The Official 2016 Mets Thread

[Deepster]

How will the Top 3 in the staff rank by year's end? Harvey, Thor, deGrom? deGrom, Thor, Harvey? You could sell me on any combo there.

Any shot Matz leapfrogs into that top 3 stats wise (barring injury)? Pitching against the team's 4 starters every time out....

Any prediction on a stat line for Yo? Does he back up the money and the cars/pig/ride a horse circus from this offseason?

Will Familia be the best closer in baseball? He's been untouchable, and I mean untouchable, so far this spring.

Sleeper? Unsung hero on this squad? D'Arnaud? Duda? Big Sexy?

 

[Rico444]

I'll take a shot.

How will the Top 3 in the staff rank by year's end? Harvey, Thor, deGrom? deGrom, Thor, Harvey? You could sell me on any combo there.

My guess is Harvey, Syndergaard, deGrom. Harvey's got his slider back this spring from three years ago. That season, he was on pace to have one of the greatest seasons of all-time until he got hurt. Hard to pick against him. Syndergaard has incredible stuff and great control; once he puts it all together, he'll win a Cy Young. deGrom is great; don't get me wrong, I'm just a bit concerned about him breaking down. There was some talk last year that he was feeling tired at the end of the season, and he looked a bit off in his last few starts. Now, he's got some minor tweaks this spring, and his velocity was down. I hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got hurt this year.

Any shot Matz leapfrogs into that top 3 stats wise (barring injury)? Pitching against the team's 4 starters every time out....

Barring injury, I don't see it. I think Matz will be good, but not at the level of the other three.

Any prediction on a stat line for Yo? Does he back up the money and the cars/pig/ride a horse circus from this offseason?

I think he'll have a good year, just not as good as last year (which was a career year for him). I would guess he hits around .280/.330/.550 with 30 HRs.

Will Familia be the best closer in baseball? He's been untouchable, and I mean untouchable, so far this spring.

Not the best, but pretty damn close. Not worried about him at all.

Sleeper? Unsung hero on this squad? D'Arnaud? Duda? Big Sexy?

I think Conforto breaks out bigtime. I wouldn't be surprised if he has the best year of any of the position players, Yo included.

 

[8893]

How will the Top 3 in the staff rank by year's end? Harvey, Thor, deGrom? deGrom, Thor, Harvey? You could sell me on any combo there.

Any shot Matz leapfrogs into that top 3 stats wise (barring injury)? Pitching against the team's 4 starters every time out....

Any prediction on a stat line for Yo? Does he back up the money and the cars/pig/ride a horse circus from this offseason?

Will Familia be the best closer in baseball? He's been untouchable, and I mean untouchable, so far this spring.

Sleeper? Unsung hero on this squad? D'Arnaud? Duda? Big Sexy?

• I'm still big on Jake. And I still have an unshakeable sinking feeling that Harvey is somehow cursed. I'm going Jake. Thor, Harvey, Matz.
  
  
• Matz will battle to be in the top three but will end up fourth.
  
  
• I think Yo comes close to last year on average, with the usual hot and cold streaks that will alternately have us praising him and cursing him. I am actually most concerned about him defensively and the dilemma he poses, because he's not as good of a defensive center fielder as Lagares, but you don't want Yo to take time away from Conforto in left. Did you see the crap he tried to pull with the alleged "stuck ball" yesterday? The look on the official's face was priceless.
  
  
• I want Familia to be the best closer in the post-season this year, not regular season. And I want to see our middle and late relief good enough to keep us from having to bring him in for anything more than three outs on a regular basis.
  
  
• I really hope that Neil Walker and/or Asdrubal Cabrera are significant improvements over what we had at 2B and SS last year. That will be a pleasant surprise for me. And Wright's back. Fingers crossed there. The thought of Eric Campbell playing significant innings is not a comforting one. Maybe Wilmer ends up being the hero there? I'm expecting the usual out of Duda, but if D'Arnoud doesn't have a much better and more consistent year at the plate now that he's fully healthy, I won't have a lot of patience for the fact that he can't throw me out. After seeing how badly he got exposed in the playoffs, I'm expecting more and more teams to be aggressive from the get-go this year, with every walk and single being the equivalent of a double.

 

[zyron]

Will Familia be the best closer in baseball? He's been untouchable, and I mean untouchable, so far this spring.

No, the top 3 are all on the Yankees.

 

[8893]

Harvey scratched from last Spring Training start for undisclosed, "non-baseball" medical issue; may miss opener:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15085381/new-york-mets-matt-harvey-non-baseball-medical-issue

Stay tuned...

 

[lavuuk153]

How will the Top 3 in the staff rank by year's end? Harvey, Thor, deGrom? deGrom, Thor, Harvey? You could sell me on any combo there.

Any shot Matz leapfrogs into that top 3 stats wise (barring injury)? Pitching against the team's 4 starters every time out....

Any prediction on a stat line for Yo? Does he back up the money and the cars/pig/ride a horse circus from this offseason?

Will Familia be the best closer in baseball? He's been untouchable, and I mean untouchable, so far this spring.

Sleeper? Unsung hero on this squad? D'Arnaud? Duda? Big Sexy?

- Harvey Thor deGrom with Thor possibly being the number 1. I'm so incredibly high on him.

- I don't see any way that happens. Also, I bet Matz only starts against the opponent's 4 starter around 20% of the time.

-I think he regresses a bit but still does well enough to make $25 million not seem like a big overpay. I can see 28 HR and 90 RBI with an OBP around .315. I'm more nervous about his defense in center.

- Don't see this happening...he's filthy but there are others out there with incredible stuff and a better track record. I could see him regressing this year especially since I don't trust Collins to manage the pen that well

- I don't know if he counts as a sleeper, but I can see Conforto having a huge impact. I also think Flores will excel as a super sub getting time all over the infield.

 

[8893]

Harvey is good to go. Passed a blood clot in his bladder. Phew. That had to be scary.

 

[UConnMike04]

It's Opening Day! Let's go Mets! Finish the job!

 

[8893]

Happy Opening Day!

Happy Harvey Day!

Let's Go Mets!

Good read on Warthen and the pitching staff here:

For the Mets, a Pitching Coach Who Loves Walks

 

[tzznandrew]

Just to add another question:

Does Wheeler come back on schedule? How much does he contribute?

 

[8893]

Just to add another question:

Does Wheeler come back on schedule? How much does he contribute?

I'll admit that reading Warthen talk about the near-inevitability of TJ surgery for Thor at some point made me thankful that we have Wheeler coming back. I'm expecting him to see some action in the second half of the season. Hopefully not needed as much as a bonus to give the other guys a break down the stretch.

 

[8893]

Deja vu all over again.

 

[8893]

I agree with Yost:

Royals' Ned Yost bristles at Mets' presence for World Series fete


Last night's match-up sounded like an interesting idea, and it got me into post-season intensity for an Opening Day game. But once I saw the WS celebration unfolding I thought it was a bad idea all around. I don't blame the crowd for cheering Duda--that's what I would have done in their position, too--but it just didn't seem right to put the Mets through having to start their season this way.

The fact that the game itself was essentially a replay of WS greatest hits didn't help, either.

And apparently the ring ceremony will take place before tomorrow's game.

I guess the only thing I can hope at this point is that the Mets players remember how bitter this feels and use it to motivate themselves down the stretch, like KC itself did last season.

 

[beakumhawks]

The Royals split the flag raising/ring presentation over two days so more fans could be a part of the ceremonies. Yes, it was rather awkward to have this all take place with the team you beat in the World Series as your opponent.

 

[Deepster]

The Royals split the flag raising/ring presentation over two days so more fans could be a part of the ceremonies. Yes, it was rather awkward to have this all take place with the team you beat in the World Series as your opponent.

That's bull and I don't buy it for a second. Capacity is about 38,000 and they have 14,000 season ticket holders including "93% of the lower level seats between the foul poles". Of the 24,000 non-season ticket holders, how many are the same people going to both games?

 

[beakumhawks]

Deep, they had over 100% attendance for both games so far. Standing room only was sold out. As to how many are going to both games, I obviously don't have a clue. But if you aren't a season ticket holder tickets were next to impossible to get for games 1 and 2.

 

[Deepster]

Well, the lucky folks in Game 2 got to see the ring ceremony and nothing else. So good for them.

 

[Dogdeacon]

FWIW, nowadays I think >75% of season ticketholders are multiple people splitting the games.

 

[Alum86]

What is the over under for d'Arnaud's b.a. ?
Dude cannot hit and is worse throwing people out, but they seem to love this guy.
I say .220

 

[Deepster]

Last years good start provided a lot of buffer for things to go wrong later in the year. I feel like, so far, the opposite is happening here. Harvey not sharp. DeGrom not healthy. Matz got pumped tonight. Yeesh. Hangover from the WS?

 

[Alum86]

Last years good start provided a lot of buffer for things to go wrong later in the year. I feel like, so far, the opposite is happening here. Harvey not sharp. DeGrom not healthy. Matz got pumped tonight. Yeesh. Hangover from the WS?

The lineup ain't hitting. From Duda to Grandy's poor start, and the catching position, which is an auto out. And we are blowing a great game by Thor tonight.

 

[8893]

The lineup ain't hitting. From Duda to Grandy's poor start, and the catching position, which is an auto out. And we are blowing a great game by Thor tonight.

Yep. All true. That was a waste of a great pitching outing.

 

[UConnMike04]

Not jumping off of a cliff but they better turn this around and fast.

 

[JSM1970]

Yes, amazing just how bad the catcher position has gotten. Has gone from no real emphasis on offense to now being a good defensive catcher to now having guys like D'Arnaud and Swihart who are bad at all aspects virtually and still starting.

The lineup ain't hitting. From Duda to Grandy's poor start, and the catching position, which is an auto out. And we are blowing a great game by Thor tonight.

 

[Deepster]

Just for shts and giggles....

Dwight Gooden's first 3 starts in 1985 (the Cy year he went 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA): 23 IP, 13 hits, 23 K's, 5 BB, 3 earned runs
Thor's first 3 starts this year: 20 IP, 15 hits, 29 K's, 4 BB, 2 earned runs