After watching the Mets lose three of four games at home to the Washington Nationals, Danny Knobler of ESPN New York compares the two teams as one heads to the playoffs and the other heads to a sixth straight losing season.
He took issue with Terry Collins who yesterday told reporters that the Mets and Nationals are “very, very close.”
“They’ve got a good team,” Collins said. “They’ve done a nice job. I don’t think we’re that far away.”
When Collins was pressed to explain how close is :very, very close” he explained, “They’re going to be in good shape. They are young, and they’re going to have another year under their belts, too. But we’ve made a lot of changes here, and I agree exactly with what general manager Sandy Alderson]said three months ago. We’re very, very close.”
However Knobler disagrees and points out some stark differences.
“Right now, the gap is big enough that the Mets were eliminated from the National League East race with two full weeks to go after Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Nats. The gap is big enough that the Mets are 3-13 against the Nationals this season (including 1-9 at Citi Field). One hits home runs at will, and can make Citi Field look small. The other keeps talking about moving the fences in.”
The Mets have been outscored 84-43, and out-homered 25-7 at Citi Field. Knobler argues that for all the Mets’ insistence that they’re a young team that will get better, the Nationals are actually just as young and already better.
He concludes that no matter what the Mets want their fans to believe, it’s very hard to make an argument that the gap is even close.
The one thing that worries me is that the Nationals have a top ten payroll budget and can afford to keep their stars and sign the occasional missing pieces when needed and pull the trigger on a blockbuster trade.
The Mets on the other hand have yet to show they can trade for a big piece and have only showed they’ve become very adept at flipping them for prospects. Then there’s a payroll that ranks 25th and an offense that ranks 29th in batting.
The GM recently warned that payroll will remain at the same $85 million level and that he’s reluctant to move any top prospects to acquire any missing pieces. He also was somewhat emphatic in saying that the team will address any of their needs internally and has said the same on more than one occasion. It seems that the biggest move for the Mets next season will be the return of Matt Harvey.
What do you think? How close are we to becoming a contender for the NL East division title? Are we a year away? Two years away?
