Injured Again: Can the New York Mets Win Despite Another Year of Setbacks?

After their heartbreaking loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 NLCS, the New York Mets have seen some of their best talent land on the disabled list for extended periods of time on an annual basis. When the media blamed their injuries on aging veterans, the team got younger but the results stayed the same. 

In 2012, the organization is one of the youngest in baseball, but that hasn't stopped the injury bug from biting the Mets earlier than ever. Pelfrey has a partially torn UCL, Bay has a broken rib, and Torres landed on the DL after the first game of the season.

Is it bad scouting? Bad stretching program? Bad athletes? Bad luck? Whatever the cause of all the injuries is, Mets fans have seen enough of their star players watching from the dugout instead of winning games on the field.

Which leads us to our big question—Can the Mets still contend in 2012 despite the injuries?

The answer is yes.

David Wright is off to an incredibly hot start, Johan (excluding his awful start against the Braves) is looking like the Santana of old, Kirk Niuewenhuis has been a great surprise and the team is remaining around the .500 mark.

Also working in their favor is the lack of a dominating team in the NL East.  With the Phillies having some of their best hitters on the DL, the Nationals losing Zimmerman, the Marlins not living up to expectations and the Braves having a similar roster to the club that collapsed at the end of last season, the division is solid from top to bottom but lacking a dominant team.

If the Mets can limit injuries for the rest of the season and Ike Davis and Lucas Duda can start to get hot offensively, this team is going to surprise people.  Dillon Gee, Jon Niese and RA Dickey will be serviceable starters, and farmhands like Wheeler, Harvey and Familia are all anxiously awaiting their shot to make their impact at the MLB level.

So will the team win the World Series this year? Probably not. But this is not the Mets of a couple years ago. They are young, exciting, and seem to have no quit in them. No one is going to bunt once and leave the game for their own selfish desires. This is a team of fighters. They've already rallied in late innings to win and play hard all nine frames.

If they can mature as a group and do all the little things right, the Mets will be in the NL East hunt all the way until game 162.