Mets 2007 team outlook

The Mets ran away with the 2006 division and 1 hit away from the World Series. The Mets thought they didn't need to overpay big name free agents, and little additions could put them over the top.

Now The Mets Roster looks something like..

1.Reyes
2.Lo Duca
3.Beltran
4.Delgado
5.Wright
6.Alou
7.Green
8.Valentin

9.Glavine
10.El Duque
11.Maine
12.Perez
13.Pelfrey

14.Wagner
15.Heilman
16.Scott S
17.Chan Ho Park
18.Joe Smith
19.Aaron Sele
20.Pedro Feliciano

21.Franco
22.Castro
23.Easily
24.Newhan
25.Chavez


Most likely Mike Pelfrey won't be on the opening day roster, and wont get called up until he is needed to start. Meaning a spot on the bench for Lastings Milledge who will continue to try and earn a spot on this team.

The offense is solid, and will be one of the best. Don't let these spring games fool you. One question that needs answering is if The Mets are going to have David Wright bat second in the order. Wright was the #5 batter in 2006 and had a great year, though Wright had a decline in the second half, and it can be debated that it was because he didn't have enough protection. So ideally you bat Wright in front of Beltran for protection. But that means Wright will have less runners on base, and will be forced to take more pitches for Reyes to run. What to do? I would keep Wright hitting 5th, he will have plenty of protection in Moises Alou. Wright can bat 2nd when Moises Alou or Paul Lo Duca gets a day off (which should be often) Endy Chavez, and David Newhan will give Moises Alou, and Shawn Green (for now) more then enough rest. Damion Easley will take almost every start against left handed pitchers, and give Valentin a day off. The bench, and the lineup look great.

The Mets starting rotation has some questions. You have hall of fame pitcher Tom Glavine but then after that you go with the injury plagued Orlando Hernandez, 1 year vet John Maine, Oliver Perez who was 3-13, and rookie Mike Pelfrey. I think the starting rotation will be fine, and we will see some big years from the guys at the back end of the rotation. Oliver Perez, John Maine, And Mike Pelfrey have looked great this spring in there own ways. Perez is not walking batters keeping composure, and getting the outs he needs. John Maine is throwing more change ups then he did last year, and throwing scoreless innings. Mike Pelfrey has earned his spot in the rotation this spring. He came to camp with a different way of pitching, and he now knows he can't just throw fastballs by everyone and must work with his off-speed pitches, and pitch to contact as he has been getting ground ball after ground ball looking like Ching-Ming Wang.When El Duque gets hurt The Mets will have to decide who they want to start. They have Chan Ho Park (bullpen) Aaron Sele (bullpen) and Jason Vargas (Minors) that are all good options for a limited amount of time. Philip Humber most likely won't be ready to make an impact until at least July. We saw from him this spring that he could use some more time in the minors. We are all hoping that Pedro Martinez will be able to make a comeback to baseball after his rotator cuff injury, but as of right now no 34+ year old pitcher has ever come back from that kind of surgery and succeeded, though not many were hall of fame pitchers like Pedro Martinez. Doctors and trainers say Pedro will come back throwing harder, and will be fine. While others say Pedro will never be the same. What I expect from Pedro in 2007 is nothing. Hopefully he can come back strong and will be a huge impact down the line to help The Mets get into the playoffs.

The bullpen right now is full of huge question marks like Chan Ho Park, Aaron Sele, and Joe Smith. I really don't know what to expect from Chan Ho or Sele and it might be a rough go around for the bullpen until guys like Padilla, and Mota get back. The Mets were hoping for a great lift thinking Duaner Sanchez might be ready by mid-late April. But Sanchez is needing another surgery and most likely won't pitch again until August. Your main setup man Aaron Heilman is having tendinitis in his elbow, and might have trouble pitching back to back days another problem. Heilman says this is a problem he will have his entire life, and he will just have to deal with it. But Heilman this year is most likely going to have more innings out of the pen then he has ever had in his career. Scott S. (not even going to attempt) was a huge pickup for The Mets. At the time we all wondered why The Mets would give him the contract they did after letting Chad Bradford go, and trading away lefty Royce Ring. We all see that Scott will be able to get out big lefty's like Howard, and will be able to throw some innings in middle relief. Pedro Feliciano will probably not have a season like he did last year. But he has looked great this spring and better not complain how about how much he will be pitching as he will be a major part to this pen. The Rookie Joe Smith has big shoes to fill. He has looked amazing this spring and will be looked upon to get out right handed hitters, pitch in long relief and may be used in middle relief.

The Mets defensively are the same around the infield, Delgado and Lo Duca are a little older, but Reyes and Wright are more experienced. The outfield defense looks to be a major problem. You have 41 year old Mosies Alou in LF, and 34 year old declining Shawn Green in RF. In the middle you have Gold Glover Carlos Beltran. You're asking a lot of Beltran by doing this. As neither Green or Alou have any range. Plus there arms are not good. The solution is giving them days off on separate days, and getting Endy Chavez or David Newhan out there.

This last subject is one I will not talk about anymore after this. Lastings Milledge should be the starting Right Fielder over Shawn Green. Shawn Green is in decline. He will have a worse year then last year because he won't be playing in a hitters park in Arizona. Green offers no defense, and no speed. Lastings Milledge has come to camp with a new attitude, and is determined to prove all his haters wrong. Milledge offers the team a #2 hitter without taking Wright out of the power spot, and it still adds more speed and power at the 2 spot in the lineup. Milledge can at least put up numbers offensively like Shawn Green would put up. If Milledge did that then it would still be a plus, as Milledge would steal more bases. But more importantly Milledge plays great defense and takes a lot of the pressure off Beltran to cover 3 positions. Lets remember Beltran has had some quad problems the last couple of years extra running in the outfield won't do him any good. Milledge's injury won't help his chances and might cost him a spot on the roster. But in my opinion in a month (May) Milledge will be starting in RF.

I'm not going to lie this Met team has a lot of questions. But some of these questions will be answered soon like the starting pitching. And some of these questions might take a trade or two (bullpen). We know this team will score a lot of runs, and the starting rotation will get it to the bullpen. Whether that be after 5 innings or after 7 that is to be seen. But every team has there questions, and just because The Mets play in New York all these questions will be all over the media. But lets look over The Yankees starting day pitcher is Carl Pavano, and following him is Kei Igawa Mike Mussina, and Rasner. Come on Met fans our problems aren't that bad.