Amusing Amazins

The 2009 New York Mets coached by the personable, Jerry Manuel, and led by four core players. David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado make up the nucleus of the team. The Mets are structured around these players and dependent on their production as well as the team’s starting pitching.
In New York, everything is magnified. The media frenzy is especially insane because the Mets are coming off back-to-back late season collapses. The Mets are under a microscope now that GM, Omar Minaya, failed to find a right-handed bat (Manny Ramirez). Minaya shored up the biggest blunder, the defective and deficient bullpen, so positive results are expected. NY was awful in relief pitching and closing out tight games last year. The team needs to turn that around as they embark on Spring Training 2009. The Mets cannot level the playing field with the defending World Series champions occupying the same division if they continue to appear amiss and ambiguous as a team.
The starting infield finds five returning position players. Delgado bares the burden at base one. Luis Castillo attempts to play second base, and Jose Reyes and David Wright complete the infield. Reyes and Wright are close to being considered the NL’s best left side. David’s defense has improved since he came up and he even earned a Gold Glove. His .302 batting average with 124 RBIs and 33 Hrs last year provided punch and power from the three or four hole at the plate. Wright’s defensive skills are sound but his image as a premier third baseman have also taken a hit. Reyes is the better infielder of the two and without question an exciting leadoff hitter. The speedy Jose will flash his #7 orange and blue jersey in CitiField come opening day as the first Met to take an at-bat. Or will he? Manuel is now flirting with the idea of moving Reyes down in the order and having Castillo hit first. His logic is that Castillo needs something to jump-start him. I disagree. When Reyes is playing well, he makes things happen. There are no better leadoff men in baseball than Jose. He is a free swinger who would not play well if moved to the two or three slot because he might try to hard to hit the long ball. Jose came close to hitting .300 in 2008, but only produced 68 RBIS. His 113 runs scored are the most important digits to digest. As Reyes goes, so go the Mets.
Delgado has Hall of fame credentials already and he rebounded from a horrendous Spring last year to cement himself team MVP by September. The former Bluejay and Marlin saved the Mets after the all-star break. It will be a challenge for Carlos to play up to that level and match the magic again in 2009. The pressure is on the lefty and he commands attention because he is one of the best bats in Manuel’s lineup. Second base is the weakest link on the Mets. Castillo is not the all-star caliber fielder he was for Minnesota. Omar should have tried to acquire a replacement. Orlando Hudson would have fit in so well and created a nice double play combo with Reyes. Luis’ knees pose a problem for the Mets. There is no real reason to think Castillo will perform any better than a year ago, despite what the player says. The only saving grace is backup, Daniel Murphy possibly coming of age after and impressive first season. Murphy’s .313 average will drop off once he sees more pitchers. But, he is slated to platoon in the outfield with Fernando Tatis. Brian Schneider squats behind home plate, with Ramon Castro claiming second string catcher again. They are very similar backstops offensively, and both are 32 years old.
Ryan Church returns to RF and Beltran conquers CF. Beltran covers a ton of ground and should continue to put up big numbers. He is the best player on the team from both sides of the ball. Church suffered a staggering concussion in the middle of last season. Ryan’s rebound leaves plenty of puzzling presumptions. Before being knocked out May 20, Church was crushing the ball as well as he had in his career. The former National says he is not suffering post-concussion symptoms anymore. Church has no competition for the RF job. Outfielders Jeremy Reed, Marlon Anderson, Cory Sullivan, Nick Evans and Angel Pagan are penned on NY’s roster. Evans is the youngest of the bunch, but probably the best option as a backup. The bench also includes recently signed, Alex Cora. Cora is a useful utility player and could see some time at both second and shortstop. His value will prove worthwhile if Castillo is injured for a long time.
Starting pitching-wise the Mets are close to being better than a year ago. Johan Santana, Oliver Perez, Mike Pelfrey and John Maine are the top four arms. Competing for the final piece of the rotation are young lefty, Johnathan Niese, veteran rightys, Tim Redding and Freddy Garcia, and Livan Hernandez. Hernandez was just signed yesterday. He and Garcia have the best chances but Livan gives up more runs even though he pitches plenty of innings. Pedro Martinez is gone but the team remains pretty much in tact. RHPs, Seth Green and JJ Putz arrive inspired from a dismal season in which Seattle lost over 100 games. A change of league might make a difference for Green who only went 9-7 the past three years. He is only 29 years old. Putz closed games for the Mariners and looks to play a major set-up role for Francisco Rodriguez. Krod is Billy Wagner’s replacement and will secure any late inning Met leads with his high heat.
The Mets addressed their most pressing need this off-season but still have gaps in certain areas. The September swoons are still fresh in the memories and minds of these guys. Reliever, Joe Smith is gone and lefty, Scott Schoeneweis also departed. Angry Aaron Heilman and beloved Endy Chavez are two players from the 2006 playoff team also out. Santana returns from a repaired knee as the team’s top gun. The re-signing of Perez was questioned but if the up-and-down lefty can remain focused, NY will be dressed for success. The familiar combo of LHP, Pedro Feliciano and RHP, Duaner Sanchez adds a good enough reliever core to compete in the NL East. Clearly the bottom of the Mets order needs retooling because it is evidently vulnerable. But, I am ready to dive head first (like Jose Reyes) into Mets baseball no matter what.

Parting points: Song of the day: “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis