By Mike Steffanos
Spring training is almost upon us. Here's what I hope to see from the New York Mets this season.
Here in New England, winter has announced itself rather loudly these past couple of weeks. It hasn't affected me as much as in a typical year. I'm stuck in the house the majority of the time, anyway, after hip replacement surgery. I can't drive yet, so I don't have to deal with the adverse conditions on the road. I can't go out and shovel after the relatively minor storms that have hit my area. Still, as someone who holds no love for the winter, I wouldn't be sorry to see Old Man Winter dial it back a bit.
I've been trying to find productive things to do during all of the downtime that my rehab has "gifted" me. I hoped to write more about the Mets during this stretch, but it's been a rather dull winter for the club, particularly in comparison to the non-stop excitement of last offseason. And a lot of what has been going on in David Stearns's first winter at the helm has been happening in the background, out of sight of fans like myself.
I've written about my patience for what Stearns is trying to accomplish in digging out of the hole created by the extraordinary failure of the 2023 Mets. I genuinely believe remarkable progress is being made to better position the New York Mets to finally exit the (occasional) Boom and (mostly) Bust cycle they've been stuck in for decades. I understand that 2024 will be a transition year. However, as I wrote in my last post, I don't give David Stearns and Steve Cohen a pass on making this a competitive season. Last year was such an ongoing bummer. This one has to be more fun for the fans and more helpful in building the brand that Stearns and Cohen hope to transform the Mets into.
With the lack of big-impact signings to think about lately, my mind has turned to what would constitute a successful season for the 2023 Mets. In a season that will begin with much lower expectations than last year, there still has to be something that builds momentum back in the right direction. While I'm sure that every Mets fan carries their own expectations for 2024, here are some of mine:
A winning season.
This might sound basic, but my absolute baseline criteria for this upcoming season is that the Mets finish above .500. Stearns and Cohen have both spoken of seriously competing for a playoff spot. Last year, the Diamondbacks and the Marlins parlayed 84-win seasons into Wild Card appearances. It was tougher in the AL, where the Blue Jays were the lowest-winning Wild Card club with 89 wins. Still, being better than .500 at least ensures a team is in the Wild Card hunt. And the Mets really have to be in the hunt, or we're talking consecutive failed seasons, and that's a massive step in the wrong direction.
9 comments:
Gallo,Hoskins gone. How bout Brian Belt. He should be cheap,on e year. They need that DH.
If you build a house with a poor foundation, you are going to have problems in the future.
I understand the Mets wanting to keep incoming players contract for a one year deal but, they also have to understand that any player who is good is not going to accept that when they can get multiple years from another team.
The Mets need to get their payroll in order because they cannot afford to give spots in the draft as a penalty. At the same time, the Mets must also understand that this may not be possible in one year.
Having said that, what is wrong with signing good BP arms to a multiple year contract?. Is not like they won't need such arms in 2025 and beyond. You fix what you can when the players are available. You get cheaper when the prospects start replacing the expensive veterans.
So in that regard, you don't want to block those promising prospects who are a year away.
I have to ask why the Mets front office cannot get creative like the Dodgers with backloaded contracts. Why can't the Mets sign a BP arm like Ryne Stanek to a multiple year deal with a low 2024 salary in order to help balance the payroll?.
Maybe is me but when there is a will, there is usually a way to work out what you want. If the Mets decide to sign Alonso long term, they should give him a backloaded contract.
You make some real good points. I'm very curious to see what sort of bullpen the Mets put together this year. It's one of the major things I'm looking at for the upcoming season. Frankly I don't care how they accomplish putting together a good bullpen, but I need to see something.
I'm not against the Mets trying to sign a DH, but that doesn't appear to be part of their plan. I think they're going to take a lot of flack if the dh position turns out to be a black hole in the lineup for another year
The problem as I see it with the DH is that it's the only possible spot for Vientos.
If we sign a veteran DH, trade bait becomes MV's role. Keeping him glued to the bench makes zero sense.
While JD or JT would give us a 2024 boost, losing MV might be very costly down the road.
I'm torn between the choices, but at this moment I'm leaning to making this a trial year for the kid, with veterans like Pete and Marte filling in wen they need rest.
Next week, I might lean the other way.
Mike:
Personally, I see this 2024 season in a much brighter light of day, so to speak. However, there do remain a few personnel moves needed to better insure my prediction above. Playoff bound.
Thoughts
The team has the hitting in place. Third base to me should be between Baty or Vientos. It has the long ball hitters as well, plus the guys who can get on base and be hit home. Even who knows here, base stealing.
But in reality, it will all comes down to the NYM pitching staff in 2024.
More thoughts on this topic.
The Starting Five:
"Simply put the FIVE S's.
1. Senga 2. Severino 3. Sean (Manaea) 4. Syndergaard 5. (Drew) Smith
Each one a veteran starter.
Two more things.
First: The top three starters have got to stay healthy all season long, barring minor injuries like finger blisters and broken finger nail stuff. There does however exist with these five starters, prior injury sort of concerns with especially Severino, Sean (Manaea), and Synder "Thor" Gaard. Thor is currently unsigned and showed well in a recent MLB workout camp of recent. 95 mph fastball currently. He should ramp it backup away from his arm injury. Maybe a one or two year contract since the Mets have a few stud MiLB starters blooming. Two of which, could conceivably be up second half.
Some will wonder, why Drew Smith starting?
Because he's a veteran pitcher with strong statistics, nice strikeout to innings, and limited arm-wear since relieving so long. Drew was originally a starter, and could easily be stretched back out as the number five starter here. I like Drew's mechanics. Smooth. He and Wheels were my two favorites in the smooth department. Jake was smooth until he went 100 mph and eventually tore up his arm as a result.
Second:
There are probably several starters the NYM may be currently thinking of using in the 2024 starting five, not mentioned above. My advise here is simply to them hold back, until each one proves that they are what you currently are thinking they are. See how ST goes for each. Some of these simply do not have the career stats to backup their being put in the five-man rotation automatically. They are question marks, better used in long relief until a determination can be made on them if they do not cinch a rotation spot in ST. They could prove most beneficial to this team in long relief.
Bullpen:
Adam Ottavino is the word of the bird. Get him back. He wants back in here.
And for goodness sakes alive already, bring kid Nathan Lavender to the Mets ST camp. Nathan had by far and away the best overall statistics of any Syracuse pitcher in 2023. There is something about an impressive lefty pitcher. Nathan is young and he too will ramp up his fastball as he plays more. He has like four other pitches that impress me. The kid is big league.
This 2024 NY Mets team is playoff bound. See you all at the Playoffs!
Vientos and 30 HRs solves a lot of problems I think.
Great comments today, thank you.
I think I would be inclined to give Vientos a good shot at the DH role. It seems almost inevitable that Alonso is going to be a free agent, and you can't rule against some team making him a crazy offer that the Mets won't want to beat. If Vientos shows enough this season, you could consider giving him a shot at 1B if Pete goes elsewhere.
One thing I had in mind when writing this, but didn't get to because the post was already very long, was the importance of defensive upgrades this season. If they do promote a couple of the young starters, it will be very helpful if there is a good defensive team behind them. It gives them a bit more confidence when their fielders are making plays behind them.
Vientos has to play for a lot of reasons.
1. Legit 30hr power bat.
2. If he hits as expected, trading Alonso or not signing him at the end of 2024 won't hurt as much as Vientos would be the 1B going forward.
3. What is Baty doesn't hit but Vientos does? Did Vientos get better defensibly while training with Lindor?
Vientos was a SS,have to think he can handle third. And 30+ HRs sure sounds good.
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