Mark Simon of ESPN took a look at both the New York Mets and Washington Nationals as currently constructed to see who is currently the better team on paper. The results will not please Mets fans.
Simon goes on to explain that the items left on the Mets to-do list is going to help them little in the grand scheme of things for 2017. He lists the team’s likelihood of dumping an outfielder while just signing a reliever or two to make little difference in how they perform in the upcoming season.
Fangraphs currently projects the Metropolitans to finish six games behind the Nationals while only winning 83 games in the upcoming season. Simon believes that the reasoning for this is that the Nationals are a much more sure thing at this point and time than the Mets.
Citing issues with a young pitching staff coming back from injury, a catcher who can’t get healthy and has seen a recent dip in production when he is. Balky backs and knees to their first baseman, second baseman and shortstop as well as an aging and injury prone Jose Reyes.
Add-in a once thought to be superstar in the making of Michael Conforto who has become a big question mark to many, combined with a captain who has to manage through spinal stenosis on a daily basis and a bullpen that may lose it’s closer for an indefinite amount of time. It could be possible that Simon has a point.
Other than the health of Stephen Strasburg and their current need for a closer, the Nationals are a fairly steady team. The loss of Wilson Ramos of course could possibly hurt them as well but the addition of Adam Eaton is sure to lessen the gap of any offense missed.
Going into 2017 the two beasts of the East are sure to look pretty similar to the two teams we see on paper today. Do you believe Simon has a point in feeling this way, or is his thought process flawed?
