An MMO Fan Shot by Bobby Beneventano
As is normally case with the New York Mets, one can find him or herself looking at the roster going into the season saying, ‘this team could actually be pretty good’. Of course, we’re all too familiar with finding ourselves singing an entirely different tune come late spring, early summer time. So will this year be any different? It’s far too early to know for sure, but let’s look at how it may be different this time around.
First, let’s consider the new additions to the roster. Michael Cuddyer, the veteran outfielder will be locked into the starting right fielder role for the next two years. The Mets brought in Cuddyer to be someone who can produce immediately and help them win now, while not tying up excessive capital long term ($8.5M in 2015 and $12.5M in 2016). It’s hard to know what to expect from Cuddyer, who will be 36 by the time the season starts, but the Mets hope he can be a solid middle of the order presence who will not hurt them too badly defensively in right field.
The next addition is John Mayberry Jr., who was signed to be the 5th outfielder and a righty bat off the bench. It doesn’t appear that anyone is all too high on Mayberry, who is a high strikeout guy with some power, but hasn’t ever produced consistently throughout his career. It would’ve been nice to see the Mets pick up someone with more speed and a higher contact rate, but it looks like Mayberry is going to be the guy to round out the bench.
The Mets have two big arms coming back in Matt Harvey and Bobby Parnell. Their returns will provide huge boosts to the starting rotation and bullpen. The Mets have also been aggressively trying to move a starting pitcher, namely Dillon Gee, Jon Niese, or Bartolo Colon. So far, it appears they haven’t been offered anything substantial in return for any of them, so we’ll have to wait and see on that front.
Now let’s look at what we have returning. The starting rotation is comprised of young, power arms such as Harvey, Zack Wheeler, and Jacob deGrom. Add in another two out of the Gee, Niese, and Colon trio, and that’s a pretty solid rotation. The bullpen also looks stronger than it has in previous years, with guys such as Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Familia, and Vic Black becoming more polished, reliable relievers.
The batting lineup, however, is marred with question marks. In particular, the Mets have three young, unproven players that will be in their everyday lineup that I think a lot of people aren’t 100 percent sold on offensively: Wilmer Flores, Travis d’Arnaud, and Juan Lagares. Each of these players has shown flashes of potential and all could end up being decent major league hitters. However, the Mets want to win now, and many would like to see these positions provide more offense than they did in 2014.
The slash lines for Flores, d’Arnaud and Lagares last year were 251/286/378; 242/302/416; and 281/321/382, respectively. That’s nothing to write home about, but let’s remember that these are developing players and most importantly, they’re all due to make the major league minimum. That’s approximately $1.5 million between the three of them combined.
The rest of the Met’s starting lineup with their salaries is as follows: David Wright $20M, Curtis Granderson $16M, Michael Cuddyer $8.5M, Daniel Murphy $8M (projected) and Lucas Duda $4M (projected). So even though the three aforementioned players make up 3/8ths (37.5%) of the lineup, they only make up $1.5M (2.59%) of the lineup’s $58M salary.
So to me, while these three players represent the biggest unknowns for the Mets, I don’t think that this season’s success or failure rests on their shoulders nor do I view them as weak spots. In fact I view them as the players that have the potential to outperform their expectations. Murphy and Duda will likely produce at a level on par with their salaries. And that leaves Wright and Granderson as the weak spots in this line of thinking because after all, it is their large salaries preventing the Mets from upgrading at the other positions
Consequently, the responsibility should be placed at the top. The guys that are getting paid to produce need to actually produce. The reality is that if Wright and Granderson repeat what they did last season, then the Mets as a whole will likely produce the same results in their won-loss record . It would be nice if Flores, d’Arnaud, and Lagares can really step up their performances, but if they produce at last year’s levels, I think this team can still win provided that the big money guys do what they’re supposed to.
That being said, we all know it doesn’t always work out accordingly. So everyone would feel better if the Mets were able to acquire a proven shortstop that could provide some offense, preferably a leadoff type. It’s unclear who they could reasonably acquire to fill that role, so it’s possible that they’re going to have to roll with their current lineup going into spring training. It’ll be interesting to see how these situations play out, but I’m optimistic and excited for this upcoming season. Let’s Go Mets!
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This Fan Shot was contributed by MMO reader Bobby Beneventano. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 25,000 Met fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to [email protected]. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.
