Every season as a Mets fan always seems to feature one player who comes out of nowhere to have a terrific season. Maybe they were a career minor leaguer who finally got their chance (Terry Leach), a platoon player who got thrust into full-time duty (Xavier Nady), a marginal prospect who defied expectations (Dillon Gee), a prospect who got called up early because of injury (Michael Conforto), or a veteran cast aside by another team (Fernando Tatis). In years when the Mets made the playoffs, this seems to be especially common.
Looking ahead to this season there are a number of candidates for “this year’s unexpected contributor.” Tops on the list is the Captain himself – David Wright. Expectations are low given his back condition, but wouldn’t it be something if he surprised us all with one last big season? The Mets are chock full of injury bounce-back candidates, including every starting pitcher not named Noah Syndergaard. Based on the recent video training footage out there, it looks like Matt Harvey is anxious to restake his claim as the Dark Knight of Gotham. By all accounts, Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom are ready to go with hopes of returning to 2015 form. Speaking of seasons past, how nice would it be to see 2014 Lucas Duda bang out 30 home runs?
Travis d’Arnaud, Michael Conforto, and Juan Lagares are all coming off disappointing seasons and we could sure benefit from a return to good health and performance from these guys too. But this writer’s hope for a surprise contributor is Zack Wheeler. Yes, he’s coming off two lost seasons following Tommy John surgery and complications, but imagine the possibilities for a second. With John Smoltz type stuff, Wheeler can get anyone out when he’s on. Out of the bullpen he’ll be able to let it really air out and could combine with Jeurys Familia and Addison Reed, both fantastic last season, to give us the best 7-8-9 we’ve ever had in Queens. And if the Mets coaches think he’s ready for the rotation, he could come in as the fifth starter with #1 starter stuff, matched up against weak opposing pitchers with little pressure on him.
Wheeler could emerge as a secret weapon that puts us over the top as we charge into a third straight post-season.
A healthy, fully-functional Wheeler would be a huge bonus.
His TJ surgery was more complicated than most. I think they need to take it slow with him, exercise caution, and hope for a strong second half.
I have really warmed to the thought of him in the pen.
The other key, for me, is Travis d’Arnaud — especially since there’s no “plan B.”
Again, health is nearly everything. But in a good year, I believe Travis could be a significant asset for one of the weirdest, slowest, most oddly-constructed offenses I’ve ever seen. If he falters like last season, it’s a real problem.
Jimmy P – In terms of plan B, I now wonder if Kevin Plawecki will ever hit in the majors. His defense is okay but he’s really looked overmatched at the plate.
I’ve personally never seen any evidence that he could hit. And I think the defense is adequate enough, I guess. He’s a neither/nor as far as I can tell.
But hey, you never know.
I wish we weren’t relying so heavily on the starting five. No speed, poor defense, and the doubling down on a one-dimensional offense.
It’s as if they are shooting for Game 163 instead of greatness.
I believe KP has the tools to be a solid MLB catcher. But before he was sent down in June, he was bouncing every throw he made to a base.
Good article and I concur 100%.
Let Wheeler work the BP for the first month or two while Familia is out and he will punch out hitters for an inning or two, vs start in the early cold months, which could put an unecessary strain on his arm early on. I saw one of Wheeler’s last start before his injury vs the Marlins in Florida…man, he was gassing it, punched out like 10-11 fish in 7 innings. He has swing and miss stuff and could show that easily for an inning or so if healthy.
metphin – good point about the weather. The Mets are scheduled to play 25 games in April, when it can still be pretty cold, especially at night when most of these games will be played. Except for a 4-game series in Miami, every one of these games is in New York, Philadelphia, or Washington.
Zack Wheeer hasn’t thrown a ball in anger in 2 years. I think before we start posturing him as a “secret weapon,” its worth trying to keep as much performance pressure off as possible. Its silly season, I get that, but shouldnt we be waiting to see how ST goes before labeling a guy that hasnt faced major league batters in ages a weapon? Im not sure Wheeler is a secret!
Im hopeful we see the best Wheeler ever. He was pitching compromised since the day he came up and now with the spurs cleared out and the UCL fixed perhaps we see a guy with more early control.
I think you are being a little harsh. Yes, “secret” was a lazy word choice, but beyond that all Matt said was that Wheeler “could emerge” as a valuable weapon.
It’s a fair speculation.
this just in…Mets signed Fernando Salas to a one year deal and brought in Tom Gorzelanny on a minor league contract. Brian Joura will be happy.
Here’s an easy way to remember how to spell “Gorzelanny.”
It’s like this: F-l-a-h-e-r-t-y.
I kid.
As an armchair GM, I always support this kind of insurance move.
You just don’t want them to force feed this guy onto 25-man roster only to watch him fail for 6 weeks before admitting the obvious, Flaherty style.
Reports have it at 1/$3 which seems like a good deal, as long as he doesn’t pitch like he did the beginning of the year for the Angels. In the past three years, he’s averaged a 1.117 WHIP, just over a strikeout per inning and a 4.4 K/BB ratio.
Totally agree. It always seemed like Wheeler had problems the second or third time through the lineup. I’ve thought for a while that he could excel as a reliever, especially considering some of the best closers were former starters. This season we should see how he does in that role.
I like Salas. Gorzelany did best in seasons when he was a (mostly) a reliever…with soem decent Loog #’s in those years. I always kind of liked him…he may surprise.
about Plawecki— I believe he will be a competitive hitter, eventually. He semed more comfortable and made harder contact when he first came up— he looks a bit confused at the plate. …a young, unestablished player with too many new “hitting ideas” in his head.
(I could fix him in 10 minutes…by leaving him alone!!!)
Just reported that Blevins is comin back too!
Must have been Gorzelanny I heard cursing…
Big day for the Mets bullpen….
Great negotiating by Sandy, two terrific contracts.
Three good moves by Sandy to reinforce the bullpen. We are ready for the season.
Wheeler has not pitched in two years and as Chris F pointed out, even if he is healthy the Mets will probably limit him to 150 innings. If he is ready after spring training the Mets have the choice of restricting him to 3 inning stints to keep him fresh at either the AAA or ML level. The goal should be to keep him stretched out because they will need a replacement starter during the course of the season. No team goes through a season with five healthy starters. I hope Wheeler recovers from TJ surgery and is not a Parnell or Heffner casualty.