Wheeler, d’Arnaud, Flores, Lagares, and Harvey take a group photo on flight to NY
The Mets are finally getting recognition as a team on the rise in 2013. Yesterday, you heard Mike Francesa on WFAN say that the Mets are “emerging from the abyss”; coming a long way from just three months ago from when he bluntly labeled them “unwatchable, embarrassing losers”. Today, David Schoenfield of ESPN.com has labeled Flushing’s Finest as “the team to watch these days” in New York.
Behind Harvey and Wheeler in the rotation there is solid Dillon Gee, Jonathon Niese and promising Jenrry Mejia, who was just shut down after five impressive starts. He’ll have surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow. Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero started the Futures Games and are two top pitching prospects who have reached Double-A. The Mets can dream of a 2015 rotation of Harvey, Wheeler, Syndergaard, Montero and Mejia.
The Yankees, meanwhile, have players just trying to stay awake in the late innings.
Maybe the Yankees hang in this wild-card race — although at 5.5 games behind the A’s and with the Rays and the Orioles and Indians still a game ahead of them it will take exceptional baseball from the Yankees and bad baseball from at least one of the A’s or Rays for a playoff berth to happen. More likely, the Yankees fall short and they’ll have to figure out how to reload for 2014.
Maybe they can figure out a way. Maybe they make peace with Alex Rodriguez, he gets his suspension reduced and hits 20 home runs in the second half. Maybe Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira all return healthy and perform. Maybe they replace Mariano Rivera without a hitch. Maybe.
Just don’t be surprised if it’s the Mets who start getting the back page covers in the New York tabloids next year. They need a shortstop — how about a trade for Starlin Castro? — and they should go hard after free-agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. The bullpen needs some work but that can be fixed. But Mets fans can see a foundation building instead of crumbling.
-Dave Schoenfield, ESPN.com
Team of the future in N.Y.? It’s the Mets
It is an excellent piece by Schoenfield and I highly recommend reading it in its entirety here.
I can’t wait to see what the immediate years ahead hold for the Amazin’s. The future is here and before we know it, the city is going to be dressed in orange and blue once again.
Hat tip to Jonathan B. for the link
