Mets Chat: Who's the one?
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- March
- 24
We’re inside a week before the season starts. Like all teams, the Mets have their issues.
Injuries, fifth starter, the bullpen.
Here’s the question: Who is the one player who must have a big year for the Mets to get to the playoffs and why?
This entry was posted
on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 10:09 pm by John Delcos.
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I'll say Pedro being healthy and pitching at least 25 games. If he does that and wins 12 or so, then the Mets should not have a problem getting to PS.
Despite all the concerns people have w/the offense (which I do not b/c last yrs offense is this yrs offense and last yr they had plenty of problems and still finished 4th in runs), pitching wins the game.
The 5th starter is not an issue as long as it is just a sun spot (whomever is there can at least pitch 5inn-on avg) and not a black hole (whomever is there can get out of the 3rd inn).
It is ST, but the BP looks very good.
And I expect it to be good b/c there are no Sele's who have no way to get guys out nor any Mota's who have Million dollar arms w/2 cent heads.
Jose Reyes.. We saw what happens we he struggles.. Even when guys like Beltran, Wright, Alou have huge August and September, without Reyes the team loses.
There are a few, but I will say Delgado. He just needs to hold the lineup together with Alou out. A bad year from Delgado leaves us with an average offense at best. Very good pitching (on paper at least) though
IMO its Johan Santana.
think about it. the mets have invested the barn into him. What happens if he doesn't have a stellar season? The whole team will most likely tumble behind him.
The mets purchased a shiny new engine for this season and need it running full throttle for the other parts of the team to work and stay behind him.
Beltran.
Beltran needs to stay mostly healthy most of the time or else the Mets only have two bats in their line-up.
Barring freak injury, Reyes and Wright will produce no matter how much washed-up/never-was drek you throw around them but…
If Beltran's not playing or isn't playing near 100%, you can flat-out just pitch around Jose and David because there's no other protection in the line-up.
Castillo can sacrifice Jose over to second 'til the cows come home… if there's only one guy with any chance of driving him in, its a strictly wasted out.
Assuming all the Mets can play at least up to the level they achieved last year, then I think the one who needs to greatly exceed that level in order to get them to the playoffs is Pedro. He needs to give them not only quality starts, but quantity as well. I think he can do that.
If either Wright, Beltran or Reyes have a really off year, then I foresee problems with the offense. Serious ones. I'm already not counting on Delgado. So those 3 are all equally important in producing at least what they gave the team last year.
Mr scoopcoop: As a LatinoI wonder why you say that Oliver Perez has a 2 cent head and Guillermo Mota has a 2 cent head, but you never say a White man has a 2 cent head. Are only Latinos denied brains by our Father, Mr Scoopcoop…..?
As for the question the key is Alou and his replacement. If they don't find a right handed bat for the bottom half of the lineup the starters will implode under the weight of 1-0 and 2-1 games on a daily basis. You can't win when the opposition only faces half a lineup a night.
Two guys will make it happen:
John Maine
Carlos Delgado
I think John Maine is going to have a monster year – taking the pressure off of Pedro (in opposition to the popular opinion of Pedro doing that for Maine and Perez) allowing him to take whatever rest he may need. Maine will arise as our true #2, and may even challenge Santana for the Cy Young – he looks that good.
Delgado has got to improve over last year for the Mets to have a sustained offensive threat all year. We know Alou is not going to be here for around have the season – so Delgado has got to become a feared hitter again, or the whole lineup will suffer, particularly Beltran in the clean-up spot.
Obviously there are going to be other factors, all around Health being a major one, and Reyes maturing and getting more consistent – but I think those two guys are going to be the ones we look back on and say either – "They got us here" or "If only they did X…"
"Who is the one player who must have a big year for the Mets to get to the playoffs and why?"
The answer is there is no one player who must have a BIG year for the Mets to reach the playoffs. If everyone plays near their capabilities and there are no significant injuries to our best players then we should make the PO's.
If certain players totally tank then others will have to step up with big years to compensate.
I'm totally with JK…
It isn't gonna hinge on Delgado having a good year because I've already discounted him as well.
He's Mo Vaughn 2: Electric Vaughnaloo.
The faster this fanbase accepts that fact, the less hair they're going to pull out over the course of the year. Dude's done.
If we're talking about "BIG YEAR" its probably Carlos Delgado.
If Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Castillo, and Ryan Church do what they've done thier entire career, it would be excellent production.
And if Carlos Delgado has a BIG YEAR, closer to 2006, then we're talking about serious offense.
On the pitching side, I would probably say Oliver Perez. If Johan, Pedro, and Maine do what they're expected to do and match up with last year, then that's 3 amazing starters in the front. And then there's Oliver Perez, if he has a BIG YEAR then we have 2 sure fire aces, and 2 borderline aces. And the potential of having 4 "stoppers".
I think they make the playoffs. I think for the team to do damage they need Delgado to have a big year. I am assuming our pitchers do what they need and everyone else to do what they need. Either Alou is healthy or someone steps up or they get someone from a salary dump.
If Delgado has something like a normal year it puts our offense on a different level. He gives protection to 1-4.
Call me crazy?
But Maine scares me a lot more than Perez does.
Perez, at least, collapses when something… happens. You know, like an error or a bad umpire call or something.
Maine just loses it out of nowhere and bam, homeruns for the other teams' shortstop and catcher back to back.
Perez collapses when anyone would collapse and, like, I can accept that. Maine… I dunno… I'd like to figure out some rhyme and/or reason to his implosions.
It has to be Jose Reyes. There is too much emperical evidence around that when Jose Reyes struggles, so does the rest of the team. Jose Reyes is the heart and soul of this team. David Wright may be the face of the team, but Reyes is the heart and soul, and if he has a bad year, they simply will not be a good team. Its been proven in the past. I know that the pitching was what let them down at the end last season, but I truely feel that if Reyes was playing like Reyes can, the pitching would have performed a little better as well. He has that effect on others.
Jose Reyes, without a doubt, is the answer to this question.
It's a copout but baseball is a team sport. Lots of guys have to play well or at least their career averages. But since John asked for one player I will say Jose Reyes.
Maine hysteria… Remember last year. John Maine awesome, looking like a 20 game winner… 6-0… then bingo… mediocre .500 pitcher the rest of the way. This year Maine hysteria…. He's got to prove himsoef for more than a month…... espewcially a fake month…..
Billy Wagner.
Because he's the last chance player in the game.
hollywood josh,
I should not even have to recoginize your comment but I will.
If you read all my comments, I have stated many times that Santana and Pedro are two of the smartest pitchers around.
But OP and Mota do have 2 cent heads. If you watch the team and were objective about it, you would clearly see that those two are not too smart on the mound. OP loses his cool. That is why he led the league in unearned runs. Mota could not take the pressure of NY. I'll call both of these behaviors having 2 cent heads. They both have great arms, but if OP is to get to the next level (of a Pedro/Santana) he will have to control his emotions and not get bent out of shape when an error is made or a blooper falls in.
Since you are so convinced that my comments are racially motivated, I'll also say that Maine has had a 2 cent head too b/c he loses his focus. Hopefully he gets a better handle on his concentration.
But Pedro makes the hitters look like complete fools
and Santana is so good at keeping the hitters off balance b/c he never develops a pattern.
Does that satisfy you?
I do not wish to debate you further Mr Scoopcoop. I respect you for having the courage to respond. I brought your comments to your attention because they seemed offensive to me. Instead of adding a white guy to your list of people with limited mental capactiy to placate me, why don't you in the future please refrain from coommenting on peoples' intellect, that would be well appreciated. Now we have both explained our positions…. so we can go to baseball?
wait a second, Mike C…PErez collapses when anyone would collapse? What does that even mean? Do all pitchers do the same things as PErez? I hope not, the guy is a time bomb, anything goes wrong, its over, if thats how all pitchers all, well, then that would just be crazy. Maine had bad games last year when he didn't have his stuff and no control. IT's different then PErez's problem, but its not "out of no where." I would say with Maine refining is 2ndary stuff, he'll be better suited for those situations.
As for who needs to have a good season for us to succeed, i'll go with Reyes. Where he goes, we go. If he has the type of year like he was having at the beginning of the year, we'll win. When he's on base, we score runs, even if other guys in the line up don't do much, we score runs. When he gets on base, and other guys are hot too, we'll score a lot of runs.
At least it makes SENSE when Perez falls apart is what I'm saying. There are reasonable logical triggers, quite often.
Maine just loses focus out of nowhere, when he does lose focus, and… there's often no reason. When Maine falls apart, he's cruising and just…
Forgets where he is, it looks like.
Perez gets rattled. Maine flakes out.
If they both got over all their issues, Maine is probably better and… they're both great middle-rotation guys to have, don't get me wrong…
But Perez will sometimes disappoint me but Maine will just befuddle me.
Maine can befuddle, but I feel like this year, we're going to see a lot less of that then the disappointment Perez will bring. Maine is on the logical course of a pitcher, trending upwards, got through the 1st full season, developing better secondary pitches. Perez is just out of left field, there's no telling which way he's going.
hollowood josh, I'm not going to be PC. If a guy no matter their color, sexual orientation or otherwise does dumb things on the mound or on the field, I'm going to point it out. My adding Maine to the equation was not to placate you. It was to show that my opinions are not based on race, creed, color, religion or sex.
hollywood josh,
You're everything that's wrong with the internet. Mota is a headcase. Perez is a headcase. You're a headcase. Scoop mentioned those two because they have been the biggest headcases on our team in recent memory. Relax, you might enjoy your life.
You guys are a tough crowd. Maine and Perez both took positive steps forward last year. Definitely a nice step to build on for this season.
Consistency is usually the last thing to come for a player.
Winning 15 by both Maine and OP was a big positive step. But both need more consistency, as you stated. And that improved consistency is mental for both of them.
I don't care if every member of the team is Italian, Puerto Rican, African American, or from Guam. It makes no difference to me at all one way or another. The only thing I want from them is to be a winner.
That being said, because scoopcoop used Mota and Perez as examples does not mean that he is implying anything. We cannot read his motives. There are many Hispanics on the team that are great ball players. If he had chosen to say that Reyes and Beltran are brilliantly talented ballplayers I would say that no one would jump on him for not picking out a white guy.
We have all got to get past this. Whether it is openly racist statements or confusing comments about two Hispanic ballplayers with racist comments it is all damaging.
This has just gone on too long in our society and the one place where we should be able to come together is our love of our sports and our teams and forget all the other craziness of the world.
Let's move on to baseball and away from this.
Jeez I almost forgot what I came here for.
One player – Jose Reyes – the straw that stirs the drink!!!
But if I could go with a pitcher and a player the pitcher would be Pedro!!!
If he is back to the 2006 Pedro all falls in to place.
And the best part of it is they are both a lot of fun to watch.
clm, my motives are in no way racist. Besides, how does anyone assume that I am of a particular racial persuasion from comments made on a blog?
There are plenty of guys both white and latino on this team that have head problems.
Here are a few.
OP (emotions), Pelf (confidence), Maine (focus-although if this spring is any indication maybe is past it), Smith (confidence), Wise (maybe he is over the beaning), Delgado (has he lost some confidence?).
There are probably others.
scoopcoop: You name lots of guys now, but until you were called out you only used the term 2 cent brain for Latino players, never for Pelfrey, Maine Smith or Wise…. Even in this last post they have heasd problems but Latinos you have singled out as having 2 cent brains….
clm: I agree with you but when someone does this more than once and only to one ethnic group it needs to be pointed out. Silence is acceptance. If he didn't mean it as a slur it won't be written again… We shall see,
We will also see during and after every loss, how many posters comment, not on Randolph's tactics or stragey but on his mental abilities….. But we will never hear that Peterson has mental problems when a pitcher does badly…..You'll see.
Keith you are very right as well, but nobody assaults Maine's brain powers, only OPs….
If you would like me to call them all having 2 cent heads then fine. They all have 2 cent heads when they do something poorly on the field that is not physical.
It also seems hollywood that you are the only one counting which guys are white, which are latino and so on.
Do you know for a fact that Matt Wise is not latino? Or Mike Pelfrey? or so on and so on?
If every guy on the team was white or everyone was latino or black or from Mars, I could care less as long as they could play ball.
I don't know and I don't care. But apparently you do. So who is the racist?
I would prefer you call none of them 2 cent brains. Calling one out for comments does not make me the racist Sir. Anyone who claims they don't know the makeup of a team at least the regulars is a liar. Awareness is not racism. One could take pride in the diversity of their team, but in your mind' logic that person would be a racist??? Grow up man…