For the second year in a row the Mets went into the year as the favorite to win the NL East and blew a September lead, causing them to miss the playoffs. The root of their troubles was an awful bullpen which blew a whopping 29 saves in 2008. On the bright side, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Johan Santana continued to be among the best at their respective positions. The Mets also got exceptional contributions from their farm system as David Murphy, Nick Evans, and Fernando Tatis all filled in when Ryan Church went down with injuries.
Projected Lineup:
C - Brian Schneider
1B - Carlos Delgado
2B - Luis Castillo
SS - Jose Reyes
3B - David Wright
LF - Danny Murphy
CF - Carlos Beltran
RF - Ryan Church
Projected Rotation:
#1 - Johan Santana
#2 - Mike Pelfrey
#3 - Oliver Perez
#4 - John Maine
#5 - Livan Hernandez
Closer - Francisco Rodriguez
Position Battles:
#5 Starter - Livan Hernandez will get the first crack at the rotation, but he'll be lucky if he makes it through April. Freddy Garcia and Jon Neise will be next in line to join the rotation.
2009 Outlook: It's going to be an exciting year for the Mets, they're moving into a new stadium, they have an explosive lineup and two big free agent relievers in Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz who should sure up their bullpen. Carlos Delgado is coming off a career year, and at 36 2008 might have been his last great year, nevertheless, he should still be a lock for 25 homeruns and 100 RBI. David Wright is the best third baseman in the NL and Jose Reyes at least a top 3 shortstop--both of them should be great once again. Carlos Beltran has proven himself to be one of the top run producers and most exciting players in baseball today, he will be 32 in April but he definitely has a few great years left.
The rotation has some question marks. Johan Santana is arguably the best starter in all of baseball and a lock for at least 200 innings and about 15 wins. All of the rest of the Mets pitchers have qualities that could make them top 20 starters some day. Mike Pelfrey generates a lot of groundballs and has great stuff, but he has had trouble striking batters out in the big leagues. Oliver Perez can be absolutely dominating at times, but when he's not on his game, he's a disaster, if he ever gets his consistency problems worked out he will be great. John Maine has proved effective, but he is extremely inefficient; most games he struggles to reach the 6th inning, if he continues, he will put a lot of stress on that bullpen. The bullpen will be at least average this year, Putz and K-Rod were two of the best closers in the game over the last couple years, now they should be one of the best pairs of 8th and 9th inning guys in the game.
Projected Finish: 1st place, NL East.
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