New owner, greater expectations
Five issues facing the Mets:
High expectations: New owner Steve Cohen has preached his desire for the Mets to become a consistent contender. The honeymoon will end if he doesn’t make good on all the talk.
The Mets haven’t won a World Series since 1986 and fans are tired of rooting for a big-market team that doesn’t act like one. Cohen has promised to run the Mets like a big-market team.
Can Cohen and Co. improve the roster and change the culture? Expectations are high in Queens.
Acquiring superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor in a trade was a good start.
Extending Lindor: Acquiring Lindor is only the first step. Extending him is the next.
Lindor is under team control through next season. But if the Mets can’t keep him, they’ll effectively have gotten one year of Lindor for two major league shortstops (Andrés Giménez and Amed Rosario went to Cleveland in the trade) and two prospects (right-hander Josh Wolf and outfielder Isaiah Greene).
You would think that the Mets made this trade with optimism they could extend Lindor. In a Zoom call, President Sandy Alderson said they had optimism because they feel the Mets are offering something intriguing for players. Let’s see if they can get a deal done. Rotation: In 2020, you could have called the Mets’ rotation “Jacob deGrom And Everyone Else.” Noah Syndergaard missed the year due to Tommy John surgery. Marcus Stroman opted out due to coronavirus concerns. Free agent additions Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha flopped. Steven Matz regressed.
The Mets, in the Lindor trade, also acquired Carlos Carrasco, going a long way to address their rotation. But do they feel it’s enough? Will they add someone else?
General manager Jared Porter said he’d be comfortable going into the season with the current rotation because he feels the Mets have six talented starters. But he also said the Mets are always looking to add more pitching. He said he’s “never satisfied” because a team can never have enough pitching.
The first base split: In 2019, Pete Alonso set a rookie home run record and was voted National League Rookie of the Year. In 2020, Dominic Smith had a breakout season and received NL MVP votes.
After his rookie season, Alonso seemed to be on a fast track to becoming a franchise cornerstone. But Smith proved last season that he might have developed a bat to match his well-regarded glove.
This makes you wonder what the Mets might do at first base. Smith can play left field, too, but he is a better defensive option at first base than Alonso. That said, Alonso doesn’t offer the same positional versatility as Smith.
This is a good issue for the Mets, but one they’ll need to ponder regardless.
Who starts at third base? Jeff McNeil began the 2020 season as the starter at third base before J.D. Davis took over while McNeil played elsewhere. With the current roster, it seems Davis would be the starter at third … unless, of course, the Mets acquire someone better.
Davis is a respected hitter, but his defense must improve. Recently, Porter said Davis is still in the developmental stage of his career, when he could realistically make a jump defensively.