Now that the 2017 New York Mets season has drawn to a close, it’s time to shift gears to next year. The Mets have some glaring holes to fill, both on the field and off. Let’s take a look at some of New York’s needs for 2018.
FIND A SERVICEABLE INNINGS EATER
It’s no secret how bad the pitching rotation turned out to be this season. Historically bad, actually. While it’s possible that guys like Steven Matz, Matt Harvey or Robert Gsellman could make a complete 180, the team needs to not repeat history and go into next season with the same rotation pieces again.
Sandy Alderson has said the team will be looking for a veteran starter and there are some guys out there that can fill that hole on short-term pacts.
Lance Lynn is one of the more appealing names and a guy who has consistently turned in a lot of innings annually. In 2017, he was 11-8 with a 3.43 ERA and 4.82 FIP. The latter was higher than his career numbers, so this year may have just been an aberration or was due to him coming back from Tommy John surgery.
Some other options the Mets could consider are Alex Cobb, Jeremy Hellickson, Jason Vargas and Wade Miley.
UPGRADE THE BULLPEN
The Mets shipped away most of their veterans in exchange for promising young bullpen arms over the final few months of the season. While the hope is that a few of these guys pan out, New York still has a couple holes to fill in the ‘pen.
Jerry Blevins, AJ Ramos and Jeurys Familia make for a solid core of relievers, but there are several options out there that could help bolster the bullpen even more.
Steve Cishek, Wade Davis or Brandon Kintzler would make the back end of the bullpen very strong. An old friend, Addison Reed, could help make the Mets bullpen a force to be reckoned with as well. Plus, he has thrived in New York.
CHANGE THE CLUBHOUSE CULTURE
In recent days, Terry Collins has stepped down as manager, while Dan Warthen and trainer Ray Ramirez have been let go.
Bench coach Dick Scott is unlikely to return and first base coach Tom Goodwin and bullpen coach Rickey Bones are free to talk to other teams about job openings.
The Mets have already begun to break down their coaching staff but that is only half the job. The team needs to stray away from replacing these coaches with carbon copies.
It’s time for New York to step outside its comfort zone and bring in some new minds who aren’t afraid to think outside the box.
The Mets need to step into the 21st century and hopefully with their new and improved staff they will.
BETTER INJURY PROTOCOL
The Mets had 28 players spend time on the disabled list this season. That alarming number was third in all of baseball and a main factor that derailed this campaign.
While injuries will happen, there are ways for situations to not be as messy as they were this year.
New York can improve their fortunes by doing a couple things: For one, using the 10-day disabled list more frequently is a good start.
So many times this season, the Mets would keep a player active and they would end up missing several games anyway while the team waited to see if the injury would get better. If you put a player on the 10-day, you are giving your team more flexibility.
Noah Syndergaard reportedly refused an MRI earlier this season and winded up tearing his lat, missing a majority of the year. Precautionary measures should always be taken. Better safe than sorry is always the best option.
The Mets brass also has to think long and hard about the workout regimen being put forth. When you have 28 injuries in a season, something has to change.
Hopefully the shake up of the staff will incorporate this.
