Dwight Gooden spoke with Andy Clayton of the New York Daily News recently about the state of the Mets and his thoughts on new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen.
While he admits he was skeptical at first, he intimated that he likes what he has seen so far.
“At first I was a little curious to see how it was going to work out with the new general manager, but so far I like him being aggressive… I don’t know how much of a leash he has – how much (The Wilpons) give him – but so far he’s been going great. He seems like a young guy that wants to win and isn’t afraid to take chances. He’s looking at guys that can help the team now.”
He believes that this decision is a vital one in New York as it is really hard to go through a full-blown rebuild in this market. Gooden believes the team has the pitching staff to compete now as well.
“I always thought that in New York you have to win now, you can’t rebuild or try to look down the road, you go for it now. They have a pitching staff now – I don’t know how long you can keep these guys together – but you have to go for it now.”
“Doc” really liked the Mets additions of Wilson Ramos, Edwin Diaz, and Robinson Cano this offseason, but thinks one of their best moves might have been the one they didn’t make in referencing the Noah Syndergaard trade rumors.
“This is just my opinion, but I think his stuff is just as good as (Jacob) deGrom. I think deGrom is a better pitcher, but Syndergaard probably has better stuff, but he’s still learning how to use his stuff. That’s a great 1-2 punch…I’m glad they kept Thor…To me, you’ve got one of the three best rotations in baseball if healthy.”
Time will tell if those three additions in addition to Jeurys Familia will make the difference for this team, but as Gooden points out, the rotation on paper could carry the Mets very far.
