Projected 2012 Mets Lineup
Adam Rubin of ESPN-NY suggested this projected Mets lineup for 2012 — one with which manager Terry Collins more or less agreed:
The current Mets projected lineup:
Andres Torres, cf
Dan Murphy, 2b
David Wright, 3b
Ike Davis, 1b
Jason Bay, lf
Lucas Duda, rf
Josh Thole, c
Ruben Tejada, ss
Pitcher
And this is assuming that:
– Torres is not non-tendered
– Murphy doesn’t break his leg turning a DP in his first spring training workout
– Ike Davis actually returns from his foot injury
– A random Mets veteran pitcher doesn’t strangle Thole to death
I haven’t seen a Mets lineup this bad since the days of Steve Henderson, Frank Taveras, Joel Youngblood, Ron Hodges, Doug Flynn, Bruce Boisclair, and Mike Jorgensen were gracing my black and white TV on WOR / channel 9. I can still remember perpetually fidgeting with the antenna to get a semi-watchable picture … though, in retrospect, a screen full of snow and white noise was probably a blessing in disguise in those days.
But never mind my harkening back to the glory days … what do YOU think of the above lineup? Is it inspiring? Does it give you optimism, particularly when combined with a starting rotation that consists primarily of back-end starters? Post your opinion in the comments.
1. Nontender-list: I like Joe Saunders AND Andy Sonnanstine as potential Cappy /Pelfrey replacements.
2. Ryan Theriot and Kepp were non tendered! there is your back up infielder.
3. Still optimistic future HOFer CB will be brought back.
$6 million of “Big Pelf”! Any chance of trading him away to a team more ridiculous than the Wilponzi Mets?
Is it the generous $500k deal they’d be able to offer me; with a deferred payment package extending through 2043?
The rotation is a big concern. I hope they don’t rush any of the prospects up. It might all depend on how secure Collins and Alderson are in keeping their jobs.
But, as others above have pointed out, the real problem (aside from Fred and jeffy) is the starting rotation. It’s the worst in the division and possibly the league.
I was kind of hoping that Flores from the Nats wouldn’t be tendered but I guess they did. He would be better than Thole for sure.
How long until Bay and Duda are platooning in LF? They might be the perfect platoon partners because Bay (for all his awfulness) still exploits southpaws and Duda is actually one of the better hitting RFers in the NL last year. That would improve the defense because presumably someone more capable takes over in right (Kirk?).
That lineup is actually pretty deep. Lest you are forget the Mets scored the most runs in the NL East last year and had the second highest OBP in the NL. Some argue that that Mets left so many men on base so why is OBP all that important? Simple: opportunity. The Mets had many opportunities to score more runs than other teams and thus they had more opportunities to leave more men on. If the Mets increase their Slugging this year they might lead the league in runs scored since you score more runs when you need fewer hits to score (i.e. a homerun requires one hit while some runs require up to four singles). The point is simply that the Mets will score this year because they can hit, even without Reyes, and they could score more if they simply hit for a higher SLG.