We finally have reached the last part of the Season Preview Series, the New York Mets. This team has high expectations after each of the last two years and now boasts not only a solid lineup, but a pretty balanced lineup in the sense that no hole anywhere in the team is too major, and every problem is balanced out. Lets start off with the offense, which the 2009 Lineup:
1) Reyes: There really isn't much to say about Reyes. He is one of the most exciting players in the game (which is mentioned during every national broadcast of the team, I really don't think I can hear Joe Morgan compliment Reyes again, he does it way too much) and he will be key leading off this team. The main thing for Reyes and the Mets is that when he gets on base, the Mets need to be able to get him home, and that is crucial for this offense.
2) Murphy: I was a little skeptic when I first heard Murphy would be batting here. Honestly, I wouldn't surprise if rotates around the lineup, but thats another topic. Murphy has such talent with the bat that he looks to impress a lot of people this year. He has a sweet swing and a youthful precense that should push this team. Furthermore, he means business, all he talks about is hitting. I can't wait for the season to start so he can carry on what he has been doing.
3,4,5) Wright, Beltran, Delgado: These players can bat in any of these spots (except Delgado, who will either be 4 or 5) and the offense will still work. Wright is a key bat in the lineup. Beltran consistently has great years and Delgado has to perform like he did in the second half of last year. When the three of these guys are on, this lineup becomes the best lineup in baseball. The problems here will be that Wright can get pull happy, Beltran goes through power streaks and power outages, and Delgado is notorious for bad starts of the of the season. Being here though will gurantee that Murphy will get good pitches to hit, and these guys should as well, because it is hard to walk around the Mets lineup.
6) Church: He started off great last year, and then had a series of concussions that he never reconverd from. Hopefully this year he will start off great again. If he hits well, then he will get pitches to hit because of the people in front of him the lineup (even though the weak part of the lineup is behind him). He is going to have a good year, not a great year, but not a bad year either.
7) Schnieder and Castro: It seems pretty clear that there will be a lot of switching off between these too, and that is mainly because of the pop to the lineup that Castro provides. Schnider's main advantage though is that he calls a very good game behind the plate.
8) Castillo: He represents speed at the end of the lineup, the question is how long will he stay in this spot. If everyone else is hitting, this is where he will be probably all season. If no one else is hitting, but he is tearing up the ball, then he will probably float around. It is time for us to see if he really has made a committment this year to play up to the best of his ability. His glove on the field though still looks to be a good partner with Reyes.
The Roation:
1) Johan Santana: He's our ace, he is gangsta as Manuel has said in the past, he will lead this staff. What we get out of Santana is predictable, the rest of the rotation is not.
2) Pelfrey: Pelfrey had a career year last year, especially going over the 200 innings pitched mark. I don't know if he will be as good as he was last year, but he still going to be one of the best pitchers on this staff. He has added a new pitch that should help his strikeout numbers and overall, if he performs well, he could start to get a lot of national attention as a 1-2 punch with Santana.
3) Perez: The question is always what will get out of him. He is lights out. He is terrible. Its the story of whenever he pitches. If he can control the game, and if the Mets can figure out a routine for him, hopefully he will be good this year. I am not expecting anything special, because with Perez, you can't expect anything, because every result is possible
4) Maine: He is a key piece for this team. If he recovered from his arm problems then this pitching staff is going to be very strong and will put a good fight late into ball games. If he hasn't, then it can be a long season. Maine's problems are the same as Perez's and Santana's in that they all give up a lot of homers. Citi is a pitchers park, so it will be interesting to see how they handle the long ball at home.
5) Livan Hernandez: If he is for real, then the rotation is set. More than likely we should expect a promotion of Niese later in the season once he gets some good work done in the minors.
The Bullpen: This was the weakest area for the Mets last year. They got Krod, they got Putz, so the 8th and 9th inning are set. This has been the first time since 2006 that is true for the Mets bullpen. Furthermore, with Green, they also have a seventh inning guy. Between Feliciano, Stokes and O'day, this looks like a pretty strong pen the Mets have put together. If the Starting pitching can go late into games, and the Mets don't need to bail them out, this pen could help the Mets get into October, and to that title.
LETS GO METS!
