The grandiose de-facto
national holiday is finally upon us, bringing back the Boys of Summer,
and with it, ending another puzzling off-season by the New York Mets' front office.Puzzling by the fact that Fred and Jeff Wilpon continue to say that they are out of the financial doldrums of Bernie Madoff and that bright days are ahead, yet GM Sandy Alderson continues to do the best he can pinching pennies to keep the cash-strapped franchise afloat.
Sure Michael Bourn may not be worth the money he is getting in Cleveland, and Nick Swisher is not worth $14 million a year, which he got from the Cleveland Indians.
But, the Mets could have made a deal happen to bring in a veteran presence to help out the kids on the current roster, and give David Wright a bit of a break, but chose not to.
Those potential deals are now water under the bridge, and the Mets enter 2013, like last year, with a roster of players who make us ask, "Who are these guys?"
As a talk radio host, I have heard many Mets fans say that 2013 doesn't mean anything since the front office is preparing for 2014 and beyond. Who cares about sagging attendance? Who cares about who does what on the field? Who cares about playoffs, or contending? It doesn't matter this year, according to a few fans that I have spoken to.
I don't believe that.
There is something to play for in 2013 for this Mets team, a lot to play for.
Understood the Mets don't have the horses to keep up with Philadelphia, Washington and Atlanta, but that doesn't mean this season is pointless.
It certainly doesn't mean they can't make the NL East's Big Three sweat a little.
If the Mets are indeed looking to build a team that can really contend in 2014, and puts butts in the seats, they better start proving it now. There are jobs to win, names and reputations to make.
The Mets have a core group of players who are going to carry this team going forward.
Matt Harvey looks like the real deal, and by all accounts will be the Mets' ace down the road. Zach Wheeler is not far behind as he works his craft in the minors, and Travis D'Arnaud, the highly touted catching prospect, was excellent in his stint with the big club this Spring, hitting .343, driving in runs and showing veteran-plate discipline.
You add these three players with David Wright and Jonathan Niese, and the Mets have their core.
Now, who is going to join them?
Let's begin with the guys who need to prove something this year. There are a number of players on this year's roster who have a lot to prove.
Lucas Duda, Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Collin Cowgill, Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell and even guys like Justin Turner and Jordany Valdespin, are a handful players who have to prove not only to Mets' fans, but to the front office that they are more than a bunch of fringe major leaguers and stop gaps who happen to make up the bulk of the roster.
In short, there is room for improvement.
Take Duda as a example.
Here is a guy with raw power to both fields, and when he gets hot, can hit home runs in bunches. However, Duda is very inconsistent, and my label of him last year that he reminds me of both Adam Dunn and Mike Jacobs stuck last season.
In a 30-game stretch in 2012 he hit at or below .200 with just two homers and was demoted to Triple-A, not only because of his offense, but because of his glove. In the outfield he was charged with minus-18 defensive runs saved, according to ESPN.
This spring, however, Duda has hit four homers and has had a very solid camp. He is going to need to play a much better left field if he has any plans of keeping that job this year.
The same can be said for Ike Davis at firstbase. A lot of Davis' early season struggles were attributed to Valley Fever. Once he got past the bizarre disease he was one of the top hitters in the sport, batting .257 with a .344 OBP and .549 slugging, highlighted by 27 of his 32 homers in the second half of the season.
Still, Davis needs to show that he can be a much more consistent hitter.
Another campaign of numbers close to the .227 batting average and 141 strikeouts he had last year will almost certainly make his seat warm. Davis is a career .252 hitter, but if the Mets can get a solid .260 - .270 out of him this year, and add in the power and run production numbers, then New York could win even more games.
Alex Trautwig/Getty Images
Another player to highlight is Tejada. The light-hitting Ruben Tejada had the hardest job on the team last year in replacing Jose Reyes. While Tejada will never be Reyes, he still has to come into his own and start producing in order to keep his job.
His Spring Training will not quell concerns about his future with the team. He hit .100 (4-for-40) this spring, and according to his player profile on ESPN, if his struggles continue into the season, the likes of Omar Quintanilla and Brandon Hicks could see some playing time at short stop.
Let's hope it was just Spring Training, and Tejada comes out on fire when it counts. Tejada needs to see improvement in the RBI department (25 last year), and BB-to-K ratio. Last year he had a 1-3 BB-to-K ratio. He needs to become a more patient hitter, especially if Terry Collins plans on having him lead-off as many have projected in their 2013 MLB previews.
Finally, the last player to mention is Bobby Parnell.
Parnell is expected to become the Mets' full-time closer this season, which could be scary if you look at Parnell's career in the ninth inning. In 31 save opportunities, Parnell has blown 17 of them. It seems that whenever given the chance, he starts to overthrow his pitches and fails to locate properly.
The word potential is still listed next to his name, mainly because Parnell can throw in the mid to high 90s, and has developed a two-seam fastball and curve-ball to go with repertoire.
Bottom line: We need to see Parnell actually go out there and develop that "Game Over" mentality that seems blocked whenever he's on the mound in a crucial situation. Parnell had a good spring. Now he has to make the transition to the real deal.
My dark-horse player to watch this year is Jordany Valdespin.
No disrespect to Cowgill, who looks like the real deal after his torrid Spring Training, but at least we have seen Valdespin's raw talent on the big stage of the regular season.
Cowgill was regulated to bench duty in Oakland last year, because they already had Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick. He will finally get that chance to start in center field, since Kirk Nieuwenhuis has missed three weeks with a bone bruise on his knee. He might be great, then again, he might be a case of Spring Training Gone Wild.
Valdespin, however, has a chance to be an impact player for the Mets this year. Last season, he developed a knack for clutch home runs late in games, but his impatience at the plate prevented him from being anything more than a bench player.
He has become more disciplined at the plate this spring, hitting .322 with four homers, nine RBI and a couple of walks to five strikeouts. While it is a very small sample, Valdespin reminds me a little bit of a young Jose Reyes.
Why?
When Reyes came up, the biggest issue with him was plate discipline. In his first 122 games (2003 and 2004 combined) he drew only 18 walks to 67 strikeouts. In his first full season, he had a .300 OBP. Yet, we all knew how valuable and good Reyes was. He had power, produced runs and stole bases.
As most Mets fans, I hate the word "potential."
In New York it is very difficult to field a team with guys who are mostly minor leaguers, and probably, over the long term won't be here. I want to see this team win and win right away. But, the 2013 Mets have plenty of issues from lack of lineup depth, to concerns about the health of their rotation (Johan Santana and Shawn Marcum).
If the Mets want to get their fans to truly believe, then the guys who comprise this roster better step it up a notch and make the case that the 2013 season was the beginning of the Mets' turnaround, and not another year lost in the land of Wilponville.
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