The spring training countdown officially begins at the conclusion of the Super Bowl, but with the Winter Meetings now in the books, let’s consider the Mets’ top five issues entering the season.
If you disagree, and that’s the point of this exercise, I would be interested to hear your issues.
1. DAVID WRIGHT’S HEALTH: I touched on this the other day, and rank it first because it is the lead domino. If David Wright returns to All-Star form it alleviates a lot of pressure from the offense. It takes away a potential distraction and goes a long way toward making the Mets whole, and even adds some validity to this idea that they’ll contend for a playoff spot this season.
2. MATT HARVEY’S RETURN: If Wright isn’t at the top of the list, then it has to be Matt Harvey and his return from Tommy John surgery. The Mets have to handle him with kid gloves whether he likes it or not. There will be an innings limit, and while Harvey is playing nice now, there’s no telling how he reacts if he’s pitching great and they shelve him for two weeks as Sandy said. But more important than innings limits is that he resembles his pre-surgery form. Until he throws to live batters off a mound at full throttle, everyone will keep their fingers crossed.
3. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BULLPEN: For as long as Sandy Alderson has been here, building the bullpen has been a major issue. With Bobby Parnell’s injury, the Mets went with a patchwork bullpen last year that saw the emergence of Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia. Manager Terry Collins said the closer job is Parnell’s when he returns, which was odd and premature. Let Parnell ease into form first and why put that concern on Mejia now after he worked so hard and achieved so much in his first taste of closing? As of now, Mejia, Familia, Parnell and Vic Black bring a lot of heat from the sixth through ninth innings. The Mets needed another lefty to complement Josh Edgin but it looks Scott Rice could get the job or Rule 5 pick Sean Gilmartin. When the offseason began they were in on all the available big left-handers until they learned the price, so this is a step down.
4. THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF JACOB deGROM AND ZACK WHEELER: The Mets claim their foundation is young pitching, which means they will need an encore year from deGrom and for Wheeler to start pitching up to those big expectations everyone had for him. Wheeler can start by lowering his extremely high pitch counts and giving the Mets some depth. It can’t all be Harvey.
5. WILMER FLORES’ ABILITY TO TAKE TO SHORTSTOP: Let’s face it, the Mets aren’t going to land a marquee shortstop, either through trade or free agency. It is time to see if Flores can produce. This should he his shot.
