Thursday, February 19, 2015

New York Mets spring training preview



The New York Mets open camp on Thursday in Port St. Lucie, Florida.  There is a bunch of optimism after si x straight losing seasons.  I think they and their fans should have some and I believe they will be a winning team but I wouldn't jump to playoffs just yet.  They have a very good group of young pitchers that will lead their team.  They have the NL rookie of the year in Jacob deGrom and Zach Wheeler who continues to get better and of course the return of their outspoken ace Matt Harvey.  Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon figure to round out the rotation but they also still have Dillon Gee on the team.  They also have guys in the minors waiting for their turn in Stephen Matz and Noah Syndergaard.  Their bullpen was rebuilt on the fly last year and consists of some young power arms as well and they get their closer Bobby Parnell back as well.  The Mets pitching is something to watch as it is one of the best staffs in baseball for sure. 

The other question is shortstop, right now it looks like Wilmer Flores will be the starter and they also still have Ruben Tejada on the team.  The Mets were linked to Troy Tulowitski and Ian Desmond in the off-season but nothing materialized.  I wonder how long they will stick with Flores if he isn't cutting it at shortstop, will they revisit trades in May or will they be able to wait until July and then see if they can pull off a big trade??

The Mets offense wasn't very good last year, they have some good bats and signing Michael Cuddyer should help but they need bounce back seasons from David Wright their captain and Curtis Granderson.  If these two veterans produce it will make their lineup a lot better.  Lucas Duda showed a lot last year and they need him to continue it and Travis d'Arnaud started showing the promise he has to go with a good hitter in Daniel Murphy.  The Mets offense will depend on the two veterans though and if they can get back to what they used to be. 

The Mets should have some optimism and their fans as well as camp opens.  I would expect them to be a winning team and fighting for at least a wild card right to the end of the season.  I think if things break right maybe they could even contend for a division title but that is a bit of a jump at this point.  I would expect a better season and something to build off of for the future. 

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