Mets wrap-up
Oct. 3rd, 2005 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiSo, the season's finally over for my boys. My thoughts:
The good:
Let's start with the obvious one: David Wright. After this year, there's little doubt about why no one was ever willing to trade him. Hits for average and power, and he's got speed for a third-baseman. He's shown some defensive spark (including the barehanded catch), and all signs point to him just getting better.
You've also got to like the season Cliff Floyd put together, with the numbers he'd always been expected to post finally appearing.
I loved the defensive play of the outfield. Everyone knew about Cameron, but Floyd led the majors in outfield assists, and Beltran nailed quite a few runners himself. This outfield probably won two or three games on defense alone.
The aggressiveness on the basepaths, as well, was wonderful to watch. Obviously, it was most notable in Reyes, but the entire team was running, which is why six players were in double-figures, and the team not only led the NL, but did so with 37 more steals than the next-best team. This one can pretty solidly rest at the feet of Willy Randolph.
Finally, Pedro and Glavine were both damned fine this year (and both closed out the year well), and Heilman showed some nice potential out of the pen. Seo was a nice surprise, as well.
The Bad:
Well, there was the first half of September, to start with. :-)
Then, there was the handling of the pitching. Randolph needs a lot of work there. A lot. Koo stays in the majors while Seo gets sent down? What the fuck? And Rick "Yes, trade Kazmir for Zambrano, so I can fix Zambrano" Peterson clearly isn't the savior everyone thought.
Reyes needs some serious plate discipline, or a much higher batting average.
We need someone at first base. If Mike Jacobs works out, that's great. But we need regular pop there, and good defense.
We need someone solid at second. I'm not impressed with Hernandez so far, nor with Cairo.
I think Trachsel has finally worn out as a starter, and we need someone better than Zambrano, or at least more consistent.
Mike Piazza was wonderful for so long, but it's time for a new catcher. Please. And not Ivan Rodriguez.
And, at risk of saying the obvious, Carlos Beltran was probably one of the weaker free-agent signings around. He needs to bounce back.
So, yeah. Time for the playoffs. Once again, Met-free, but we're closer than we've been in years.
The good:
Let's start with the obvious one: David Wright. After this year, there's little doubt about why no one was ever willing to trade him. Hits for average and power, and he's got speed for a third-baseman. He's shown some defensive spark (including the barehanded catch), and all signs point to him just getting better.
You've also got to like the season Cliff Floyd put together, with the numbers he'd always been expected to post finally appearing.
I loved the defensive play of the outfield. Everyone knew about Cameron, but Floyd led the majors in outfield assists, and Beltran nailed quite a few runners himself. This outfield probably won two or three games on defense alone.
The aggressiveness on the basepaths, as well, was wonderful to watch. Obviously, it was most notable in Reyes, but the entire team was running, which is why six players were in double-figures, and the team not only led the NL, but did so with 37 more steals than the next-best team. This one can pretty solidly rest at the feet of Willy Randolph.
Finally, Pedro and Glavine were both damned fine this year (and both closed out the year well), and Heilman showed some nice potential out of the pen. Seo was a nice surprise, as well.
The Bad:
Well, there was the first half of September, to start with. :-)
Then, there was the handling of the pitching. Randolph needs a lot of work there. A lot. Koo stays in the majors while Seo gets sent down? What the fuck? And Rick "Yes, trade Kazmir for Zambrano, so I can fix Zambrano" Peterson clearly isn't the savior everyone thought.
Reyes needs some serious plate discipline, or a much higher batting average.
We need someone at first base. If Mike Jacobs works out, that's great. But we need regular pop there, and good defense.
We need someone solid at second. I'm not impressed with Hernandez so far, nor with Cairo.
I think Trachsel has finally worn out as a starter, and we need someone better than Zambrano, or at least more consistent.
Mike Piazza was wonderful for so long, but it's time for a new catcher. Please. And not Ivan Rodriguez.
And, at risk of saying the obvious, Carlos Beltran was probably one of the weaker free-agent signings around. He needs to bounce back.
So, yeah. Time for the playoffs. Once again, Met-free, but we're closer than we've been in years.