As the calendar flips to 2020, the Mets get one day closer to a critical season ahead of them with a major opportunity to seize.
Currently, the team has replaced Zack Wheeler in the rotation with Rick Porcello while also signing Michael Wacha as rotation depth.
One of the Mets’ six starters is destined to start the season in the bullpen as of now which has been aided by the signing of Dellin Betances.
We all know the same, usual story with the Mets, that the team has a chance to be really good with about 1,000 “ifs.”
That being said, the “ifs” the team has going into 2020 seem pretty plausible to envision working out.
The most crucial one is probably Edwin Diaz performing up to his previous standards in 2020, but it’s honestly hard to see him not being at least a little better in 2020.
His career-high 15.4 K/9 does not normally go along with a 5.59 ERA and there’s no reason to believe that his stuff would diminish at the age of 25.
Betances is a question mark in his own right, but his questions largely revolve around his health. If his 2019 injury issues are behind him in 2020, there’s no reason to believe he won’t perform as he has a 2.36 ERA for his career. Even in his injury-plagued 2019 season, the right-hander struck out the only two batters he faced.
Offensively, the team’s ifs are actually quite limited. Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto, and Brandon Nimmo comprise a very strong young core for the Mets.
Nimmo might be the only one with question marks in that group, but that is only because of his neck injury this past season.
However, if he reports of no pain this season, then there’s no reason to think Nimmo won’t be productive. He returned to the Mets in September this year and had a .995 OPS for the month as the team tried to make the playoffs.
The real big question mark offensively is the impact of Yoenis Cespedes in 2020. Nobody can possibly know how much he’ll actually contribute, but if he’s even half the player he was for the Mets from 2015-2016, he’ll be a more than welcome addition to the roster.
According to FanGraphs, the Mets currently have the sixth-highest projected fWAR of any team in baseball at 43.9. That gives them the second-best number in the National League.
It also ranks first in the NL East with the Nationals in second at 41.0 fWAR, the Braves in third at 40.0 fWAR, and the Phillies in fourth at 36.1 fWAR.
Where Josh Donaldson ultimately signs will probably be one of the biggest factors of the divisional race in 2020, with the Braves and Nationals both currently pursuing the third baseman.
Hopefully, for the Mets’ sake, Donaldson will choose to sign with the Minnesota Twins who recently upped their contract offer to four years as reported by Dan Hayes of the Athletic.
Either way, the Mets definitely have the talent to compete in this tough division. If they can put it all together, 2020 could be a very special season in Flushing.
