Mets GM Sandy Alderson made a statement to the Mets brass that the team should win 90 games this season. According to the New York Daily News report, this was followed by Mets owner Fred Wilpon saying, "We better win 90." There is no hiding from the fact that the Mets are not expected to be contenders for a National League Pennant again in 2014. Perhaps Sandy felt the need to make such a statement to justify his work over the past four off seasons. While there are many angles we can go with this discussion, like how much the WIlpons' financial problems are affecting the team right now, the fact remains that the Mets are still at least one major acquisition away from being in the mix with the other legitimate playoff contenders in the NL. Was Alderson protecting his own job? Perhaps, but if he felt the need to, it may open up another can of worms in regards to whether Alderson could have spent more money in the past. It seems though, that the 2014 Mets budget is coming more from ownership than put out there by Alderson himself.
All that being said, it is certainly comical that team that is expected to miss their ace Matt Harvey for the entire season, does not have a MLB SS or proven talent in their bullpen and is handling their 1B situation like a bar manager picking which one out of the two drunks should drive home can be expected to win 90 games this season. The Mets have too many holes to be expected to win that many games. Maybe if Alderson has something up his sleeve, such as a SS that is either a free agent or currently playing for another organization, hope for right now would be better. Don't get me wrong, the Mets have done a very good job with their farm system so their future does look bright. The moves to get Curtis Granderson, Chris Young and Bartolo Colon make the team better, but not enough to make the jump from a team that won 74 games in 2013 to 90 in 2014. It is just not logical.
To humor myself, and hopefully other Mets fans, I started to think what would have to happen this season for the Mets to be in a position to win 90 games. It would have to start with a good stretch of wins to start the season, especially with the level of opposition the team has to face within the first month. The Mets open with the Nationals and Reds at home, then travel to Atlanta, to Los Angeles to play the Angels and to Arizona. They then have a ten game home stand, where the first 7 games are against the Braves and Cardinals. Many of the Mets concerns need to work themselves out. Somebody needs to emerge and run away with the 1B job, they need to get something out of Ruben Tejada or whoever else is there, a bullpen needs to morph out of the cog webs of unproven pitchers and has been over the hill guys like Kyle Farnsworth and Jose Valverde. Chris Young and either Juan Lagares or Eric Young need to fill out the rest of the Mets outfield and perform well. And how about Travis d'Arnaud? The way the Mets lineup is constructed, his bat is going to mean a lot in terms of the team scoring runs.
The Mets starting pitching should be an asset, but they do need Bartolo Colon to pitch well at 41 and Jonathan Niese and Dillon Gee to build off their last couple seasons. And of course the team as a whole needs to stay healthy. All that being said, here is my 90 win 2014 Mets team by the numbers:
Mets projected batting stats for a 90 win 2014 team...
Player AVG HR RBI GP AB RS
David Wright .320 25 115 155 605 110
Daniel Murphy .315 18 100 160 634 99
Travis d'Arnaud .300 22 80 130 516 78
Josh Satin .300 15 50 121 371 48
Juan Lagares .280 5 52 145 412 76
Ruben Tejada .270 0 40 145 406 70
Anthony Seratelli .270 8 38 96 325 35
Curtis Granderson .265 32 105 148 562 106
Chris Young .260 30 85 140 580 105
Eric Young, Jr .260 0 45 140 424 85
Ike Davis .250 40 100 145 515 75
Lucas Duda .250 20 60 120 385 55
Anthony Recker .250 12 30 70 201 30
I used my prospective opening day lineup with 5 man bench. Since I did not trade for a shortstop, I felt no reason to trade a 1B, so Davis and Duda are considered Mets for the 2014 season. I understand it is unlikely. If no Davis or Duda, their HR totals would need to be replaced. The Mets would have one of their all time productive lineups with results like that. This needs to happen for the 2014 Mets to win 90 games. These type of numbers are just as unlikely as said 90 win season.
Mets projected pitching stats for a 90 win 2014 team...
Player G GS W-L SV ERA IP
Matt Harvey 10 5 4-0 0 0.85 40
Rafael Montero 25 0 0-2 0 1.68 33
Jack Leathersich 40 0 0-2 0 1.80 34
Bobby Parnell 65 0 2-5 45 1.85 67
Noah Syndergaard 15 15 8-2 0 1.90 89
Vic Black 70 0 4-6 8 2.40 72
Gonzalez German 57 0 2-4 0 2.80 64
Zack Wheeler 30 30 13-6 0 2.95 188
Jeurys Familia 50 0 2-4 0 2.95 53
Josh Edgin 65 0 1-1 2 3.10 51
Jenrry Mejia 35 10 3-4 2 3.15 71
Bartolo Colon 29 29 12-8 0 3.20 189
Jonathon Niese 25 25 13-5 0 3.65 151
Jose Valverde 35 0 2-3 0 3.65 32
Dillon Gee 31 31 13-9 0 3.75 186
John Lannan 30 0 0-4 0 3.80 49
Kyle Farnsworth 35 0 1-1 0 3.85 28
Daisuke Matsuzaka 31 19 10-6 0 4.10 138
Similar to the offensive stats, these are impossible to expect. Carlos Torres will have an impact at some point, so you can sub him for whoever you wish. Some numbers could vary, but for 90 wins, I am counting on Syndergaard to come up and star right away, Montero and Leathersich to play major roles in the bullpen as soon as they come up and Harvey returning to form in his 5 starts in September. Dice-K and Mejia play roles in spot starting and holding down spots in rotation for brief times and the back of the bullpen is held together by Parnell, Black, Familia, German and Edgin with contributions from the others. Like I said, most is unlikely.
All that being said, it is certainly comical that team that is expected to miss their ace Matt Harvey for the entire season, does not have a MLB SS or proven talent in their bullpen and is handling their 1B situation like a bar manager picking which one out of the two drunks should drive home can be expected to win 90 games this season. The Mets have too many holes to be expected to win that many games. Maybe if Alderson has something up his sleeve, such as a SS that is either a free agent or currently playing for another organization, hope for right now would be better. Don't get me wrong, the Mets have done a very good job with their farm system so their future does look bright. The moves to get Curtis Granderson, Chris Young and Bartolo Colon make the team better, but not enough to make the jump from a team that won 74 games in 2013 to 90 in 2014. It is just not logical.
To humor myself, and hopefully other Mets fans, I started to think what would have to happen this season for the Mets to be in a position to win 90 games. It would have to start with a good stretch of wins to start the season, especially with the level of opposition the team has to face within the first month. The Mets open with the Nationals and Reds at home, then travel to Atlanta, to Los Angeles to play the Angels and to Arizona. They then have a ten game home stand, where the first 7 games are against the Braves and Cardinals. Many of the Mets concerns need to work themselves out. Somebody needs to emerge and run away with the 1B job, they need to get something out of Ruben Tejada or whoever else is there, a bullpen needs to morph out of the cog webs of unproven pitchers and has been over the hill guys like Kyle Farnsworth and Jose Valverde. Chris Young and either Juan Lagares or Eric Young need to fill out the rest of the Mets outfield and perform well. And how about Travis d'Arnaud? The way the Mets lineup is constructed, his bat is going to mean a lot in terms of the team scoring runs.
The Mets starting pitching should be an asset, but they do need Bartolo Colon to pitch well at 41 and Jonathan Niese and Dillon Gee to build off their last couple seasons. And of course the team as a whole needs to stay healthy. All that being said, here is my 90 win 2014 Mets team by the numbers:
Mets projected batting stats for a 90 win 2014 team...
Player AVG HR RBI GP AB RS
David Wright .320 25 115 155 605 110
Daniel Murphy .315 18 100 160 634 99
Travis d'Arnaud .300 22 80 130 516 78
Josh Satin .300 15 50 121 371 48
Juan Lagares .280 5 52 145 412 76
Ruben Tejada .270 0 40 145 406 70
Anthony Seratelli .270 8 38 96 325 35
Curtis Granderson .265 32 105 148 562 106
Chris Young .260 30 85 140 580 105
Eric Young, Jr .260 0 45 140 424 85
Ike Davis .250 40 100 145 515 75
Lucas Duda .250 20 60 120 385 55
Anthony Recker .250 12 30 70 201 30
I used my prospective opening day lineup with 5 man bench. Since I did not trade for a shortstop, I felt no reason to trade a 1B, so Davis and Duda are considered Mets for the 2014 season. I understand it is unlikely. If no Davis or Duda, their HR totals would need to be replaced. The Mets would have one of their all time productive lineups with results like that. This needs to happen for the 2014 Mets to win 90 games. These type of numbers are just as unlikely as said 90 win season.
Mets projected pitching stats for a 90 win 2014 team...
Player G GS W-L SV ERA IP
Matt Harvey 10 5 4-0 0 0.85 40
Rafael Montero 25 0 0-2 0 1.68 33
Jack Leathersich 40 0 0-2 0 1.80 34
Bobby Parnell 65 0 2-5 45 1.85 67
Noah Syndergaard 15 15 8-2 0 1.90 89
Vic Black 70 0 4-6 8 2.40 72
Gonzalez German 57 0 2-4 0 2.80 64
Zack Wheeler 30 30 13-6 0 2.95 188
Jeurys Familia 50 0 2-4 0 2.95 53
Josh Edgin 65 0 1-1 2 3.10 51
Jenrry Mejia 35 10 3-4 2 3.15 71
Bartolo Colon 29 29 12-8 0 3.20 189
Jonathon Niese 25 25 13-5 0 3.65 151
Jose Valverde 35 0 2-3 0 3.65 32
Dillon Gee 31 31 13-9 0 3.75 186
John Lannan 30 0 0-4 0 3.80 49
Kyle Farnsworth 35 0 1-1 0 3.85 28
Daisuke Matsuzaka 31 19 10-6 0 4.10 138
Similar to the offensive stats, these are impossible to expect. Carlos Torres will have an impact at some point, so you can sub him for whoever you wish. Some numbers could vary, but for 90 wins, I am counting on Syndergaard to come up and star right away, Montero and Leathersich to play major roles in the bullpen as soon as they come up and Harvey returning to form in his 5 starts in September. Dice-K and Mejia play roles in spot starting and holding down spots in rotation for brief times and the back of the bullpen is held together by Parnell, Black, Familia, German and Edgin with contributions from the others. Like I said, most is unlikely.
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