Mets winter News and Notes

By Gary W. Marchese Jr.

Flushing, NY (Dec 31) – The New York Mets have been quiet this winter however; they of course have hired a new manager Terry Collins and a new general manager Sandy Alderson. Alderson revamped a lot of the organization hiring former lieutenants in Paul Depodesta and J.P. Ricciardi and changing some scouts but as far as player personnel, they have not done much.

The Mets do not have much money to spend but they could use some pitching. They are going to be looking for bargain basement players that they could sign. The Mets could look at people like Jeff Francis or Chris Young and I would expect them to sign at least one of those types of pitchers. The Mets did sign D.J. Carrasco and it was assumed he would be a reliever but it looks now as if he could compete for a spot in the rotation. The Mets also could use younger players like Dillon Gee who showed a lot of promise at the end of last year.

Here is some of what we could look for the rest of the off-season and into the season.

I would expect the Mets to sign at least one reliever and one starter and if they do not sign them I could see a trade happening. I would not expect any big names or anything but, they do need some pitching. They lost Pedro Feliciano and Hisanori Takahashi two valuable left-handed relief options who also doubled as a starter.

The Mets position players are pretty much set. They will have Davis at first, Reyes at short, Wright at third, Thole behind the plate. In the outfield, they will have Bay, Beltran and Pagan, the only question here is if Beltran will move out of center field and play right field while, Pagan deserves a shot as the center fielder and will most likely get it. Beltran said he would be open to listening about a change in position but nothing has been discussed as of yet.

The Mets do need to figure out second base, they still have Luis Castillo on their roster but they do not really want him to play second base. Alderson has said that if he does not play well in spring training he will not be at second base. The Mets could eat the remaining contract and go with Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy, or Brad Emaus who was a Rule V pick. Murphy has been playing second base in winter ball and has vowed to make the team. Murphy is a good hitter that has not found a position for him, I have no idea if second base is for him but he will have a chance in spring training to show the Mets.

The Mets also have to hope that Thole can hit enough at the major league level; he came a long way last year. Many in baseball said no way was he ready going into last year however, he took a huge leap forward and gives the Mets confidence. The Mets have done a nice job of mixing young players with some veterans but they need to stay healthy and they need to find pitching from somewhere. If they are going to compete the pitching has to be there.

The Mets pitching will be their downfall as Johan Santana the ace of the team is out until at least May and maybe even longer. Pelfrey is a solid number two that has to be the ace for now. R.A. Dickey showed a lot last year but he is 35 and had a career year, the Mets have to hope that with the knuckleball he has found a second career. Jon Niese has a lot of potential and the Mets like him a lot; he should fit in nice as a back of the rotation starter.

The Mets still need two other starters though, Gee is a possibility, but he is a young prospect. Carassco may be another person but as you can see, none of these players is very appealing so the Mets are short on pitching. They really need to sign at least one veteran starter that can eat up innings and that would be a huge help for them.

If Santana comes back healthy then they could be in good shape but that is not a guarantee either as he has had surgery the last couple of years. The Mets are also going to have to get production from Jason Bay who was struggling bad and then got hurt with a concussion in July. Bay needs to have a huge bounce back year to be a presence in the middle of the lineup.

I would say right now that the Mets are an 80-85 win team, that is not horrible but it still isn’t good enough to compete with the Phillies or Braves. The Marlins are good and the Nationals are getting better, the Mets have a tough division to compete with and they need everything to go right if they are going to stay in contention all year.

Posted by gmarchesej on January 2, 2011. Filed under Mets,MLB News,News and Sports with Gary W. Marchese Jr.,Sports,US Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.