Tom Brennan - JUGGERNAUT

Tom Brennan – JUGGERNAUT

What do you call a team where most of the moving parts are glowing with positives?  JUGGERNAUT.

Merriam Webster defines "Juggernaut" as "a massive inexorable force that...massively crushes that whatever is in its path."  

That, ladies and gents, is your 2015 NY Mets. At least how I saw it last week.  Baseball is a fragile game.  Losing Wheeler and Edgin in the past week hurts, let's face facts.  Baseball is a humbling game, a game of constant adjustments...for players, coaches, management, and fans.   So after sober meditation and deliberation, without juxtapositions or obfuscations....

I still think we're gonna be a juggernaut, Mets fans.
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Before you call me a jughead, please consider the following:

Starting pitching has the feel of a juggernaut, with a returning Cy Young caliber dude in Harvey.  It has a Cy Young caliber 2014 rookie of the year (deGrom) who was just outstanding in his Tuesday outing vs. the Marlenes. Wow.  OK, it just lost a fireballer who edged towards Cy Young quality in the latter half of 2014 (Wheeler), but I think the combo of Gee, Montero, Matz and Syndergaard may just produce as good or better of a year that the oft-erratic Zach.  No Wheeler, but I still count 8 starter-quality hombres, led by 2 of the elites of the game. Excellence, swagger, firepower.  JUGGERNAUT QUALITY.

Relief pitching has that juggernaut quality. When your 2014 closer (Mejia, 28 saves in 80% of a season as a closer) may only, in the view of some, be the 4^th best PEN arm (behind the juggernaut jug-gun-dazzling arms of Bobby Parnell, Vic Black, and Jeurys Familia), that is impressive.  He’s my closer - I don’t slot him behind those 3, but some would.  

When you lose a lefty like Josh Edgin, who pitched really well in 41 short inning relief games, you groan....but in games he pitched in last year, the Mets were 12-35.  So he is replaceable.  I think Sandy capably figures this one out, perhaps moving a superior Steve Matz to the pen.

Carlos Torres? A fine innings eater - yum, innings, feed me some more.  And likely a mighty fine arm like Montero, and other ones to fill in capably.  No Valverdes may apply – quality only.  No Edgin? Still a pen that should approach JUGGERNAUT status.

Offensively, not juggernaut quality in and of itself, but supportive of the overall Met Juggernaut, as the hitting will likely be much, much better than the anemic output of 2014.  Why?

d'Arnaud should hit better; Flores should hit better than last year's SS Conundrum did.

A healthy Wright should bounce back higher than a tightly wound pensy pinky.  BOING!!

Granderson should hit better (Kevin Long and shorter fences are the Long and Short of it there), and he is fine so far this spring; Cuddyer and the OF back ups should far exceed the "Young Yuck" of 2014; Mr. Long sees Major Murphy improvement in 2015, and I see real Lagares improvement, too.  Even the pinch hitting and pitchers should hit better, as frankly they can’t be any worse than 2014.  

Give Mets’ juggernaut pitching another 100 runs or so to work with and it is like giving the Juggernaut Mets Machine a fine fuel additive and excellent synthetic oil...VRRMMM!

Fielding may slide a bit, but the added offense far outweighs any minor slippage there.

Swagger should be greater, which helps win games.

Happiness: happy Mets fans, the result of a much-improved team, gives the 2015 juggernaut even greater traction.  

Other teams:  The Nats remain a real obstacle, but the Mets are not going 4-15 against them again, and the combined remaining Eastern Conference opposition ought to be a bit less tough than the 2014 versions were.

Conclusion:  Juggernauts win 90 or more.  In fact, they consider 90 win seasons as disappointments.  So let's see how high this group can rise....despite the Edgin and Wheeler setbacks.  

And let's just hope the manager does not throw sand in the gears.  Feed Collins some Reese's Pieces and that should help.

Stay positive, folks...and say after me: Jug-ger-naut.