As Major League Baseball’s hot stove begins to cool, and bags and boxes are packed and shipped to Spring Training sites across Arizona and Florida, and final touches are made to rosters, the guessing games begin. Ah, projections season.
The New York Mets, on paper, are a talented bunch. On Thursday, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN ranked the Metsies’ lineup third-best in baseball (Atlanta, seventh; Nationals, 11th; Phillies, 16th). That’s not necessarily a stretch, either.
Last season, basically this same Mets lineup had a 104 wRC+ — good for second in the National League and seventh in baseball — and 108 wRC+ in the second half (fourth in NL).
A full season of on-base machine Brandon Nimmo back in the mix, along with the ongoing development of the rest of this young Mets core — Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, J.D. Davis, Dominic Smith, Luis Guillorme, wow, I could actually keep going; exciting times — gives this team a foundation to lean on.
The hope that Robinson Cano can rebound after an inconsistent season is reasonably high considering his strong second half and superhuman-like return from a partially torn hamstring in August to hit .277/.364/.492 (126 wRC+) from his activation on September 4 through the end of the season.
Jed Lowrie has been reported as more-or-less coming along in his perpetual rehabilitation from myriad injuries. His presence on the Mets’ bench this season would be a plus but is far from assured at this point.
Yoenis Cespedes is playing for his next contract and a possible $12.95 million in incentives this season after having his 2020 base salary reduced to $6 million (from $29.5 million). One would assume he’s going to be motivated to produce. That’s another potentially huge positive, but not a sure thing by any means.
Can the Mets’ rotation continue its high level of performance in the post-Zack Wheeler era? Will Noah Syndergaard become Thor again? Will Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia, Dellin Betances, and Seth Lugo form the four-headed mythical beast they surely have the potential to be?
There are a lot of questions. But, to be honest, there always are. A 162-game season will bring along its share of injuries, slumps, streaks, bumps-and-forks in the road. That’s the beauty of this game — it’s completely unpredictable.
Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has put together a deep, talented roster littered with a few too many ifs to be completely comfortable and confident heading into the season, but more than enough talent to shine an encouraging light on this group.
Though, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic pointed out on Friday morning, in what’s expected to be a tight NL East, there’s always room for another leave-no-doubt reinforcement.
The Mets parlaying a mediocre (at best) farm system and Van Wagenen’s seemingly life-long dedication to getting creative into a deal for Nolan Arenado or Kris Bryant — as Rosenthal practically pleaded with 80 percent of the NL East to do in his story — is extremely unlikely, but not impossible.
Collin McHugh and Russell Martin will suffice, in the meantime.
