Reese Kaplan -- Everyone Has a Solid (and Illogical) Mets Opinion

On Friday night here I made some phone calls to folks like you all on the other side of the world to talk about the upcoming baseball season. Over here soccer (or football as it is called by everyone but Americans) is the predominant sport, followed by competitive badminton (yes, it's really a big thing here!) and then somewhere off in the distance some interest in traditional track and field events. 

 No one plays hockey, you won't find a game featuring an odd shaped pigskin ball, there is only limited basketball (given the heights of most locals, that is somewhat understandable), and of course there is no baseball. Everyone I engaged by phone had strong opinions about the upcoming Mets season, but let's see if we can break it down into categories.

"They're losers and nothing has changed!"

This group of folks has been smitten by the long Wilpon-era plague. They watched too many years of the team not going after the top talents in the game, not holding management personnel accountable for a series of bad strategic or motivational decisions, and watching other clubs improve while the Mets kept shopping in the dented cans section of the marketplace resulted in more Ls than Ws. 

 Then when the seemingly invincible Cohen machine turned things around to perch the club atop the division all the way into September only to have it collapse due to injuries and slumps, everyone felt reinforced that their perspective was depressingly accurate.

"Every club goes through injuries. Look at the Phillies!"

This group was probably as delusional in their optimism as the first group is in their pessimism. They were the ones doing acrobatic floor exercises -- high jumps, cartwheels and the like -- when the Carlos Correa signing announcement was made. They were just as effusive when the Mets got off the Japanese import ban and signed Kodai Senga. 

 They were rapidly over the loss of oft-injured Jacob deGrom once Justin Verlander came to town. They were ecstatic about the contracts given to keep Edwin Diaz and Jeff McNeil here for many years. They were like a series of proud mamas and papas (without the record deal) pontificating about what it would be like having Starling Marte back, having rookies like Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos knocking on the big league door. 

 They pointed out that the Phils lost Bryce Harper for at least half a year and now are looking to be without Rhys Hoskins for an entire year, yet they still figure them to field a competitive team. Consequently missing out on Diaz for all of 2023 and Jose Quintana for likely more than half a year is the pitching equivalent of Philadelphia's offensive woes.

"It's too soon to tell..."

This group is likely the one where I would classify myself. Yes, the injuries will hurt big time, but no one yet knows for sure the answers to who will be replacing the aforementioned IL occupants. Most feel David Robertson will be the primary closer and reinforcements will come not in that role but in adding more setup guys. That's probably accurate, but the season has not yet started and final cuts haven't been made by the Mets nor 29 other ballclubs. 

 We've all seen enough good at times from David Peterson and Tylor Megill that achieving a comparable ERA of Quintana's career 3.75 mark is not a guarantee. Brandon Nimmo appears to be on the mend and with Mark Canha on one side of him and Starling Marte on the other the club has a competent outfield though the lack of home run power by Canha does draw its series of detractors. The bench is weak until proven otherwise it includes Tommy Pham and Darin Ruf. 

 No one argues about Luis Guillorme nor Tomas Nido but there is debate about one more bat being Baty, Vientos or Locastro. No one is sure what to expect from Eduardo Escobar. Oddly he could be a make-or-break member of the roster.

Reading the Tea Leaves

Right now Opening Day is about a week away and optimism tends to overrule pessimism. The cautious in-betweeners, however, may be the group with the proper perspective.