17 Comments
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Steven Shrager's avatar

Getting to 85 wins is something the current roster can do as they wait for some players to come back from injuries. The problem is that 85 wins will not win the division or likely get a playoff spot.

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Brian Joura's avatar

I don't expect a total of greater than 85 as winning the division. But a total greater than 85 should put them in the thick of the Wild Card race. Maybe 87 wins is enough to make the playoffs, maybe it isn't. But while I hope to be there one day, I'm not yet at the point where the Mets winning 87 games is a disappointing season.

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Steven Shrager's avatar

All fair, but with improvements by other NL teams, 85 likely leaves them out. Was watching some sports commentary that hit the Mets offense right on target. They know what the first five players will do but not the last four. That’s probably a comment you could make for many teams.

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Taryn Cooper's avatar

Right now, I’m not… panicking, FWIW. I feel as though the Mets could have done more to thicken up the rotation, but… with Senga returning and Holmes seemingly doing well with more innings, it seems Stearns and co feel it is enough to get them through till Manaea returns.

And the depth as you say has taken a hit with Alvarez. (Luis Torrens era?) With Alvarez’ injury taking place this early, he’ll be back by May. All in due time I suppose, but I’d say the off-season was like a B+/B.

Look at the bright side: Yankees may lose Stanton and Cole? That’s much worse, wouldn’t you think?

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Brian Joura's avatar

FWIW is fine, it's not a word, it's an acronym.

But the other one is not fine. Please do not capitalize words in your post, as that's a violation of our Comment Policy -- https://mets360.substack.com/p/mets360-comment-policy

Any future posts with words capitalized will be deleted.

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Taryn Cooper's avatar

I edited, and added more to my thought

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Brian Joura's avatar

I don't like stars missing time, even when they play for the Yankees. But that's certainly more star power on the shelf than the Mets with Frankie Montas and Nick Madrigal

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AgingBull's avatar

Alvy’s injury is a shame. The guy seemed poised to have a strong year. I hope that they don’t knee-jerk sign someone like McCann. Torrens will fill the gap defensively and I think it will be interesting to see what Reetz or Williams can do. They both have more than solid AAA OPS numbers with a decent amount of power. No clue what their defensive skills are. Alvarez will be back by the middle or end of May; assuming typical recovery, he can still have a strong 2025.

It’s hard to say the Mets are snakebite, considering the injuries the Braves had last year. But it’s awful luck how injuries derailed the progress of Mauricio, J. Williams, Gilbert, Baez, and Scott last year, not to mention Senga and Alvarez.

I voted that they don’t need to add resources but the ice is getting thinner…

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Brian Joura's avatar

Yeah, this is pretty much where I stand with things right now.

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Metsense's avatar

Alvarez was a unfortunate injury because of the time lost in his development. Torrens is an an able enough replacement for two months. Montas can be replaced by Canning, Blackburn or Megill. One of those trio has to replace Manaea also, but it be only for one month that the rotation is stretched out so thin. Holmes successful conversion as a starter along with Peterson and Senga pitching so well, that I chose that they won't have to do anything and still win >85 games.

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Chris Flanders's avatar

I wouldn’t say its “pulled the pin on the grenade” time, but these are team wounding setbacks. I personally dont think there was much quality in the rotation, so losing key off season acquisitions and pretending that some version of Megill and Blackburn or anyone in that gaggle is overly optimistic. Unfortunately the loss of Alvarez is a setback for him and for the rotation, who like throwing to him. Torrens is a fine receiver and we can hope for more at the plate, but will he get to 80 OPS+???? I’d be looking to move Baty and his crazy OPS for another budding arm or vet pitcher with a couple years left on the clock.

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Steven Shrager's avatar

I continue to be worried about the rotation. I am thrilled that Holmes has started strong, and they tell us Senga is on target as they pitch him on a back field against minor league talent. I did not expect Burnes or Snell or even Fried. But still think that Flaherty or Buehler would have been good additions of some battle tested starters who have overcome injury. So I’ll have to keep the faith and maybe Canning throwing 3.2 innings of one hit ball with five Ks and get this, no walks against the Cardinals, is gonna step up.

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Texas Gus's avatar

Chris, the key off season acquisition you may be referring to is Frankie Montas, and to me that’s no big loss.

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Chris Flanders's avatar

Gus, its easy to say Montas is no big loss, and Im not weeping in joy over his acquisition, but if you ask me would I rather have Montas pitvh over Canning or Blackburn the answer is an unqualified yes. We’re replacing so-so with oh-no.

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Texas Gus's avatar

Yes, Montas over Blackburn or Canning, but that’s your sixth and seventh best starter, and even in the winter it was hard to see Montas any higher than fourth starter on this team. Holmes’ spring has now made Montas fifth, and Megill’s is making him sixth. While I too believe that Montas was signed with expectations, the starting pitchers strong spring outings have made Montas sort of a number six.

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Mike Walczak's avatar

Heres the deal. Atlanta plus Acuna and Strider. The Dodgers with the nest team in the majors. Hooray, maybe the Mets get a wild card, but they probably wont get very far and highly umlikely that they get past the Braves or Dodgers. And all of that salary for what, a wild card? What hurts us is the money for McNeil, Marte, Diaz and Nimmo. We woyld be better off without them and have the young guns like Sproat, Jett Williams, Benge and maybe Acuna coming up at affordable rookie deals. Its a balance, but the goal is the World Series, right.

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1999's avatar

Are you saying that Sproat, Williams, Benge, and Acuna are more likely to bring the Mets to the playoffs? Or that because the Mets cannot reasonably aspire to anything more than the Wild Card they should start building a team for the future instead of trying to win this year?

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