Baseball 2004: New York Mets Preview
March 14, 2004
by Alexander Washburn

Looking at my Gucci it’s about that time – the time when the words grapefruit and cactus take on a brand new meaning. Pitchers and catchers have reported and numerous vets already have been red-tagged. The first pitch has yet to have been thrown and the baseball world is already pissed off at the Yankees. Yes, baseball season is around the corner and it’s time for this writer to talk, big talk about his beloved New York Mets.

It hasn’t been the greatest of times for Mets fans. We’ve lived through the Roberto Alomar and Mo Vaughn years. The Bobby Valentine and Steve Phillips years. We survived tiered ticket prices, black home jerseys and white road jerseys. We’ve seen Grant Roberts smoking from a bong and could be the only team in memory to trade two of the greatest pitchers in history; Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver, sign great pitchers past their prime; Bret Saberhagen and Frank Viola, and lose out on signing the best player in baseball; A-Rod not once, but twice. As Jerry Orbach put it in an episode of Law & Order: “he was married and a Mets fan. He must’ve been a glutton for punishment.”

But with the new year brings newfound optimism for the Shea faithful. The Mets had a decent hot-stove league. The team missed out on stealing A-Rod but they did shore up some of the deficiencies that have plagued the team throughout this horrid stretch of seasons. The signing of Mike Cameron gives the Mets the second best defensive centerfielder behind Andruw Jones in baseball. Cameron will give Met pitchers piece-of-mind knowing that Roger Cedeno is not patrolling centerfield. No need to worry Met fans, for those pure comedic moments of Cedeno misjudging fly balls, don’t worry, Big Ass Cedeno will still see time in right.

The middle infield also received an upgrade with the signing of Kaz Matsui. Don’t expect Matsui to put up the numbers he put up in Japan – he won’t hit 33 homeruns playing half his games in pitcher-friendly Shea, where even the best power hitters see a decline. And he won’t hit .330. He won’t even hit .300. What we should expect from Matsui is: getting on base, stealing bases and playing solid defense that will hark back to the days when Ordonez roamed shortstop.

With Matsui’s signing, the Mets best homegrown talent since The Fonz, Jose Reyes, will move to second. If anybody tells you the jury is still out on if Reyes can play second either is not an athlete or has no idea of skills needed to play middle-infield in Major League Baseball. Reyes has great feet and soft hands. Plus, he is young and at 20 years old, not too old to learn the position. His arm is strong and his baseball instincts, honed from playing since he can walk, are as good as anyone who plays the game in New York. Expect Reyes to pick up where he left off last year. He’ll hit .300, steal 25 bases and will score 90 runs. Put it in the book.

Mike Piazza played only 68 games last year. Cliff Floyd 108. They played in less than 40 games together. When your two RBI guys are not in the lineup, it’s not a surprise that the team dwelled in last place all year. This year, both are healthy and should drive in runs more in-line with their career numbers. With table-setters Matsui and Reyes on being held on at first, forcing pitchers to thrown fastballs, look for both to have big run producing years.

The pitching staff is not as bad as one might think. Steve Traschel was probably the best pitcher in New York after Mariano Rivera, and after posting 16 wins with very little run support, look for him to match those numbers this year. Tom Glavine wasn’t Tom Glavine last year, but it was little known that Glavine left eight games last year with the lead. Jeo Seo was impressive in his rookie debut and should continue to mature as a dependable fourth starter. Al Leiter has been among the most consistent winners in baseball over the last seven years, and the from his starts in spring training Aaron Heilman finally looks like the pitcher the Mets touted in their farm system. All these pitchers will improve with the middle-infield defense upgrade.

The Mets still have John Franco in the bullpen, so it means they never really seriously tried to upgrade that position. Outside of Franco, you have Mike Stanton and David Weathers, neither of which has proved that their best years are behind them. In addition, Grant Roberts, if he doesn’t win the fifth starter job, will thrive in the bullpen.

At closer, the Mets signed Brandon Looper from the World Champion Marlins. The jury is still out on whether Looper can survive the first round of boos after he blows his first save. He did save 28 games for the Marlins before being demoted mid-season but redeemed himself in the World Series. I like Looper and with new pitching coach Rick Petersen, who worked wonders with Oakland, Looper gives us more reason to celebrate than Benitez did last year.

The Mets are not winning the World Series. They’re not making the playoffs. But they have built a team that can stay in it when late-August rolls around. If you’re in contention than anything can happen. Look for a 83-79 team – good enough for third or a close fourth. More importantly, the team will be one year away from seriously competing for a playoff spot.

(Alexander Washburn is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine)