Without further ado, in 2012:
1) Johan Santana and his smooth delivery from the left side will take the mound once again.
2) The Mets, even in the worst of scenarios, will still celebrate victory 50 times. That is still a lot of handshakes, chest bumps and “spotlights.”
3) The Mets will have their first 30-home run hitter since 2008. Only 23 players accomplished that feat in 2011 and with a healthy David Wright and full seasons from Ike Davis and Lucas Duda - all with much hitter-friendly dimensions - take your pick on which one will do it. My money is on our third baseman.
4) Young, exciting players will make their debuts. What better place to talk about prospects than Mack's Mets? I am not an advocate for letting any of our “big four” pitching prospects see playing time in Flushing in 2012, but I am not the guy making the decisions. If they do, it sure will be something to watch. And if they don’t, you can still expect debuts from Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Reese Havens, Jordany Valdespin, Zach Lutz and possibly Juan Lagares and Matt den Dekker. I am particularly excited to see what "Captain Kirk" and Havens can do in spring training. Both have the potential to secure starting spots on next year’s club and both bring a diverse skill set to the table.
5) The gates to Citi Field will open on Thursday, April 5th, when the Mets host the Atlanta Braves. Baseball will be back in New York
I cannot express how much I am looking forward to watching Lucas Duda crush a 450-foot home run, or Ruben Tejada working a 10-pitch walk to bring up a resilient Justin Turner who - like clockwork - will slap a single the other way to move Tejada over to third and start a late-inning Met rally. I cannot wait to watch Davis veer closer and closer to the Mets dugout to catch an errant foul ball that few other first basemen in the game are athletic enough to even think about. I look forward to the game’s best hitters looking like little leaguers against Dickey’s knuckleball and I truly want to see what Frank Francisco can do with the closer role. And if not him, why not see if Manny Acosta has what it takes?
I eagerly anticipate Wright taking a ball the other way into the gap and actually seeing it go for a home run. I want to see Jon Niese win his 15th game—something I believe he has a legitimate chance to do in 2012. More than anything, putting aside all of the bullshit Mets fans have had to put up with from management and past the heartbreak of 2007 and our franchise shortstop leaving us for something worse, baseball will be back. I don’t know about you, but for some reason that just makes it all better.
4 comments:
Steve: I'm looking forward to a bunch of the same things. I actually expect at least two of those sluggers to hit over 30 homers as long as they stay healthy. I'm certainly not counting on Johan at all. As soon as Alderson said he may not.be ready for spring training, I immediately got.visions of Mark Prior and Chen Ming Wang who both took an extremely longer time to get back(in prior's case, still trying). Also, if they Mets win anywhere close to fifty games, no one is going to cherish the fist bumps. I'm looking at this to be a much better season then this past one. Yes, Reyes is gone, but look at it this way: with Davis coming back, its like they signed a great offensive and defensive first baseman who'll hit cleanup. Their bullpen is so much better and Duda will hold down right field offensively in Beltran's absence. Who knows? Maybe Bay returns to form. Wright certainly will be close to the player of old and won't spend one month playing with a broken back and another month on the bench healing it. Murphy has shown himself to be one of the best pure hitters on the team and he'll be back. If the rotation is sturdy in the least, this team wins at least eighty games. I'm definatly not "punting" this season and I sure an not picking this team to finish in the cellar. The Mets.have some talent.
Good article! Most casual fans will dismiss the 2012 season, since they feel that "we will suck", so what's the point?
Actually, I think we will be better then people think. Not playoff caliber, but scrappy and a pain in the ass to play.
IF things go as we think (i.e. 2014 is the target for a winning club again) then 2012 and 2013 will be critically important in the evaluation and development process. In other words, assessing what we have, picking the right pieces to keep and getting as much value for assets that we don't plan on using in the future.
Watching that develop will be fascinating and I feel pretty confident with Sandy at the helm.
LASTLY, 2012 may also be the year we get an ownership change!
Actually, I have already dismissed the parent team 2012 season. That way, everything will lok up.
Instead, I will concentrate on the players that should make their way to Queens during the 2012 season.
They include:
SP - Jeurys Familia - ETA July
2B - Reese Havens - ETA September
OF - Kirk Nieuwenhuis - ETA Sept
In addition, the 2014 additions should include pitchers Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Josh Edgin.
I'm much less concerned with win-loss record this season than I am with individual success stories.
I'm excited to see Duda and Davis in the line-up together, to see how the talented Niese can finally get enough luck to match his excellent peripherals, how Tejada develops into a major league shortstop, how our upcoming prospects perform in the majors and how the others develop in the minors. I'm looking forward to the draft, and to see how Fulmer, Mazzoni, and most of all Nimmo perform in a full season of baseball.
Even off the field, there will be a lot to look forward to. What kind of trades and signings will Alderson make under the new CBA? Will the Wilpons get their act together, or just get out altogether (hoping for the latter)?
For the first time in what seems like ages, we have a farm system that isn't the laughingstock of baseball. Pencil the Mets in for 1st place, 3rd place, 5th or 6th place, I don't really care, there are a lot more things to be excited about.
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