New York Mets: 2008 Season Outlook

The start of the 2008 is just around the corner with Spring Training coming to a close in two weeks.  The New York Mets are going to be coming out of Spring Training with a lot of health concerns, but also with a lot of optimism.  Are they the team to beat in the NL East? Can the Mets survive the collapse last year to the Philadelphia Phillies? How will the players perform?

The best move the Mets made was getting Johan Santana. He's going into the 2008 regular season looking strong and healthy.  With the exception of one outing in Spring Training, Santana looked over powering and all of his pitches seemed to be effective.  Most importantly, Santana provides a big anchor to this pitching staff.  He takes a lot of pressure off of Pedro Martinez, allowing Pedro to relax knowing he's not the only go to guy when the Mets need a 'pick me up' win. 

The signing of Santana also put a bright spot on the collapse of the 2007 Mets.  What do the Mets do when they suffer a huge downfall? They go out and make a trade for the one of, if the the best pitcher in Major League Baseball.  I believe Santana will be worth every penny of his contract.  Plus Santana provides a second ace for the Mets.  Although it may be believed that Santana is the lone ace of the rotation, nothing can be taken away from Pedro with all he has accomplished through out his career, even with out his 95mph+ fastball. 

Pedro Martinez has turned into one of the smartest pitchers in Major League Baseball.  He saw a lot of his dominance disapear with his fastball, but he has made adjustments to his pitching style and it has worked perfectly for him.  After coming off of a mostly injured season in 2007 where when he returned looked very strong and effective posting a 2.57 ERA in 5 starts.  Don't expect Pedro to be going to deep into games, but a rested bullpen following a game that Santana should go deep into will help pick up Pedro.

Following Santana and Pedro int he rotation will be John Maine and Oliver Perez.  Both pitchers posting up 15 wins a piece in 2007 look to come back strong with their live arms.  Maine already showing he's ready for the regular season dominating Spring Training.  Maine looking very effective and should post up a repeat year, if not maybe even adding a couple of more wins in 2008.  Maine proved last year that he can eat up some inning, pitching in close to 200 innings.

One concern can be the 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' pitching performances by Oliver Perez.  Although this act did win him 15 games in 2007, it also lost him 10.  His ERA well under 4.00 is a bright spot to look forward to.  If Perez can eliminate some of his bad starts, and keep the Mets in some of those games, there's no reason why he shouldn't win another 15 games and maybe lower is loss total.  With Maine and Perez totaling over 350 strike outs, it looks as if the one through four starters for the Mets are strong and should have at least a total of 60 wins between the four of them.

The fifth starter is up for grabs, I would prefer to see Pelfrey grab the spot, but if El Duque can prove that he can stay healthy and pitch effectively, then let experience have the fifth spot.  Luckily for El Duque the Mets schedule starts off with out needed a fifth starter until about the second of third week of the season, so it gives him time to get some more work in.  Pelfrey has had some ups and downs in the spring, but he is another pitcher that looks effective when he has his pitches working, and keeping them low in the strike zone.  Either way the fifth starter looks to be effective and add on a few wins to the strong performances that the first four starters should pile up.

On to the biggest concern of the 2008 New York Mets, their health.  When more than half of a team's starters begin Spring Training hurt, it would make any fan worry.  But this team will have nothing to worry about.  Beltran, Delgado, Castillo, Chavez, and Church are all back.  Delgado showed a bright spot on Saturday with an opposite field home run.  Beltran is back in center field, and Castillo is back at second.  They will be ready and playing strong on March 31.  Alou does hurt the line up, and puts added pressure on Delgado, but he'll be back in May, rested up and ready to make the early push for the playoffs. 

Many people look at the injuries to the Mets as a bad thing.  Last year the Mets had nothing left in their tanks, and take this as an early resting period for some players to be more effective towards the Pennant Race in August and September. 

Carlos Delgado is not an issue for the New York Mets.  Many Mets fans believe that he is, but I assure you that he is not.  Delgado is his 'off' year last season, still hit 24 home runs and drove in 87 runs.  A lot of players would love to have a season like that.  Yes, he didn't come through in the clutch a lot last year, but its the job of his teammates to pick him up.  The Mets should be happy if he puts up numbers like that this year, maybe cut out a few of his team leading 118 strike outs and put the ball in play.  Delgado should have a strong year, and if his home run total diminish, I guarantee his doubles total will increase.

Jose Reyes is eager to start the season, getting ready to prove that the last 3 months of the 2007 season were a fluke and he looks ready and determined to get the 2008 season started.  Once again Reyes will steal over 60 bases, put up Gold Glove type numbers in the field, and help spark the Mets line up.  With Luis Castillo and Reyes in the one and two spots in the line up, should provide the Mets with a lot of base runners, equaling a lot of runs scored. 

Beltran and Wright will be following Reyes and Castillo in the line up.  Beltran coming off of knee surgery had a slow beginning to Spring Training, but is starting to come around playing back to back games in center field.  Don't expect Beltran to steal too many bases this year, but do expect his bat to be alive all season. I would like to see him, like Delgado lower his strike out numbers. Beltran has a lot of prove since stating that the Mets are the 'Team to beat' this season.  Beltran gave himself a lot of motivation to live up to that statement, as Jimmy Rollins did for himself in 2007.  Defensively Beltran will be solid in the outfield, winning himself another Gold Glove.

David Wright keeps improving every year, and his skills are limitless.  He should hit clean up again this year, unless Delgado proves he's still the clean up hitter that he can be.  Wright's defense has been improving over the years, winning him a Gold Glove in 2007, and with Scott Rolen out of the National League, he should win another one in 2008.  Expect another 30-30 season from Wright along with another 100+ RBI season.

The corner outfield positions seem to be a concern for the Mets.  I see no concern.  Ryan Church has to prove himself this year and I believe he will.  Say he doesn't prove himself, Endy Chavez is his back up with an eager Fernando Martinez waiting in the minors.  Overlooked too much is Angel Pagan.  Pagan has proved himself this spring to be a hard worker, and has a lot of baseball skill.  He will fill in perfectly in Right Field until Alou returns.  Obviously he doesn't have the power of Alou, but with the Mets line up base hits are just as good.  Plus with Beltran's knees improving little by little, Pagan can cover a lot of territory saving Beltran a lot of energy.  For Mets fans who feel that Pagan is not a good enough replacement and want them to make a trade, I would vote against it.  Alou will be back in May, which is only one and a half months of the season.  No need to give up any players for only one month of the season.

Behind the plate will be Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro.  I prefer to see Castro take most of the catching responsibilities, since last year he was no stranger to the long ball when he played and makes the Mets offense even stronger.  Schneider will most likely be the starter, but Castro and him will be platooning at catcher. 

The bullpen does look stronger than it sounds.  The strength of the Mets Bullpen will be Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Duaner Sanchez, and Pedro Feliciano.  I put a question mark on Joe Smith because of his collapse in 2007, and not having a good spring.  I would like to see Steven Register make the team, proving in spring that he can be an effective pitcher.  Scott Schoenweis will probably make the team to start the season with the Mets hoping he has a strong start so they can trade him away.  It's hard for me to guess what relievers will make the roster because some guys like Stokes and Rincon who signed to minor league deals, have looked strong in the spring.  What I can say is that if Manager Willie Randolph doesn't over use the bullpen, they should stay effective all season, unlike last year when they were over worked and had trouble saving games for the starting pitching.

I predict the Mets to win the National League East, followed by the Philadelphia Phillies, then the Atlanta Braves.  I think the Mets will go on to win the National League, but that's as far as I can say.  Like last year I feel the Mets are the best team in the National League, and only them can put up a fight against any American League team.  That was proved last year, when the Mets were still the team to beat after they didn't make the playoffs.  Not one team last year that was in the playoffs could have beaten the Boston Red Sox, or any American League team.  Same goes for this year.  The Mets are the only team that can put up a fight in the World Series.  The Phillies proved last year that by them beating the Mets, it made the National League hopeless at winning the World Series. 

Carlos Beltran's comments did add fuel to the fire with the Philadelphia Phillies, but it's good for the game of baseball.  Everyone always talks about the rivalry between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, this is the National League version of that rivalry.  I will admit that it won't ever have the popularity as a Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, but that doesn't mean it won't be as exciting. 

Look for a lot of buzz around Shea Stadium, with it being the final year of the stadium.  The Mets have put together a great team, and I'll say it again, the National League needs the Mets to be in the World Series to stand a chance against the tough American League.  The Mets will be playing October baseball and Shea will be rockin!