Reese Kaplan -- A Year Later 2016 Proves Just as Heartbreaking

After the humiliating defeat of the club by the Kansas City Royals in 2015, no one really knew what to expect from the Mets for 2016.  The club had finished the regular season well with 90 wins but they were not dominant as they were in 1969 and 1986.  Consequently with no major roster changes and the same questionable decision making at the top no one knew if another post-season was in the cards or if they were one and done after 2015.

Entering Opening Day in 2015 the Mets lineup was a secondary consideration as they started the season interleague style against none other than their most recent nemesis, the Kansas City Royals.  The team that Sandy Alderson constructed was somewhat better than what preceded it, but it was still not exactly a blueprint for the World Series.  

Curtis Granderson, RF

David Wright, 3B

Yoenis Cespedes, LF

Lucas Duda, 1B

Neil Walker, 2B

Michael Conforto, DH

Asdrubal Cabrera, SS

Travis d'Arnaud, C

Juan Lagares, CF

Matt Harvey- RHP

The improvements were clear.  Yoenis Cespedes was now with the club for a full 162 game season instead of just two months.  

Neil Walker was brought in as a replacement for Daniel Murphy, a move that was met with disdain and derision when the club signed him as a free agent after letting Daniel Murphy walk away.  The other head scratcher for most folks was the good bat/no glove shortstop they signed in Asdrubal Cabrera.  

As the season unfolded, Cespedes proved to be a good acquisition.  He finished the 2016 campaign with an All Star nod and a Silver Slugger award based upon his .280/31/86 RBI season.  He even finished in the top ten in MVP voting.  The numbers were not quite as otherworldly as they were in the final two months of 2015, but they were rock solid.

Neil Walker had an interesting career.  During his first seven seasons in Pittsburgh Walker proved to hit .272 with an average of 18 HRs and 76 RBIs per year.  With the Mets he was off to a more of a slugging start, finishing the 2016 campaign hitting .280 with 23 HRs but oddly only 55 RBIs.  Perhaps his slot batting second most of the year prevented him from the opportunity to drive more runs across the plate.  

Asdrubal Cabrera was pretty much an unknown to most Mets fans.  Yes, they were aware of his mostly Cleveland Indians career where he had proven to be capable with the bat.  He then drifted in 2014 with a single year playing for the Washington Nationals and then 2015 with a single year for the Tampa Bay Rays.  Typically when a guy is passed around from team to team like that, it calls to mind what he has left in the tank.  The Mets were therefore pleasantly surprised when in 2016 in New York he hit .280 with 23 HRs and drove in 62.  

The rest of the crew contributed as expected.  The pitching had improved significantly with four of the five starters finishing the season with ERAs under 3.50, including Noah Syndergaard, Bartolo Colon, Steve Matz and a former shortstop-turned-pitcher named Jacob deGrom.  The weak link was former ace Matt Harvey who faced personal demons and health problems.

In the bullpen they had a pretty solid crew backing up the starters.  Jeurys Familia finished the season with a Mets record 51 saves to go along with his 2.55 ERA.  He was buttressed by Addison Reed, Jerry Blevins and Hansel Robles.  

Unfortunately, as the season drew to a close, the Mets were facing quite a challenge.  In August Sandy Alderson brought it a credible hitter in Jay Bruce for spare parts, but his arrival pretty much coincided with Yoenis Cespedes quad injury forcing him onto the DL.  Understandably the club dropped its record below .500 several times in August and things were looking bleak.

However, even after losing Neil Walker to injury they regained Yoenis Cespedes and entered September with the Wildcard playoff option still within reach.  The club rallied and finished strongly, securing that one-game playoff matchup they desired.

The single game postseason contest was what everyone had hoped, pitting youngster Noah Syndergaard against the Giants' Madison Bumgarner.  Both pitched beautiful shutout baseball (Thor with an assist from Addison Reed while Bumgarner did it on his own).  They went into a 9th inning in a scoreless game handed over to closer Jeurys Familia who coughed up a 3-run homer to third baseman Conor Gillaspie to hand the victory to San Francisco.  That was the second of only two winning seasons in Terry Collins' Mets career during which he tallied more losses than Casey Stengel.