For the second consecutive season, the New York Mets were the best bad team in baseball.
NOW WHAT I MEAN BY THAT...hang on, don't close the tab yet...
What I mean by that is that the Mets weren't good enough to compete, but they were good enough to keep others from thinking they could compete. For the second year in a row, they were in charge of determining which nearly-there teams were playoff ready, and that once again included giving the Phillies a bunch of losses and keeping them from a playoff spot. It also meant having one of the best lineups in the game despite being hampered by bulging, sagging rotation.
Hopefully if the Mets keep the pieces that made them nearly compete this year, while also fine-tuning the pitching, they'll actually be able to take on Miami and Atlanta for the division. It just didn't happen this year either.
Brandon Nimmo was one of the many Mets that really excelled this year. He once again was in the shadow of Michael Conforto, but still got a lot done this year, including batting .280 and hitting 8 homers with 18 RBIs. Nimmo seems to be far from a fluke, and if he AND Conforto are both on next year, they could be an immortal OF duo.
2021 Prediction: Of him and Conforto, Nimmo will have the better contact hitting year, and the ASG nod.
Now...to talk about two players that the Mets still don't know what to do with. Dominic Smith was one of the best players on the team this year, but he's not the starting 1st baseman on the Mets. Pete Alonso is, and will likely continue to be. So unless the DH stays in the NL and they trade off DHing, Dominic Smith is gonna be stuck on the bench for a bit. I don't think you want a guy who led the team in RBIs with 42 to be stuck on the bench at all.
2021 Prediction: A half year of similar production and then, finally, he's traded to a contender and gets a starting role at 1st.
Similarly, the time has come for the Mets to trade Amed Rosario. No more waiting around for the guy to hit for average, it's probably not going to happen. Once again Rosario underwhelmed in 2020, hitting .252 with 15 RBIs in 46 games. As Andres Gimenez has begun to close in on the position by actually hitting for average, the need for Rosario is slowly lessening. How much more time is this team gonna spend waiting for Rosario to match up to the scouting reports? Especially now that the Cohens are in charge.
2021 Prediction: He gets traded this offseason. To, like, Milwaukee or something.
Good news is Jeff McNeil is still very much for real. Due to steroid-related reasons, McNeil didn't play a lot at 2nd base this year, but thanks to Luis Guillorme, I think he's gonna find a home in the outfield. He seemed to do well there statistically, and he fits in well with Nimmo and Conforto. Also, he's still a handy little contact hitter, as he hit .311 with 57 hits and 23 RBIs.
2021 Prediction: Top 3 MVP voting. Yeah, it's happening. Gonna lead the league in hits, too.
I don't think Mets fans are ever gonna come to a consensus on Edwin Diaz. So, statistically, Diaz had a very nice season- dude had a 1.75 ERA, 50 strikeouts and a pen-high 1.3 WAR. For all intents and purposes, this is technically a comeback year for the former Seattle closer aficionado.
However.
Diaz only had 6 saves, and blew 4 others. The general consensus seems to be that Diaz is a great reliever, but still cannot resist the urge to blow a save or put runners in scoring position. Which has to be frustrating for the Mets. The stats may not show it, but Diaz may still be a liability to this team if he's going to keep blowing saves.
2021 Prediction: He doesn't last til the end of April in the ninth.
Speaking of people the Mets fans are fed up with, Steven Matz, as one of the two remaining 2015 Mets young hurlers still active this year [Thor was hurt], pissed away a lot of the goodwill he had left. In 9 games, he had a 0-5 record, a 9.68 ERA, and led the team in home runs allowed. I'm not saying this is the last of Matz' stellar years, but it's definitely a warning sign.
2021 Prediction: An improvement, but it might not be enough to keep him in the rotation.
In the absence of the once-strong youth rotation movement, the Mets called in two veteran hurlers this offseason. Neither did especially well. I guess you can say Rick Porcello was the better of the two, mostly because Porcello is also just the more consistent pitcher of the two, but Porcello still had a 5.64 ERA and a 1-7 record, despite 54 strikeouts. After a few too many seasons of losing more games than he's won, Porcello seems to have bottomed out a bit.
2021 Prediction: Perhaps someone else will give him a chance, but I don't expect a full career turnaround.
The other of the two veterans the Mets brought in was Michael Wacha, the former Cardinal hero. Wacha's been shaky the last few years, and 2020 was no deviation from this: 1-4, 6.62 in 8 games. Not a great impression in a bit of a rebuilding year.
2021 Prediction: Signs a minor league deal somewhere and mostly works relief.
I'll post the other 6, who came in as the year progressed, tonight.
Hope you're right about McNeil. I like how he's not afraid to hit for average. In regards to his cards... more specifically his rookie cards... he's one of those guys who got lost in the shadows of Tatis, Guerrero, and Alonso. I'm guessing his age scares collectors away, but he's only two years older than Alonso.
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