The “Swing” Players

Oddly enough, as difficult as it has been to watch the Mets for most of 2011, now that the season has ended, if feels weird not having any more games, box scores and articles to review. No more Mets baseball until the middle of February, when pitchers and catchers report to “lovely” St Lucie, FL for Spring Training 2012.

Our team is about to enter the “Hot Stove” season, which is as much about the long term future as it is the 2012 season.

So, what does that have to do with the title of this post? The Mets still have games to play in 2012. Their roster contains some players that hopefully will be part of the future, when things are fun again in Flushing. I look at 2012 as an extended audition for all of the current Mets on the roster. It will be a continuing opportunity for Sandy and Co. to see what they have and what is worth keeping.

Mack did a great job laying out the potential 25 man roster for next year. This post is not a repeat of that. Instead, I want to identify several players that we have that may play an important role going forward. The following list is not all inclusive, since I can’t see into the future, but it contains several players that I feel are important. They have the ability to “swing” the potential outcome of the team’s future in one direction (positive), or the other (negative).

In my opinion, some of those players are; Jonathan Niese, Dillon Gee, Josh Thole, Ike Davis and Ruben Tejada. The Mets need more then that to be successful and I think that we have some of that talent in the pipeline. However, the listed players are all keys in that if any of them fail, we will have more holes to fill. If they all continue to develop, then we can focus on other troublesome positions, like second base, the entire outfield, bullpen help/closer and the elusive “ace” pitcher.

Start with Jonathan Niese and Dillon Gee. A lefty and a righty, both homegrown players, both relatively young and both have had a nice start to their Met careers. I see Niese as a potential #2 or #3 starter going forward. As much as it sickens me to say, he kind of reminds me of a Cole Hamels type in the current Philly rotation. Dillon Gee is more crafty, and has less pure “stuff”. Yet, he can get hitters out because he knows how to pitch, sort of like Greg Maddux did. I see Gee as more of a #4/#5 type starter, but a valuable piece over the course of a 162 game schedule.

If they continue to be successful, I see Niese and Gee, joining Harvey, Wheeler and one of either Mejia or Familia, to form one heck of a rotation in 2013 and beyond. Niese is the lone lefty and Gee would be a nice change of pace pitcher (not a flame throwing, strike out specialist) at the end of the rotation, to give batters a different look.

If one or both of them fail, then we will have a couple of big holes to fill in the rotation, especially from the left side (since Santana and Capuano are not long term answers).

Moving on, Josh Thole is a serviceable, but below average catcher at this point and he is the player on this list I have the least confidence in. But, he is also the hardest worker on the team and has come a long way over the past three or so, seasons (he wasn’t even a catcher at one point). With that said, if he can continue to improve, it would address an otherwise black hole on the roster and it would save resources (money, prospects) that would be used in a trade for a catcher, for other needs.

I see Thole becoming a Jason Kendall type player. Solid backstop, above average hitter, line drive power. I would be comfortable with him in the 8th spot in the order, if his defense/catching ability continues to improve. Plus, he has already worked with some of our younger pitchers, in Queens as well as in the minors.

If Thole does not work out, there isn’t much behind him. Scary thought.

Ike Davis, if his ankle heals properly, has the ability to lock down first base for the next decade. He is a potential middle of the order force (true home run power) from the left side of the plate and he plays gold glove caliber defense! I know that is a shock to most Met fans, since that concept seems to elude our team from time to time (a good topic for a different day). Imagine, from a purely baseball perspective, if John Olerud and Darryl Strawberry had a love child. OK, that is a little too weird, but you get the point, right?

We have had some really good first basemen over the years, to include Olerud and Keith Hernandez. But, can you think of many that were great with the glove and can hit like Davis? With good health, he takes care of first base and the #4 hole in the lineup. If Ike does not heal properly, who do we play at first base? Lucas Duda? I like Lucas, but have you seen him play defense? Duda would be our present and future DH if the National League allowed one.

Ruben Tejada! Get used to the name and get used to seeing him penciled in at short stop. Losing Reyes (and I think that is going to happen) will anger a large part of our fan base and it will give the media hounds lots of good material going into 2012. It will hurt seeing Jose’s highlights on ESPN, playing for someone like Anaheim (my current guess). But, the more I think about it, that is what Jose is..........a highlight reel. When he is good, he is very good. But, there are large stretches where is either missing (injuries) or not so good. I am not going to go any farther off course here, other then saying that I don’t think we will miss Jose as much as we think, in the long run.

Why? I think Ruben is already superior to Jose defensively. He is also looking like a threat with the bat, which is a surprise if you saw him play in 2010, or even early this year. But, something changed with him. Maybe he got used to the big stage, or maybe he is maturing. Either way, with continued growth (he is only in his early 20’s) he will more then handle the position defensively and he can bat 2nd or 7th in the lineup, and be a contributor on offense. Even Jose said he sees a lot of himself in Ruben, when Jose was his age. The best part? The Mets save 15 to 20 million dollars per year for other needs (like the OF) and they get two additional early draft picks for the future.

I don’t want to think about Ruben failing, but you understand why I label him a “swing player”, especially if Jose leaves.

In closing, I hope all of the listed players “swing” in the positive direction. If they do, a large part of our future success will already be in place, while getting comfortable in New York. That will also give Sandy and Co more resources for other needs.

A Few Random Thoughts

Last Wednesday was an amazing night of baseball! Anyone who is a baseball fan, regardless of who you root for, had to love the drama and the excitement. I haven’t felt that way since the playoffs in 1986, when the Mets/Astros, Red Sox/Angels, and later the Mets/Red Sox stunned us on a nightly basis. I wonder what the playoffs this year will be like?

Do you feel sorry for Atlanta and/or Boston? I was going to try and be politically correct for a moment and say “a little bit”. But, then I remembered that I hate the Braves! Couldn’t happen to a more smug bunch of players! Enjoy the offseason Atlanta!!! I wonder if our buddy Chipper has that smirk on his face right now? Oh, and while I don’t hate the Red Sox necessarily, Boston area fans are a miserable/cocky bunch, so they can enjoy the heartache, too!!! Makes me almost forget about 2007.

I like the proposed idea of moving the fences in at Citifield. I don’t think we need to create a bandbox atmosphere, but having a neutral ballpark will do wonders for our hitters, especially David Wright.

Music to my ears, hearing that the Mets may non-tender Angel Pagan. He seems like a nice guy, but we can do so much better! Use the 4 of 5 million Pagan would cost next year and get someone who can play defense, while our youngsters develop in Binghamton and/or Buffalo. How about David DeJesus??

It wouldn’t hurt to put Mike Pelfrey on the same bus with Angel Pagan.....just saying.

Matt Moore! Wow, do the Rays have a deep and talented farm system? They will probably move James Shields this offseason, to address a different organizational weakness, while promoting Moore to take his place. That, my friends, is how it is done and it is also what I think we have to look forward to in a couple of seasons.

Enjoy the playoffs!