Alderson Says Mets Will Win 90 Games

Perhaps out of shear hubris, or maybe he knows something about this years Mets that we don't know yet, General Manager Sandy Alderson made it be known that he believes and expects his ball club to win 90 games this season.

Yes, in year four of the Alderson era, the Mets GM is doing his best Rex Ryan imitation -- hoping that all of the potential finally rises to the top this season and makes the 2014 Mets the surprise team of the year.

But lets be honest, even if this team finds a way to get to .500 and win more than 80 games that would certainly count as a surprise enough.

You have to respect Alderson's optimism; this is the team that he has built over the past four years and he wants to see a winner now, something that all Mets fans can certainly agree on. However, I don't think Alderson ever expected his comments from a staff meeting to leak out. Its almost like a NFL coach telling his team during a training camp meeting that he expects to win it all, and word gets out all over social media when he least expects it.

At least Alderson didn't run to the papers, a la the aforementioned Rex Ryan, to boast about how great his team is. And as far as I know, Alderson didn't yell "let's get a GD snack" after he was done.

 Even Fred Wilpon jumped on the bandwagon, reportedly saying: "We better win 90."

How about the Mets win 80 first, Freddy?

The idea that this team as currently constituted winning 90 games is really outlandish.

1) They don't have their number 1 starter, Matt Harvey, who is out for the year with Tommy John's Surgery.

2) Jon Niese went back to New York on Wednesday to get an MRI done on his pitching elbow.

3) Noah Syndergaard is not ready yet.

4) Bartolo Colon. That's all I need to say here, unless you want me to write: devil dogs, hamburgers, and three chins.

5) David Wright and Curtis Granderson are on an island. Both hitters are going to be looking everywhere for help this year in a lineup that right now features Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada, and Eric Young Jr.

6) Speaking of Davis, Duda and Tejada -- it looks like the Mets are making this spring their mission to fish or cut bait with one, two or all three players.

7) The Mets don't have a closer, even with Bobby Parnell healthy. Sure Parnell was much improved in the closers role last year before going down with a neck injury, but his mental makeup in big spots has always been a question. The Mets signed Jose Velverde and Kyle Farnsworth as second and third options. In other words: not good.

Overall the Mets don't have enough right now to even compete in their own division, let alone in the National Leauge. They talked about pushing all their chips to the middle of the table for 2014, but the best they could do in the off-season was sign Granderson. The Mets lineup is not going to scare anybody, and the pitching staff will have issues, especially if Niese isn't healthy.

Las Vegas has the Mets at 73.5 wins, and that is probably where they are right now as a collective unit. Perhaps the Mets can surprise us all and finish .500 this year.