cases for two years, but the best they could come up with was “I’m going to give him two years before I start judging him”.
Guess what, it’s two years, now it’s back to blame Wilpon.
O.J. Simpson’s defense team that was tabbed the Dream Team, couldn’t hold a candle to Alderson’s defense team. I’ve never seen anything like it in over 40 years of watching this game.
Hi Maniac,
LMAO on all your points!