This is such a "weird" baseball season so far that it would not surprise me anymore if the Orioles actually stayed in competition until the last month of the season- and THAT is saying something. Like any season, a number of questions remain unanswered, and, in particular, the Mets have their fair share of these questions. Therefore, without further ado, these are the things I wonder about...
~Will the real Ike Davis please stand up? Is Ike the same player who looked like an all-star for the first month of the 2011 season? Is Ike simply a Gold Glove-fielding version of Dave Kingman? Will he finally come around this season, or is it a lost cause?
~Ruben Tejada's offense was a very pleasant surprise before he got hurt. How long will it take him to get it going again once he returns? Is his extra-base (doubles) power maintainable? Will he finish with a higher average then Reyes?
~Josh Thole, also soon to return from the DL, may have after-effects from a series of concussions. Will he be reluctant to stand up to home plate tags in the future? Will his propensity for passed balls continue? Will he also be able to pick up where he left off offensively?
~Will Johan Santana remain a "hard luck" pitcher all season long? Will his shoulder hold up over a long season? Will he regain enough stamina to go longer into games before the dog days of the season?
~David Wright has certainly earned a contract extension- the question is, will it be with the Mets? One has to think they will do everything in their power to re-sign him; does Wright want to stay?
~Can Daniel Murphy continue to make such marked defensive improvements, to the point where all of the other "depth" at the position in the minors won't matter? Will Murph's success cause other players in the minors to move to a different position in order to get to the majors? Will his offensive output be maintained throughout the season? Will he reach 10 homers?
~Will Mike Pelfrey come back next season on a one-year, make-or-break contract or will he (or the organization) try for a change of scenery?
~Will the Mets go pitching in the upcoming draft? Who will fall to them at #12?
~Can the great performances of the Mets minor leaguers continue? Will Brandon Nimmo make a mark this season? Can Jack Leathersich continue his high-K performance? Will a AA or AAA pitcher make the jump to the bigs this summer? Will Harvey, Wheeler or Familia be that pitcher?
~Once Mejia hits the bigs (July?) will he become a pitcher in the mode of the old Orioles teams of the 60's/70's - beginning in the bullpen, develop arm strength and then ease into the rotation? Or is he going to be consigned to the bullpen permanently (as permanent as anything CAN be these days, anyway)?
~Is this Mets team a .500 team or better, or will their water find its' level in a fashion that folks like Olney & Rubin predicted?
Whatever the case, there's one thing we can be sure of- THE 2012 SEASON IS FAR MORE INTERESTING FOR METS' FANS THEN ANYONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED!!!
4 comments:
for starts... Leather Rocket was welcomed to A+ ball today... it's a long long road to the Bigs...
Leather was warming up in the bullpen to face me my Senior yr up at Lowell at the Spinners stadium.. lets just say the knucklehead in front of me popped out on a 3-1 count...
Tejada can't really hit RHP that well, lucky for him teams are throwing ever LHP that they have against the Mets...
Reyes has hit well since that awful series in NY...he'll have better numbers than Tejada eventually...
As far as Murphy playing 2nd base...
People forget that Rod Carew wasn't a very good second baseman because of the way that he hit...
On Carew's career, he made 154 errors at 2nd (besides what he made at 1st). Carew averaged an error in just under every 7 games on his career...Murphy is still a newbie there, and is averaging an error in just under every 8 games...
If Murphy can continue to hit like he has in the past 2 seasons, and can maintain or continue to improve his 2B defense, then he shouldn't have anything to worry about...There aren't a lot of 2B's that can hit .320 with almost an .800 OPS...
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