With the New York Mets on the hunt again for a new manager after parting ways with Mickey Callaway, you would think that the 2019 season was just another debacle in a long line of previous Mets debacles.
But I gotta be honest… Unlike all the other losing seasons by the Mets, many of which were demoralizing and heart-crushing, I’m not all that frustrated or shook up about the fact that the Mets failed to make the postseason. I should be totally ticked off… But I’m not.
When you think about it, the New York Mets truly had an extraordinary season in 2019.
From our humble beginnings in the spring when we dared our NL East rivals to “come get us,” to our demoralizing unraveling in May and June, to a remarkable second-half resurgence that fell a couple of games short of a wild card, 2019 was an emotionally-fueled roller-coaster ride that had no shortage of storylines. And remarkably, most of those storylines were positive.
The most obvious ones of course was the emergence of power-hitting rookie sensation Pete Alonso, and of course another incomparable season by our ace Jacob deGrom who most likely locked down his second Cy Young award in as many years.
However, there were so many other great takeaways from the 2019 season and it’s those takeaways that make me so hopeful for next season and beyond.
Here are just a few of the things we saw this season that have me feeling really good about our future.
Lugo and Wilson Step Up
Because the bullpen was such a critical function of why this team failed to win 90+ games, let’s begin there and how we witnessed the rise of right-hander Seth Lugo as a viable force as a late-game reliever.
Lugo, 29, has all the numbers you look for in a closer or setup man, posting a 2.70 FIP, 0.900 WHIP and 11.7 K/9 in 80.0 innings while picking up seven wins and six saves. I shudder to think how much worse this season could’ve been without Lugo.
To a lesser degree but considerable nonetheless is Justin Wilson. One of Van Wagenen’s better offseason acquisitions, the 32-year old southpaw excelled against left handed batters, holding them to a .217 batting average and a stingy .261 slugging percentage in 37 appearances without allowing a homerun.
I have no idea what the Mets will do with Diaz and Familia though I’m pretty sure both will get a chance to erase this season’s disaster and give it another go in 2020. But they will each have extremely short leashes, and Lugo and Wilson could reprise their late game roles at a moment’s notice.
Rosario Struts His Stuff
Perhaps one of the most underrated stories for the Mets this season, Amed Rosario proved all his doubters wrong and delivered the kind of season scouts were projecting when the Mets signed him out of the Dominican Republic.
Rosario, 23, got off to a mediocre start to the season, but turned it up in the second half slashing at .319/.351/.463 to finish his second full season with 30 doubles, seven triples, 15 home runs and 72 RBIs.
Among all NL shortstops, Rosario led the league with 177 hits while scoring 75 runs and stealing 19 bags batting mostly at the bottom of the order. Not bad for the ninth youngest player in the majors.
Defensively, Rosario got off to a nightmarish start and was piling up errors at a record pace. But much like his offense, Rosario’s second half showed a much improved glove and confidence. He was finally making the routine plays that were plaguing him while dazzling fans with frequent highlight reel plays. Jose who?
Conforto Delivers The Goods
The incomparable exploits of homerun champ Pete Alonso have been well documented here on MMO and everywhere else, deservedly so…
But in case you missed it, right fielder Michael Conforto had himself a heckuva season as well, delivering some of the finest numbers of his young career.
Conforto produced one of the quietest 30+ home run seasons in Mets history. In any other season before Alonso, a 33 homerun and 92 RBI season would have been a pretty big deal, but Conforto’s achievement barely registered a blip on the radar. Too bad…
Only 26-years old, Conforto’s best years are still ahead of him. In addition to his legit left-handed power, it’s so easy to forget that Conforto also got on base at a .365 clip this season and in fact owns a .353 OBP for his career.
In addition to his career highs in homeruns and RBIs, Conforto also set career marks in hits (141), doubles (29), runs (90) and total bases (271) culminating in a 3.6 fWAR for the season.
Look for even bigger and better numbers from Conforto as he enters his prime years in 2020. The Mets would be foolish to trade him.
J.D. Davis Was A Steal
Easily one of Brodie Van Wagenen’s best offseason moves, J.D. Davis capitalized on his opportunity with the Mets. The 26-year-old slugger emerged from obscurity to become one of team’s most dangerous hitters, slashing .307/.369/.527 with 22 home runs in 453 plate appearances. His .373 wOBA, and 136 wRC+, ranked third on the Mets behind only Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil.
The one drawback with Davis is that he’s defensively challenged both at third base and left field. But if he can continue to swing a bat the way he did in 2019, he’ll be in the lineup somewhere despite his struggles on defense with the hope that he can improve much the way Alonso has.
Wrapping Things Up
I guess what I’m trying to point out is that I think we got a good taste of what this team could do in the last three months of the season. For most of the second half the Mets had one of the best records in the NL with upper echelon pitching and hitting to go with it.
Whoever the Mets tab to be our next manager inherits a team that has an incredible solid young core of hitters led by the likes of Alonso, Nimmo, McNeil, Rosario, Davis, Smith and Conforto, and all of their best years are ahead of them.
Do we need a huge overhaul in the bullpen? Of course. Will we need to re-sign or replace Wheeler? Absolutely. But beyond that, this team has a chance to be a dominant force in the NL East for years to come, and I see a bunch of postseasons in our future.
