Mets Spring Training Report from Port St. Lucie

Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series. That was legitimately the last time the Mets have even sniffed the World Series. There's been plenty of hope since then, but ZERO results. The following year, in 2007, the playoff odor was in the air, up until the very last day of the season when we coughed up the NL East division crown to the Phillies. Of course, this was the culmination of blowing a 7 game lead with 17 games remaining in the season. That offseason, we pulled off a miraculous steal of a trade to obtain Johan Santana, the best pitcher on the planet at the time. Everyone was sure the 2008 season was bound to be the one to finally get us to the mountaintop, until...the entire organization suffered the worst case of deja vu in modern history by losing 6 of the last 9 games in that season only to lose out on the NL Wild Card by one game on the last day of the season, once again. After the 2008 season, I contemplated never watching baseball again because of all the pain I personally suffered. It was getting unbearable. But the 2009 season came and once again, there was hope when Spring Training rolled around. But it didn't last very long. I'd like to call the 2009 Mets season, the year of the injury bug. The only important player on the roster not to spend time on the disabled list last season was our prize of the offseason of winter 2008, closer Francisco Rodriguez. Every core member of the team other than K-Rod: Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Santana, and JJ Putz (the then hopeful set up man for K-Rod who is now long gone), all spent a significant time on the DL, many of whose injuries put their seasons to an end. Needless to say, we sucked. Trotting out new lineups every day, hoping one would click-- none did. The season was wasted away on the injury bug. Obviously, something needed to be done to put a little juice back into this team.

This winter, Mets fans expected to sign at least one of the top three free agents on the market: Outfielders Jason Bay and Matt Holliday, and Pitcher John Lackey. I'm glad we did end up getting Bay, but the bottom line is that we needed more. I wouldn't expect Holliday as well, another big bat, but Lackey, who was a #1 with the Angels, would provide a much needed #2 punch in our pitching lineup. A 1-2 combo of Johan and Lackey? We could be the favorites to win the division right now had that happened. Now, we're looking at either Mike Pelfrey or Oliver Perez filling the void, which I'm not exactly excited about (although Perez has supposedly reported to spring training in the best shape of his life, and has been getting tips from Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax). Maybe the most puzzling move of the offseason was taking on former Gold Glove outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. Matthews had fallen out of favor in LA, and has $23 million left on his contract, but it seems the Angels paid us to take him off their hands, since they plan on paying $21 of the $23 mill. As a once reliable defender, he's potentially a good utility man to have, but is a liability at the plate. And even though it seemed inevitable that we were bound to grab slugging catcher Bengie Molina to make up for Matthews inability to hit, but instead he declined our offer in order to stay in San Francisco... go figure. So we were left with the last available option at catcher in Rod Barajas, who we signed just this past week. That appeared to be the only alternative to doing nothing and leaving Omir Santos as our everyday catcher, which manager Jerry Manuel apparently wasn't okay with.

Needless to say, I'm not heading into the 2010 season expecting to win the World Series. But, with the addition of Bay, and one year of playing at Citi Field under the belt of most present Mets, I can hope. Of course, this all depends on the overall team health. If we've got some 2009 deja vu going on come June, I'm gonna start focusing on football season early this year. But, if we stay healthy and Wright, Reyes, Beltran, and even Bay are hitting circa 2006, things could get interesting in the NL East.

It seems like everyone knows that staying on the field is a key concern because last years team health was so well chronicled. That being said, Carlos Beltran will be out until late May... great start to the season, and Opening Day hasn't even come yet. Ok, so other than Beltran, we're looking good. After missing most of last year, Jose Reyes has come into camp looking and acting like the veteran presence the Mets need in this clubhouse, along with David Wright, who the face of this franchise, taking a more vocal role as well. But if that talk doesn't turn into productivity on the diamond, heads will roll. GM Omar Minaya and Manuel are on very short leashes this year due to not only scrutiny from the fans, but the expectations of the Mets owners, the Wilpon family. Who despite spending $66 million on Bay, a fraction of the spending of the World Champions, still expect to bring some rings to Queens. In a market such as New York, where revenue is easier to come by for a sports team than in any other city on earth, the Wilpon's decided to only take one pinch out of their pockets this winter to grab Bay. After the Yankees just bought themselves a World Series this past year by spending HALF A BILLION DOLLARS ON ONLY THREE PLAYERS, the Mets decide to sign one top tier free agent, while countless others were available. Among the free agents we passed on: Holliday, Lackey, Ben Sheets, Randy Wolf, Joel Pineiro, Jason Marquis, Orlando Hudson, Bengie Molina. Just to name a few. To Fred and Jeff Wilpon- throw me a freaking bone here.

That being said, I still think this team has the pure talent in their lineup to reach the postseason for the first time since 2006. At full health, with all our bats performing to the best of their abilities, the Wilpon's expectations could come to fruition, and the rest of NL East should at least have some concern about facing the Mets. If we can trade for a big name #2 starter midseason (Dan Haren anybody?),  the Metropolitans can make some noise. Our lineup at full strength should look something like this:
1. SS Jose Reyes
2. 2B Luis Castillo
3. 3B David Wright
4. LF Jason Bay
5. CF Carlos Beltran
6. RF Jeff Francoeur
7. 1B Daniel Murphy
8. C Rod Barajas
9. SP Johan Santana

Now there's been some talk out of Port St. Lucie that in the wake of Beltran's injury, Jerry Manuel is considering plugging Reyes into the 3 hole to have some more pop in the middle of the lineup in Beltran's absence. Beltran's replacement during that time will be either Angel Pagan or newly acquired Gary Matthews Jr.. Whoever it is will most likely bat first or second, with Castillo filling one of those spots as well. So even without Beltran, this team could still provide some serious firepower. We're gonna have to live without him for the first two months of the season, and no way will a slow start out of the gate be acceptable. The boys of summer are back again, and I've never been so unsure of their future.