The strengths and weaknesses of the 2016 Mets

The 2016 baseball season will be upon us in less than a week. The New York Mets will be defending their hard earned 2015 National League crown in the hopes of returning to the World Series and this time winning it. Heady times indeed.

The marathon has not started so let’s take a look at what the team has going for it and what it does not.

STRENGTHS

1- Starting pitching

This is surely what the Mets have as their firewall. No other team in major league baseball can boast four fireballing young starters and, lest we forget, Bartolo Colon. The Mets’ top three righty starters, Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndegaard will be fighting it out with the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta, and Zack Greinke for the league’s Cy Young Award.

Starting pitching is one of the most fragile aspects of the game. If the Mets’ starters hold up healthwise, and especially if they get Zack Wheeler back at midseason, they can carry the club to the playoffs if they are backed by even a tepid offense and somewhat leaky defense.

How many of us were already frightened when Matt Harvey suffered his non-orthopedic health issue early in the week?

2- Offense against righty pitching

As you look around the Mets’ infield and outfield you see players at every position who should be league-average or better when facing righthanded pitchers. The newly constructed middle infield of Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera may not remind anyone of Tinkers-to-Evers defensively but clearly are competent or better bats. Walker has never hit lefties well but can produce as much or more with the bat as Daniel Murphy did when facing a righty.
The outfielders are all solid against righties while Lucas Duda, despite a decent run against lefties last year, figures to be more dangerous against righties as he has been during the bulk of his career.
Travis d’Arnaud is a better than average hitter as a catcher. David Wright is a health worry but is OK against righties while crushing the southpaws.

3- A good clubhouse

This is an area where Sabermetrics comes up short. One just hears from players over and over how coming to work is made easier when you like your teammates, like and respect your manager, and have good leadership in the clubhouse. People like Curtis Granderson, David Wright, Bartolo Colon, and Neil Walker have often been lauded for keeping their respective clubhouses professional and enjoyable.
You would not expect to see a Papelbon-vs-Harper feud boil over in the Mets’ dugout or clubhouse.

WEAKNESSES

1- Team defense – especially up the middle

Neil Walker may be better than Daniel Murphy but Murph never set the bar very high. Walker is a bat-first secondsacker and his partner, Asdrubal Cabrera, will never be confused with Andrelton Simmons. If Asdrubal provides the club with Ruben Tejada-like defense then we all should be satisfied.

We all know that Yoenis Cespedes is an accomplished left fielder who will be manning center most of the time. His cannon arm is an asset and it looks like he will catch anything he can get near. His headiness is in question and he will likely be range deficient in center.

Meanwhile Granderson in right is a fine defender but has an exploitable arm. Michael Conforto seemed adequate last season defensively but has never had a plus defensive reputation.

Travis d’Arnaud is a good framer of pitches and that is important. He allows lots of stolen bases. One has to expect the baseball world to try to do to the Mets what the Royals did to them in the World Series which is to challenge the catchers and the outfielders repeatedly.

2- The bullpen

I have been watching Mets baseball since 1962 and can not remember an offseason in which the GM did not say that he wanted to fix and enhance the bullpen. In the team’s 50+ year history it has rarely been renown for having a great bullpen. 2016 will be no exception.

One should hope that Jeurys Familia gives the team another year closing like he did last year. Personally I expect regression. Hopefully it is not a large regression.

But the rest of the pen seems to be in question. Addison Reed might be good for set-up duty but his history has been up and down. Antonio Bastardo could be a great addition to the pen as a lefty who can both righties and lefties. Hansel Robles? Just don’t know yet about him. Jerry Blevins can get lefties out. He needs to stay healthy. There have to be doubts about Jim Henderson and Sean Gilmarten.

It was rather distressing to hear Manager Collins saying that he has numerous tired arms in his bullpen. Holy cow. That’s in March!

Even if we get another monster year from the closer one has to wonder how well the pen can get through innings seven and eight.

MAYBE A STRENGTH MAYBE A WEAKNESS

1- Depth

Originally my thought was to chalk this up as a weakness but then realized that the team is in good shape when it comes to #4 and #5 outfielders. Juan Lagares is an elite defender and a responsible hitter against lefties. Alejandro deAza is a legitimate asset if he’s not forced to be an everyday center fielder.
With reasonable growth Kevin Plawecki could be a very adequate backup catcher. He figures to bring much more to the table than Anthony Recker ever did.

So the place where the team could suffer is in the infield. The club will be in a tough spot should Lucas Duda be injured. Wilmer Flores likely lacks the bat and the glove to fill big Lucas’ shoes. David Wright is the biggest question mark healthwise. Should he go down for another long DL stint then the team will have to scramble. Flores figures to be called upon or the club might move Walker to third and promote Dilson Herrera.

Should shortstop Cabrera go down then it falls to Wilmer Flores or a callup like Matt Reynolds.

2- Offense vs lefty pitching

As stated earlier Neil Walker has never done much when batting as a righty. Duda may or may not hold his own against lefties. Granderson was horrible against that side pitching last season. The jury is out on Conforto. Hopefully he will be OK. Even Cespedes for his career has never been much of a force against lefties.
The only real “lefty killer” the team has is David Wright. Hopefully he will be there to answer the bell when he is needed.