Reese Kaplan -- Five Long Years

A lot has been written about the long, slow, frustrating journey the Mets have taken from the bottom to the top, so I thought I would take a look back at the beginning of the Alderson/Collins era and see just how much things have indeed changed during this odyssey. 

On opening day of the 2011 season the Mets started the following lineup:

• Jose Reyes             SS
• Willie Harris          LF
• David Wright           3B
• Carlos Beltran         RF
• Angel Pagan            CF
• Ike Davis              1B
• Brad Emaus             2B
• Josh Thole              C
• Mike Pelfrey           SP

On opening day of the 2^nd season of the new regime, 2012, several changes had already taken place, but not necessarily for the better as they finished worse than they did the year before:

• Andres Torres          CF
• Daniel Murphy          2B
• David Wright           3B
• Ike Davis              1B
• Jason Bay              LF
• Lucas Duda             RF
• Josh Thole              C
• Ruben Tejada           SS
• Johan Santana          SP

2013 wasn’t quite as radically different and not surprisingly they finished with an identical 74-88 record:

• Collin Cowgill         CF
• Daniel Murphy          2B
• David Wright           3B
• Ike Davis              1B
• Marlon Byrd            RF
• Lucas Duda             LF
• John Buck               C
• Ruben Tejada           SS
• Jon Niese              SP

Expectations were raised somewhat in 2014 and the results were marginally better:

• Eric Young, Jr.        2B
• Juan Lagares           CF
• David Wright           3B
• Curtis Granderson      RF
• Andrew Brown           LF
• Ike Davis              1B
• Travis d’Arnaud         C
• Ruben Tejada           SS
• Dillon Gee             SP

Having a look at the lineup that won in extra innings on Monday night:

• Juan Lagares           CF
• Ruben Tejada           3B
• Michael Cuddyer        LF
• Lucas Duda             1B
• Wilmer Flores          SS
• John Mayberry, Jr.     RF
• Dilson Herrera         2B
• Kevin Plawecki          C
• Noah Syndergaard       SP

Wow, that’s a wholesale difference from just a year ago, and not a single person there who was with the team when the current regime began.  Juan Lagares, Ruben Tejada, Lucas Duda, Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki were all home grown, Dilson Herrera and Noah Syndergaard made their MLB debuts in a Mets uniform.  Only Michael Cuddyer and John Mayberry, Jr. were imports. 

A lot of changes have been taking place lately with this team, some due to injury and some to ineffectiveness.  Soon to be gone is last year’s opening day starter, Dillon Gee.  Gone for pretty much the whole year is David Wright.  Gone for more of the year than he’s been here is Daniel Murphy.  Gone all season is last year’s closer, Jenrry Mejia, the prime lefty out of the pen, Josh Edgin and starter Zack Wheeler. 

Still, it seems that giving the “kids” a chance to play has resulted in some better times in the won-loss column.  Rather than playing a collection of has-beens whose better days were behind them, the eager-to-prove youngsters are adding a resiliency that the team has not seen in quite some time.  One could argue whether the delay in giving them the chance was by plan, by risk-aversion, by a penchant for starting veterans or by necessity, but enjoy it now that it has happened.