Where as the New York Yankees will be trending downward in 2015, the New York Mets will be a team on the rise. Fuelled primarily by an invigoratingly youthful and efficient pitching staff, baseball in Queens will have fans smiling more often than not this year.
The average age of the Yankees’ projected starting lineup will be 32.5 years old this year. The Mets projected rotation, however, will be 29-years young on average. And that number is only 29 because 41-year old Bartolo Colon will probably be the No. 5 starter. If you push Dillon Gee (28) or top organizational prospect Noah Syndergaard (22) into that fifth spot, the average age becomes significantly smaller on Opening Day.
The Mets averaged a very tidy 3.66 starter ERA as a whole in 2014, 17th ranked in all MLB. Not bad at all when one considers they were without ace Matt Harvey and rookie Jacob deGrom started 22 games for them en route to an NL ROY plaque. As an entire team, the pitching staff ranked ninth overall with a 3.49 ERA, proving the bullpen was an even bigger asset to the club.
25-year old Jenrry Mejia and Bobby Parnell are both legitimate options to close. Mejia dropped his ERA from 5.06 in seven starts to a season ending 3.65 once he was moved into the closer role in May. He went on to save 28 games, rolling along with a 9.4 K/9 to boot. Parnell on the other hand has battled injuries, but as the Mets’ sporadic closer over the last three seasons, he has a 2.41 ERA and 29 saves across 119.2 IP.
The staff stayed pretty consistent in the second half of 2014 as well, with a 3.48 ERA after the Midsummer Classic. For as strong as deGrom (2.16) was during that stretch, Zack Wheeler was right behind him posting a 3.04 ERA in 13 starts compared to a 3.90 mark in 19 first half starts. His maturation down the stretch gives Mets faithful even more hope for a lights-out rotation in 2015.
The rotation is so bright, a fully healthy Harvey could compete right alongside deGrom for some Cy oung award votes and Syndergaard might even be able to give the Mets back-to-back Rookie of the Year honors, though the latter is probably less likely to happen. Syndergaard played well in Double-A in 2013, but struggled some in 2014 after a full season in Triple-A with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP, despite being MLB.com’s No. 11 overall prospect pre-2014. Still, it’s entirely possible he pushes Colon into the bullpen at some point this year.
The lineup is a different beast. They go how David Wright goes, but he only goes every so often. He’s reached the 135 GP mark once in his last four seasons. But even then it’s tough to know what you’re going to get from him. He hit 21 HRs in 581 2012 at-bats, then 18 in only 430 2013 ABs but dropped to a dismal eight long balls despite registering 535 ABs last season. Wright is a player whose OPS tends to fluctuate a lot.
Left fielder Curtis Granderson now has a full season of experience hitting at Citi Field, so that should translate to better success at the plate for him in 2015. Right fielder Michael Cuddyer will be an offensive upgrade over Eric Young and Chris Young‘s combined 534 ABs in the outfield last year. Defensively, center fielder Juan Lagares is one of the most underrated outfield gloves in all of MLB.
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On the other side of the infield opposite Wright is Lucas Duda, who had his breakout season at first base hitting .253-30-92. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud appeared to finally turn a corner in 2014 by hitting a respectable .265/.313/.474 after the All-Star break. The glaring hole in the lineup comes at shortstop, where Ruben Tejada was only serviceable last year and Wilmer Flores has only 354 big league ABs to his name. After a lot of rumors surrounding a possible trade for Troy Tulowitzki in the offseason, the organization looks to stand pat with Tejada and Flores in place.
If the Mets have a chance at being towards the top of the NL East standings in late September, they will almost assuredly find themselves wedged in between the Washington Nationals and the Miami Marlins. They’re going to have to get there with stout pitching and above average defense.
The Nats will be tough to out duel in the standings, but stranger things have happened. The 2013 Boston Red Sox won a World Series before losing 91 games and finishing last in the division the following season. After stocking up in free agency on position players, Boston looks ready to make a run again in 2015. Except Boston’s management is forgetting one thing — pitching wins ball games — and unlike the Red Sox, the New York Mets have no shortage of outstanding arms.