MLB: 5 sleeping giants who will be contenders soon
By Robby Sabo
New York Mets
- Last Winning Season: 2008, 89-73
- Last Playoff Appearance: 2006, Lost NLCS
- Organizational Ranking: No. 5
- Target Breakout: 2015 (Possibly 2016)
In New York City the order of business has been usually simple.
It’s a New York Yankees town first and foremost. The Mets are second-class citizens who are just unfortunately in the way.
Starting with 2015, however, New York will be put on notice.
New York Mets
Thanks to the Yankees stubborn inability to strip aging personnel and perform a quick reload (see the Boston Red Sox for directions on how), the Mets will eventually take over the city. Thanks to Sandy Alderson and his “patience is a virtue” philosophy, baseball in the Big Apple will once again start to feel like 1986 all over again.
It’s like this: no team in Major League Baseball has the embarrassment of riches the Mets employ at the pitching position. From the New York, to Las Vegas, to Binghamton, to St. Lucie, to Brooklyn, this organization is filthy when it comes to power arms.
As baseball fans know, there’s no more valuable position than pitcher.
Mets Young Arms:
- Matt Harvey, RHP
- Jacob deGrom, RHP
- Zack Wheeler, RHP
- Noah Syndergaard, RHP
- Jenrry Mejia, RHP
- Jeurys Familia, RHP
- Steven Matz, LHP
- Rafael Montero, RHP
- Marcos Molina, RHP
- Gabriel Ynoa, LHP
- Michael Fulmer, RHP
- Matt Bowman, RHP
- Casey Meisner, RHP
- Blake Taylor, LHP
- Dario Alvarez, LHP
Not even a Zack Wheeler Tommy John situation can get this group trending downward.
Ever since Carlos Beltran took that hook from Adam Wainwright in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, the Mets’ fan has been thirsting for a winner. 2007 and 2008 saw competitive teams who always came up with disaster, allowing failure to creep into their lives.
Alderson then came to town and decided the long drawn-out approach was the correct path.
At this point in time, how could anybody argue with the plan?
Look at the Mets starting staff in 2015. Even though Matt Harvey’s Tommy John a year ago set the franchise back a season, his performance in the spring has everybody believing he’s fully back. NL Rookie of the Year in 2014, Jacob deGrom, showed flashes of the rare toughness quality every MLB ace needs to have.
Sprinkle young studs Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Marcos Molina and Rafael Montero into the mix, and New York could have the top starting staff in baseball for a half-decade.
What remains a question mark is what the lineup will do in the years to come.
Travis d’Arnaud and Lucas Duda must continue trending upwards. Also, the presence of positional prospects Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Kevin Plawecki and Dilson Herrera in 2016 and 2017 will fully round out a contending 25-man roster.
At this point the pitching will already have been fully entrenched and the Mets will no longer be a sleeping giant – for they would have already risen to baseball prominence.
Additionally, the stage and story is already perfect. Matt Harvey has the exact temperament and bull dog attitude to assume the “face of New York baseball” role Derek Jeter so suddenly left void.
Next: There's A New Boss In Town