The Mets have that starting rotation ready to lead the way and Matt Harvey who gets the ball on opening day looks to set the tune. I'm looking for Matt Harvey to have himself a Cy Young season and for the rest of the starting rotation to follow his lead. With Matt Harvey,Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Bartolo Colon the Mets are sending out a quality arm everyday so it's no secret that if the Mets are to win again in 2016 the pitching is going to be why.
But how about the offense?
Well 1 thing is for sure, having Yeonis Cespedes back for the entire season should help. The Mets are counting on Cespedes and Lucas Duda to provide the power and drive in the big runs in the middle of the lineup. Productions will also have to come from behind the plate, if Travis d'Arnaud can stay healthy I'm looking for 20 HR's and 70 RBI's from a healthy d'Arnuad.
Curtis Granderson will lead off and if he can get on base and repeat his 2015 numbers the Mets will take it. The Mets will also look for some contributions from some new faces, Neil Walker takes over for the popular Daniel Murphy and the why I see it, Walker should fit in nicely with these Mets.
Another new face who the Mets are counting on is the new shortstop Asdrubal Cabrrera who I'm not too high on, I wanted a better glove at the position but for 1 year Cabrerra will have to do. Walker and Cabrerra come in as the new double play combo, and give the Mets 2 veteran switch hitters in the lineup.
The Mets should some balls HR's and they will probably strikeout a lot, but they will also battle and grind for each at bat so look for some better flowing offense in 2016. But don't look for the Mets to be doing any running as this team is slow and does not have much speed. The team defense is average, especially up the middle, and Travis d'Arnaud led all NL catchers in pass balls last season but I'm hoping that the Mets will catch the ball better this season and make the routine plays.
The bench looks good with Wilmer Flores expected to get some runs at 3B, 2B and short, but I see Wilmer getting the bulks filling in mostly for David Wright who the Mets are lucky to get 100 games out of. Juan Lagares and Alejandro De Aza are the 4th and 5th OF and they give the Mets a solid pair while Kevin Plawecki backing up d'Arnaud is not a bad thing. Look for Matt Reynolds to finally get a chance to break in the big club replacing the departed Rueben Tejada who the Mets decided to let go, a move that caught me by surprise.
The Mets bullpen which struggled last season will be looking for improvement, back is Addison Reed and Hansel Robles from the right side and I'm hoping these 2 can give the Mets some upside. From the left side the Mets bring back Jerry Blevins and new comer Antonio Bastardo to help their lefties situation which last season was awful. Jeurys Familia should be ok closing games and that leaves 2 final spots for guys like Eric Goeddel, Logan Verret, or Jim Henderson to round out the bullpen. The Mets bullpen looks like a question mark, you have Familia and a few guys that you hope can have some upside.
Now lets switch to the other side of town and look at the boys from the BX.
The NY Yankees come into the 2016 season following an offseason in which they did not spend a single dime on free agents and that means not adding any aging stars to the roster. The Yankees have stayed on course as they try to get the team younger and have decided to wait things out until the 2017 when some big money comes off the books and better free agents will be out there. Obviously this was the way to go considering that the Yankees are already paying top dollars at pretty much every position but 2nd base.
But that didn't stop the Yankees from trying to upgrade the team and they did it by pulling off 2 steals of a deal on the trade market that should help out the ball club in 2016. The biggest deal of course is Aroldis Chapman who the Yanks are teaming up with Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller to form a bullpen that is going to remind some of the 1990 Nasty Boys.
Last season Chapman, Betances and Miller were the only 3 relievers that had over 100K's out of the bullpen, if the Yankees are to win and go far this season the bullpen is going to be a big reason why. Aroldis Chapman must 1st serve his 30 suspension, and Andrew Miller just suffered a small fracture so it might get tough early on but the Yankee bullpen looks to be better in 2016.
Better productions from both Gardner and Ellsbury at the top will help, it's time for Jacoby Ellsbury to start to earn that money. Another one who has too start to earn his pay and play better is Chase Headley. I see good things from the bottom part of lienup, Starling Castro and 2nd year shortstop Didi Gregorious round out the lineup with a little bit of speed and pop at the bottom of the lineup, and the Yankees with a slick double play combo.
On the bench Aaron Hicks is the 4th OF, Dustin Ackley should be one of the backup infielders, Austin Romine or Gaby Sanchez the backup C, and Rob Refsynder might make the cut.
The Yankee Rotation could be good or it could be bad, Masahiro Tanaka comes in the ace again but with Tanaka you have to be careful, Michael Pineda and Nathan Evoldi have stuff and you get excited for the youngster Luis Severino as your #4. Then it's another season of C.C. Sabathia as the #5. Keep in mind that none of these guys made 30 starts last season.
Still the Yankees should compete for a division title again, many are saying the Toronto Blue Jays should come in as the slight favorites with the killer lineup but the Jays don't have an ace and to me any of the 5 teams in the division can win it, even the TB Rays. The Yankees are still in transition and it is still an aging team, their outfield is older and I don't know if you can continue to count on Gardner, Ellsbury and Beltran for much but well see.
As for the Mets they open up the season vs the World Champions Kansas City Royals on Sunday Night Baseball as the Royals get to raise a banner and receive their ring. You want motivation? Hopefully my Mets can do like the Royals and get back to the WS and finish the job and win their 1st WS in 30 years.
Yes the Mets and Yankees are back, MLB is back! time to love and hate! and Lets Go Mets!
3 comments:
Opening Day!!! Ahh its good to be back in the swing of things.
Like you said the Mets come in with HUGE expectations, how will they respond to it is the million dollar question. You know the starting pitching will be there but will the offense and bullpen pick up the slack? How will the Mets react from being the hunters to now being the hunted? I'm expecting big things from the Metropolitans this year.
As for my boys in the Bronx, much like last season they could finish first or they could finish last. Like the moves they made in the off season by adding Chapman, Castro and Hicks. I think this team will fly under the radar because they don't have the World Series or bust expectations like they've had in the past. If they can stay healthy I can see them competing for the AL East.
Prediction Time:
Here is my prediction as to how things will be after 162 games:
AL East - Blue Jays
AL Central - Royals
AL West - Astros
AL WC - Yankees
AL WC - Rangers
NL East - Mets
NL Central - Cubs
NL West - Giants
NL WC - Nationals
NL WC -Diamondbacks
Oh another thing...How odd is this. Last game for the Mets last year the 2 starters were Harvey and Volquez, tonight's 2 starters for the same teams is Harvey vs. Volquez.
The Yankees last game last year was vs. the Astros, Tanaka vs. Keuchel. Yankees open vs. the Astros and its Tanaka vs. Keuchel
Yup opening day is here, patiently waiting here for tonights game to get going. Yea sure is odd to have both NY teams opening up vs the 2 teams that had ended their season in 2015 when you consider that the schedule is done b4 the season ends which I had no idea was the case.
OK here is my predictions after 162
AL East-Blue Jays
AL Central- Royals
AL West - Astros
AL WC- Rays
AL WC- Indians
NL East- Mets
NL Central- Pirates
NL West- Giants
NL WC- Nationals
NL WC - Cubs
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