Daniel Murphy, Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell, Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada were all supposed to be bit players on the Mets in 2011.  Other than Niese, none of the players listed above was guaranteed a spot on the 25-man roster, with some of them opening the season at AAA-Buffalo.  But through injuries and Terry Collins’ desire to give his young players a chance, all have been instrumental in the team’s success over the first half of the season.

Daniel Murphy and Justin Turner – the Mets’ leading RBI men in the infield.

Daniel Murphy has kept his average around .300, while collecting his share of extra-base hits and clutch hits.  His 17 doubles rank third on the team, while his .350 batting average with runners in scoring position have helped him collect 35 RBI, good for second on the team behind Carlos Beltran.

Jonathon Niese has continued his development from fringe pitcher to top of the rotation starter.  He leads the team with 92 strikeouts and is tied for the team lead in wins with eight. Since starting the season slowly with a 1-4 record, Niese has gone 7-3 and has a 2.73 ERA over his last ten starts.

Dillon Gee went from Buffalo to near All-Star.  He won his first seven decisions this season and is currently tied for the team lead in wins.  His .727 winning percentage is tied for fourth in the National League.  (NL winning percentage leader, the Braves’ Jair Jurrjens, was defeated by Gee in their head-to-head matchup on June 4.)  Gee is also the hardest pitcher to hit in the Mets’ starting rotation, allowing a .222 batting average to opposing hitters. As a result, the Mets are 11-3 in Gee’s 14 starts.

Bobby Parnell has been an on-again, off-again pitcher since making his major league debut in 2008, but since returning from AAA-Buffalo in late May, he has been constantly in “on” mode. Parnell is the owner of a 0.96 ERA over his last 16 appearances and has held opposing hitters to a .200/.241/.218 mark in average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, respectively, since the beginning of June. He has also become a strikeout machine, averaging 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings, after averaging 7.7 K/9 innings from 2008-2010.

The future closer for the Mets?  For now, Bobby Parnell is an outstanding set-up man.

It’s a fact that no one saw Justin Turner coming, but once he arrived, he made his presence felt, setting Mets rookie records in consecutive games with an RBI and consecutive games reaching base. He has also been the team’s best hitter with runners in scoring position, batting .379 in such spots. As a result, he sits just one RBI behind Daniel Murphy for second place on the team despite having only played in 58 games.

Ruben Tejada was supposed to be the kid with the slick glove who wasn’t supposed to do much with the bat. But in addition to his fielding prowess, his offense has been a pleasant surprise. In 45 games hitting mostly in the eighth spot in the batting order, Tejada has collected 18 RBI, the result of a .314 batting average with runners in scoring position and a .318 average with men on base. Also, unlike most free-swinging young players, the 21-year-old Tejada has made excellent contact this season, striking out only 25 times.

All of these players have given the Mets significant contributions this season despite lacking the experience that their higher paid colleagues possess. In addition to their mutual success, there is one other important feature shared by all six players. None of them is older than 26 years of age. Therefore, they all stand to have long careers in the major leagues should they continue to build on their achievements.

Hakuna Tejada! What a wonderful kid! (Even if we caught him “lion” on the job…)

There was a time when “the kids” meant Jose Reyes, David Wright and no one else. The team didn’t develop their own players, preferring to sign or trade for 30-something players like Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado, Billy Wagner, Orlando “The Dookie” Hernandez, Moises Alou and Luis Castillo, rather than giving their young players a chance. Many of those veteran players performed well at the start of their careers in New York, but broke down long before they played their last games for the Mets.

The 2011 Mets have not lived by this mantra, giving players such as Daniel Murphy, Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell, Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada the opportunity to succeed at the major league level. Their success has translated into more wins for the Mets and the hope for meaningful games in the second half of the season, something that hasn’t been seen since the Mets moved across the parking lot into Citi Field.

Sure, having veteran leadership is always important, but how can those veterans lead when they can’t withstand the rigors of a 162-game season? The current Mets are better suited to play the entire season and are showing that they deserve to play. Before too long, there will come a day when Murphy, Niese, Gee, et al. are going to be the veterans that the next generation of players will be looking up to for leadership. It’s good to know that the 2011 Mets are getting the on-the-job training that will lead to success for this generation and future generations of Mets players.

Some things came out recently that raised some questions for me.  A piece by Bitter Bill himself, Bill Price, who said that the Mets are playing it safe, and subsequently wrong, with Backman.  I couldn’t disagree with that philosophy.  After all, I feel like Wally Backman, despite his qualifications being limited to just minor league and independent league management, is the right candidate for the way the Mets are constructed right now, with a lot of young talent and veterans who have not taken the leadership reigns who would be receptive to plans.   MetsMerized Online’s own Hojo’s Mojo wrote in response to a Joel Sherman piece about that very aspect, that Backman was not a candidate because Sandy Alderson has reservations about hiring a first-time major league manager especially in New York (same goes for Chip Hale, who may return in a capacity as a coach next season).

Now, I disagree with that philosophy wholeheartedly, if we are to judge Backman simply on that aspect of his candidacy.  The “frontrunners” the media assumes are Terry Collins, Clint Hurdle and Bob Melvin, and with Jose Oquendo, a coach seemingly forever with the Cardinals organization but again with no major league management experience, emerging as a dark horse candidate.  It seems there are inconsistencies lying in that method of thinking.  If Backman is not a good candidate because of his lack of major league management, then why is Oquendo’s deemed okay?  If we are to worry about Backman’s domestic disputes and run-ins with the law, then why, as Joe Janish wrote on Mets Today earlier, is Collins’ DUI in 2002 suddenly brushed under the rug?  Clint Hurdle has had down years as a manager in Colorado but can be easily swept away because it’s a smaller market and he did bring them to the playoffs twice.  As for Melvin, yawn.

I could go on and on arguing in favor of Backman, but I won’t.  It’s not because I don’t love him or not want him to manage the Mets next year or for that fact, ever.  It’s because of our emotional attachment to him.  Do we really want Backman to take the reigns of a team that is clearly in a rebuild mode at this time?

It’s nothing knocking his ability to manage.  I believe he played in New York, played on a bruising and brawling and one of the most beloved teams in New York sports history and can handle the pressures of it.  However, this is not the South Georgia Peanuts where a loss is taken in stride, and the overall team is looked at as well-run.  This is the Mets, with the media salivating at the prospect of them not doing well, and finding a scapegoat each time the team loses.  Again, I think Backman can handle that.  But can we, as fans, watch the Mets potentially be a .500 team at best next year, and give Backman the benefit of the doubt?

It may not seem like an issue, but it could be for me, as a fan.  I’d want Backman to succeed, but I also know that deep down, the manager doesn’t win the games, the team does.  On the other hand, we’ve seen demonstrated by the likes of Jerry Manuel and Willie Randolph that a manager can lose a few games without a good strategy for the team.  That’s what has been lacking over the last six years.  I think we can all break bread in agreement on that.

We’ve also seen that the ties to the ’86 team can be both a blessing and a curse.  While Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez are enjoying their Mets renaissance as broadcasters for SNY, Howard Johnson has taken his lumps in the media from bloggers and beat writers alike about how being an ’86 Met means you don’t get ’86ed from the team, ever (just reassigned).  That’s fair.

We all know that fairly or not, when a manager of a New York team has a string of bad luck, he gets hammered in the media to the extent that he is ultimately driven out of town.  Conversely, praised for doing nothing.  Look at Joe Torre.  One of the Mets’ worst managers (due to having a poorly constructed team) and beloved now because of his run with the Yankees.  When he turned down a contract offer that brought him to Los Angeles after the 2007 season, he was seen as a failure by some because the Yankees hadn’t won a World Series in seven consecutive seasons, though making it to the playoffs each of those years.

One can’t win in New York, unless of course you are.  The Mets and Sandy Alderson in particular are taking their time to make sure the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed so that the Mets have a long-term recipe for the success.

No one wants Wally Backman to manage this team more than I do (well, maybe Backman himself wants it too).  Right now, I want what’s best for the team and perhaps our emotional attachment to Backman might cloud our judgments going forward if he were the manager.  I just hope that if true that he won’t be considered for the position any longer, than he does stay in the system.  Most players who have played for him would take a bullet for him.  If he can mold young talent at the minor league level to showcase on the big team, I can be happy with that too.