January 19: Surprise Met
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- January
- 19
Who’s your surprise Met of the year?
It could be a guy who comes out of nowhere and plays big. Or a reclamation project. It could even be a high-profile name that has a miserable year.
Anxious to see who you come up with.
This entry was posted
on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 10:33 am by John Delcos.
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Hey John!
I think the surprise Met will be Ambiorix Burgos, doing a great job out of the bullpen in front of Heilman and Sanchez… and my wild card would be Anderson Hernandez taking over second base after a injury to Valentin.
Oliver Perez will become a first class pitcher.
Humber is ready.
John Maine has what it takes to be very successful!! David Wright will come up with some bigger power numbers this year 35 HR’s.
My pick is Ben Johnson…At some point during the year I think he will replace Green..and be a positive contributor…on both defense & offense
Michel Abreu.
Delgado will go down with a season-ending injury in late April, and Abreu will be given a shot to shine.
Scott Schoenweis
His effectiveness in Cincy for a small sample will extrapolate over his first full season in the National League and in a pitcher’s park.
Jason Vargas is my long shot. Had a great 2005 and then really lost it 2006. Judging by his 2005 stuff it appears to be a loss of confidence and maybe a mechanical break down. From what I gather under Giardi most really excelled while others quickly dropped out of the picture. Petersen and co. seem to be at their best work with the confidence issue. Charge of scenery may just bring him back to form. We could have a very crowded and very young starting rotation. Glavine/El Duque/Maine/Perez/Vargas with 2-3 others breathing down their necks.
Sammy Sosa
My pick is Humber because he must be motivated to be better than Pelfrey who is getting most of the Press. Humber has the better complimentary pitches to the fastball and is a year older as well. But I would be just as happy to see Pedro come back and contribute through the playoffs.
Ruben Gotay. Watch out the cat can play. He is quick, a good defender, switch hitter who can handle the bat. The Stache will be picking splinters out of his a$$
I definetly think its going to be a starting OF or pitcher. That could mean different things, and there are a lot of candidates. For the OFs, either Green or Alou could have a rough year, and any one of Johnson, Milledge, or Gomez could fill that void and do it well. As far as pitchers go, with the open audition and number of wild live arms Peterson and Conti have to look at, it could be anyone. Oliver Perez, John Maine, Jorge Sosa, Ambiroix Burgos, Juan Padilla, Mike Pelfrey, Phil Humber, etc. Even El Duque playing a full season in NY could see a true revatization, if he can stay healthy.
Andy Hernandy will light the world on fire with a .400 OPS OMGLOLZ!!1
I agree with Ed. I think Vargas is gonna surprise people. It should be Ollie, but he still has a lot of work to do.
I think that Humber and Pelfry should win the award together…given their recent interview on Mets.com its obviously they are “very close” and maybe their “closeness” can be an inspiration to the whole team.
http://www.americanlegends.blogspot.com
Ben Johnson.
I know I am going to get killed for saying this but, I gotta say JORGE SOSA. I predict that he has a dominant spring training and wins the 5th slot IN the rotation. With a little bit of change to his mechanics rich peterson will fix this kid up. My projections: 14-6, 3.67 ERA, 198IP,
I think it will be Anderson Hernandez. I think that they will start with Valentin and he will struggle at the plate or get injured, and the Mets will decide that if we’re going to have a light hitting 2nd baseman that it might as well be Hernandez. Except this time, he holds his own and forms a lightning fast double play tandem.
Some of the other choices here wouldn’t be huge surprises in my opinion. Perez already broke through with his performance in the NLCS, and Humber or Pelfrey making an impact is something that’s expected, not a surprise. “A-Hern” hitting above .270 and contributing at the plate would be a pleasant surprise, and give us an infield that is super-young and still getting better.
I am going with Orlando Hernandez. I am thinking he knows he has to elevate his game due to the pressure of having a young rotation and has been wanting to prove himself ever since getting hurt jogging in the outfield. Why not!!!
Ben Johnson takes over in RF and makes everyone forget all about Nady from last year.
Lastings Milledge will win the RF job and Met fans will soon be back to fawning over this kid like they did when he first got called up, except this time, he’ll keep it going through the year.
Shawn Green will quiet his detractors with a solid season, hitting .287 with 24 HRs and 82 RBI hitting in the 7th slot. He’ll also have a decent year in the field, finally finding a hat that fits.
On the mound, Ollie Perez will revisit 2004, going 17 – 7 in 213 innings with a 3.23 ERA.
I have a feeling David Newhan will also be a surprise, coming off the bench and hitting over .300, becoming this year’s version of Endy and Marlon Anderson.
Maine, Perez, and Humber/Pelfrey are gonna do just fine, so that shouldn’t shock anyone. Maybe it’s just his Winter League thingy going on right now, but my heart & head lean toward Andy Hernandez putting it together and somehow coming up to the bigs to stay. Really love Valentin (could play Freddie Mercury when he retires!) and would hate for this to come at his expense, but…
Jonathan Adkins. He was reliable for the Pads last year, and he will benefit from the move to Shea.
Humber will get up to the big leagues by late May and be the catylist the Mets were looking for this off season. Then all the main stream media will do there famous 180 spin and anoint Omar as genius.
Also AHern will takeover 2nd base from a struggling “Stache to form the best DP combo in baseball.
The naysayers will all be writing how the Mets won the 2007 World Series on strong pitching and defense. The same guys who are killing the team now.
The Forgotten Man – Alay Soler
IM going with Humber, he just has to much dirty stuff not to succeed. He has control, most or if not all of his arm strength back which means he will be throwing 93-95 mph, and he has a nasty curveball to go along with a nasty splitter and plus change up. Whats not to like??
My surprise will be Aaron Heilman becoming the Mets #1 starter and carrying the Mets until Pedro returns. With the bullpen being as deep as it is, Why Not?
Ron Darling. (just kidding) Seriously now .. um. Sorry I can’t. I have to wait for spring training… I miss bradford and well i still think we need another catcher and possibly an outfielder. Unless i can be promised that Milledge has had an attitude adjustment.
Howard Johnson
No more Manny Acta waiving a guy home with the ball in the shortstops hands!
There will be several “surprises” because there is so much young talent on the roster. If Humber is healthy (I’m not convinced he is) and given a shot, I think he will break the rotation and pass Maine on the depth chart. And there will be more surprises in the pitching department, no doubt! The other guy that intrigues me is Johnson. It will all depend on how many ABs he gets. If given a shot, I think he hits 20 HRs for us this year. There’s also something about him…. I’m not sure what it is… enthusiasm, maybe? I think he’s gonna be a popular Met, and he and Wright will be pals.