Injuries and lack of overall talent plagued the Mets’ 2014 campaign. But with Jacob deGrom winning the National League Rookie of the Year award, Matt Harvey coming back and Michael Cuddyer on his way to Flushing, can the Mets steal the Big Apple spotlight from the Yankees in 2015?
Another year, another October without playoff baseball in Flushing.
Almost seems to be the standard with the New York Mets nowadays, now going on eight years removed from their seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 NLCS. In fact, that 2006 season was the last time the Mets won over 90 games (97-65). As the wins started to come far and fewer as the years went on, so have the fans.
But 2015 seems to (actually) have a lot of promise for the Yankees “little brother” in Flushing, Queens.
Along with the projected return of pitcher Matt Harvey, the Mets actually have themselves a possibly solid pitching rotation (so far, pre-free agency) with Harvey, followed by the National League Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom, Jon Niese, Noah Syndergaard, Dillon Gee and Zach Wheeler.
The Mets fairly young and up-and-coming pitching will be something to watch for after they combined to finish fifth in the National League in combined ERA (3.49) finishing the season with a 79-83 record. The Mets pitching is expected to be so good in 2015, deGrom believes that 2015 could see another “Miracle Mets” World Series team.
“I think we should be able to make the playoffs next year and hopefully make it to the World Series,” he said on Tuesday, a day after winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award. “With Harvey coming back, another great pitcher, Cuddyer, and David [Wright] is gonna be healthy. When all that comes together, it should be something special.” to win the Rookie of the Year award since Dwight Gooden in 1984, and the fifth Met overall to win it.
The 26-year-old deGrom (9-6, 2.69 ERA, 144 K in 22 starts) is the first Met to win the Rookie of the Year award since Dwight Gooden in 1984, and the fifth Met overall to win it.
The Mets could have a special year in 2015 at the plate with the addition of outfielder Michael Cuddyer.
The 35-year-old Virginia native believes that “the time is now” for the Mets as Cuddyer chose to come back east on a two-year deal worth $21 million a deal of which that forced the Mets to also surrender their first-overall draft pick for next season (15th overall). If Cuddyer can stay healthy, he gives the Mets the big bat in the outfield that they’ve needed for a while.
“We spent a lot of tie building up our farm system and are not anxious to ive some of those players away,” general manager Sandy Alderson said. “It became very clear to us very early on that for a lot of different reasons Michael was a very high pirority for us.”
Cuddyer’s hit .307 in three years with the Rockies including a career best .331 with 20 home runs and 84 RBI in 130 games in 2013. Despite having a season fully cut short to hamstring and shoulder injuries last year, Cuddyer still hit .332 in 49 games with 10 homers and 31 RBI.
Cuddyer’s past two seasons alone were better than the entire Mets lineup in 2014. No Met hit over .300 in 2014 with center fielder Juan Legares coming the closest at .281 as New York was 13th in the National League in hitting in 2014 (.238/.296/.365). Only the Reds and the Padres were worse than the Mets.
His arrival adds a solid sense of power to a lineup that already features the likes of Wright, Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson.
While we still have a long way to go until the first pitch of Spring Training, let alone Opening Day 2015, the “experts” may have been right in their predictions. The Mets, for the first time in a long time, may be a team to really watch out for in 2015. For the first time in a long time, the Mets may in fact be a legitimate winner.
And in New York City, everyone loves a winner.
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