Christmas wishes for the 2023 Mets

It’s been an incredible year for the Mets and their fans. A regular season with 101 wins was a great year, a 24-game improvement over 2021. And somehow, despite losing Chris Bassitt, Jacob deGrom, Seth Lugo and Taijuan Walker, it’s been a great offseason, too. Steve Cohen has thrown nine-figure contracts around like they were frisbees. It’s not unreasonable to think that the 2023 Mets will top last year’s win totals. And it’s a possibility they will break the 1986 team’s franchise record for wins. It’s really amazing.

Given all of that, it almost seems overkill to give out Christmas presents to this group. But, it’s a holiday tradition at this point. So, let’s give the millionaires what they really need this holiday season. With the power of the keyboard, here are my gifts to Mets players.

Pete Alonso – An end to his streak of declining HR/FB rate, which has gone from 30.6 in 2019 to 19.0 last year.
Francisco Alvarez – A legitimate shot for MLB playing time.
Mark Canha – To have the 38.2 Hard% that he had in his six-week hot streak all season long.
Carlos Carrasco – More home starts, as he went 9-3 with a 3.56 ERA at Citi Field last year, compared to a 4.57 ERA in road parks.
Carlos Correa – A passed physical and more of the good health he’s enjoyed the last three years.
Edwin Diaz – A start as good as his 2022 finish, which saw him post a 0.73 ERA and a 0.608 WHIP in the second half of ’22.
Eduardo Escobar – The contentment to go from starting 3B to super sub.
Luis Guillorme – A trade to a team where he can get more playing time.
Francisco Lindor – His 2020 IFFB%, which was 4.3, compared to the 13.8 mark he had last year.
Starling Marte – More hard-hit balls after having his lowest rate in a full season since 2017.
Jeff McNeil – A chat with Daniel Murphy on the benefits of pulling the ball.
Tylor Megill – The ability to continue living the charmed life that has everyone thinking he’s better than he actually is.
Omar Narvaez – A home BABIP higher than the .193 mark he had last year in Milwaukee.
Tomas Nido – To enjoy that the Mets tendered him a contract, despite all evidence to the contrary of that being a good idea.
Brandon Nimmo – To have his September ISO of .197 over an entire season.
Adam Ottavino – A repeat of last year’s walk rate, his best since 2015.
David Peterson – Contentment with fewer starts and more bullpen appearances.
Jose Quintana – To have 30 starts like the 12 he had with the Cardinals in 2022.
Brooks Raley – Continuation of last year’s 0.5 HR/9 rate.
David Robertson – More appearances in night games, where he had a 1.64 ERA, a 1.000 WHIP and a .498 OPS against. In day games those numbers were 3.23, 1.337 and .680, respectively.
Max Scherzer – The 30 starts he had in 2021.
Kodai Senga – The good sense to watch and learn from the veteran SP on his new team.
Drew Smith – To only have one bad six-to-12-game stretch, rather than the two bad stretches he had in ‘22.
Justin Verlander – No starts against the White Sox, who scored 10 R in 10.2 IP against him last year.
Daniel Vogelbach – Not a single PA versus a LHP, who held him to a .415 OPS in 84 PA last year.

*****

Buck Showalter – The knowledge that days off are a good thing. Nobody should play the 160 games that Alonso did or the 161 of Lindor.
Billy Eppler – The wisdom to move old, ineffective guys to make room for talented youngsters
Steve Cohen – Since he’s given us so much, let’s have New York state reward him with that gambling license he’s seeking.

*****

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of the readers here at Mets360! I’m very happy that you come to our site on a daily basis. And I’d like to give an extra special thanks to loyal readers T.J., Nym6986, BoomBoom, ChrisF, Footballhead, Aging Bull, Steve S., Metsense, Name, James Preller, Jim O, JamesTOB, Bobbyd, Mike W, Hobie, Gus, Woodrow, Bob P, IDRAFT, jsuss and anyone I may unintentionally be forgetting. This was a great year for the Mets and I thank you for staying faithful readers and commenters. And finally, thanks to all of the writers at the site. May you have a wondrous holiday season. And may we have better luck in the playoffs in 2023.