We’re at the point where the team’s own general manager is complaining on WFAN about the state of the team, and his own winter progress in improving it.
We’re at the point where ZIPS projects four Mets to produce even league average offense, measured by OPS+. Of those four, one of them, Scott Hairston, hasn’t been signed yet, and another, Lucas Duda, also projects as the worst defensive outfielder in Major League Baseball.
We’re at the point where ZIPS projects three Mets to produce even a league average ERA+. Two of the three are at exactly average; one is Ramon Ramirez, currently unsigned, and the other is Frank Francisco, coming off of elbow surgery. The third is Bobby Parnell.
There are no starting pitchers projected to reach league average.
As Dan Szymborski, creator of ZIPS, explains, “It’s thirdly possible that the club will extract some sort of value from the bullpen. The likely outcome is poor, is the point.”
There’s roughly a month until pitchers and catchers report, and less than three months until Opening Day.
From yesterday’s interview with Mike Francesa on WFAN:
Francesa: No, let’s be honest, so far this year you’re still in a subtraction stage. You took 21 wins off a 74 win team. That’s hard to do.
Alderson: [both start laughing] Well, like I said, we hope to do some other things before the offseason ends.
Francesa: Yeah, that math doesn’t work that well.
Alderson: I hear ya.
2 Comments
Howard – thanks for keeping the interest and the blog alive. Where are all the Met fans? Gees.
With luck they will be anywhere but at the ballpark to send a message to management about the dissatisfaction with another off-season of inertia and broken promises.