Possible lessons for New York Mets going into 2012 regular season - MLB Feature
Gripped by the financial crises, New York Mets fared the worst show one could expect last season. Reeling from a non-payment of $25 million loan taken from Major League Baseball and an inability to manage revenue-sharing adjustments, perhaps the frailties
of the side were overlooked in the process.
A number of questions knock the brain as one examines the side from various angles and brings home the fact if certain loopholes were bridged on-time, the outcome could not be as bad.
Absence of quality pitchers was easily visible when runs were given up profusely, of-course poor fielding was part of the problem. To make matters worse, despite having batters with reasonable average none was a powerful hitter, one who could bring the big
runs regularly.
Part of the process to trace the weak-links in the Mets demands the scrutiny of some players and the decisions by the management. Performance of batters can be condoned as they played to their strength, for example, they avoided striking out, managed scores
of walks and did a fabulous job on base. In short Mets were only undone by their weak bench, as far as hitting was concerned.
However, none of the pitchers in the unit had impressive credentials in terms of ERA and ability to eschew the running game. Given the squad, the record of being second only to Pittsburgh in giving up more hits than any other team coming off during the season
from the Mets should not surprise many. Mets’ pitcher Mike Pelfrey put out a dismal show and gave away unnecessary walks. Even more so, he hardly drew many strike-outs let alone avoiding the long balls costing irreparably to the team in the end.
All the controllable factors apart, injury woes also dented the Mets’ progress immensely. Presumably one could say; only this was the reason why the performance dipped down after the team had an excellent beginning of the season. Loss of Ike Davis to injury
proved a watershed event as he played a major role in the initial successes and if he can be a part of the coming season, it will be a huge positive for the side.
One of the most glaring weak-links the team endured was Jason Bay, proving a sheer liability as he hardly generated more than 18 home-runs and 104 RBIs while playing for the Mets. Moving on, another issue was the below-par fielding level shown and Angel
Pagan, a centre-fielder continuing his poor performance from the last season could only aggravate the poor performance. It is because of this that the Mets can now think of a possible replacement for centre-field.
As the team confronts the imminence of losing one of their most reliable offensive stars, Jose Reyes, the availability of Daniel Murphy, an equally promising hitter is heartening for the unit going in the season. Far from terming him the perfect replacement
of Ryes, at-least he holds the credentials to assume the position of a starting basemen.
By putting aside the shambles last season, the team can look forward to the emerging starts like Dillon
Gee and others. Amazing hitting rates and spearheading the team in wins on a number of occasions, Gee is a healthy contribution to the club and one will hope he is among other players that prove to be decisive in fixing the loopholes the side suffered
in the previous season.
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