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New York Mets

2012 – Finished fourth in NL East

Record: 74-88

The Mets finished fourth in the NL East for the second consecutive season and last year was an uninspiring one for this half of New York. Heading into the 2012 campaign, the Mets had lost Jose Reyes and failed to sign any big names, culminating in a serious lack of motivation and prospects for a playoff run. The media predicted that this could be one of the worst teams in baseball and although they proved them wrong in the first half of the season, after the All Star break the Mets capitulated and the losses kept mounting.

Heading into 2013, the Mets will be at least an intriguing team to follow. ‘Following’ seems to be the preferred option at the moment (as opposed to actually supporting), because the Mets drew the lowest total attendance last year even after opening the brand new Citi Field. There is a lot of pressure on manager Terry Collins to get better results out of this ballclub, but have they done enough this offseason for the skipper to do that?

INCOMINGS

P Brandon Lyon, Shaun Marcum
IF Brandon Hicks
C John Buck, Travis d’Arnaud, Anthony Recker
OF Wuilmer Becerra, Collin Cowgill

OUTGOINGS

P R.A. Dickey, Kyle Lobstein, Manny Acosta, Mike Pelfrey, Ramon Ramirez, Jon Rauch
IF Jefry Marte, Ronny Cedeno
C Josh Thole, Kelly Shoppach
OF Scott Hairston, Andres Torres

Outfielders

Lucas Duda (leftfield) and Kirk Nieuwenhuis (centre) were both sent down to the minors last season but both figure to be in the Mets long-term plans. Duda, 26, batted .239 last year in 401 at-bats, adding 15 home runs and 57 RBIs. His strikeout rate is way high – he had 120 last season in 459 plate appearances, so that has to come down. If he can manage that he could be a reliable power outfielder. Nieuwenhuis is a year younger and showed great promise with the glove last season, but lacked any real offensive skill. He too struggles with strikeouts (98 in just 282 at-bats) and won’t add as much power as Duda and Jordany Valdespin. Mike Baxter was a handy utility player last season, battling hard for a spot and always giving 100% when put into a game.

Infielders

At first base is Ike Davis who had a miserable first half in 2012, but fortunately for the Mets they let him ride it out and Davis ended up hitting 32 home runs and drove in 90 RBIs. His batting average of .227 was low, and his inability to hit lefties is a problem. However, Davis is a good power hitter and has a great glove, while age is also on his side (25). Ruben Tejada will bat leadoff and play shortstop for the Mets, a guy who has proven himself as the team’s best defensive shortstop since Rey Ordonez. Tejada batted .289 last year but is only really a singles hitter, but he is such a good defender that the Mets will keep him there. Daniel Murphy has become a reliable second baseman, batting .291 last year with 65 RBIs and 62 runs. The Mets’ only star player is at third base, and we are all familiar with David Wright. The 30-year-old has just signed a mega eight-year deal with the team after batting .306 with 21 home runs and 93 RBIs in his bounce back 2012 season.

Catchers

Travis d’Arnaud ranks number six among baseball’s Top 10 prospects, according to MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo. He came over from the Blue Jays as part of the Dickey trade and was showered with praise during the first few days of spring. John Buck batted under .200 last year and was traded twice this offseason, but he is a solid offensive catcher who could hit up to 20 home runs.

Starters

Johan Santana pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history in 2012, but after that game he pitched awfully for New York. Between injuries and poor performance, Santana ended up going 6-9 with a 4.85 ERA and 1.33 WHIP, all career highs. He is in the last guaranteed year of his contract, so the Mets will hope his performance improves so they can trade him for prospects next summer. Jon Niese, Dillon Gee, Matt Harvey, Jenrry Mejia and Jeremy Hefner make up the rest of the rotation.

Relievers

The Mets made most of their offseason moves last year in the bullpen, which ended in disaster. They haven’t added anyone new yet, which means they are going to have one of the youngest bullpens in the majors. To no one’s surprise, the Mets used 28 starting and relief pitchers last year. Frank Francisco was signed to an $11million deal last offseason and was an immediate bust. He only blew three saves in 26 opportunities but he was an erratic pitcher and posted a 5.53 ERA. He remains the closer because no one else can fill that void.

Bobby Parnell is the only other veteran in the pen and acts as the set-up man. If he stays out of the closer job (which he performed horribly), his 2.49 ERA last season is pretty good. Elvin Ramirez, Josh Edgin and Rob Carson all struggled in their limited time in 2012 but it was the first major league action they’d really seen. Keep an eye out for Zack Wheeler, one of the top pitching prospects in the country who could get a call up this year. He has huge potential with a very high velocity.