Jeff McNeil
The New York Mets will be led by Buck Showalter as the team sets to try to win their first World Series since 1986. Since this is their 60th season, here are 60 bold predictions for the season.
1. The New York Mets will win the 2022 World Series.
2. Howie Rose will retire after the season. The Mets have already tabbed their replacement in Jake Eisenberg, and Rose could not pass up the opportunity to go out calling a Mets World Series victory.
3. Rose will return in some limited fashion to SNY and will be a fill-in replacement in 2023 and beyond.
4. Francisco Lindor will be the NL MVP. Like Mike Piazza and Carlos Beltran, he’s going to have a huge second year. Unlike them, he wont’ be denied the award.
5. Dominic Smith will force his way into the lineup. Yes, he’s battling with J.D. Davis and Robinson Cano for the DH spot, but like he did in 2019 and 2020, he’s going to force his way into the everyday lineup and not relinquish his spot.
6. Edwin Diaz will be an All-Star. Diaz has been an every other year pitcher in his career, and following that pattern, this is his year.
7. The Mets All-Stars this season will be Diaz, Lindor, and Max Scherzer.
8. Jacob deGrom will receive some Cy Young votes. Whenever he comes back, he’s going to be deGrom, and he’s going to be so great, he’s going to appear on ballots.
9. Jeff McNeil will finish the season as the left fielder. That is an injury prone outfield, and McNeil will eventually be forced to move out there.
10. Robinson Cano will reclaim a starting job. We forget that when Cano played he was actually good in the field. If the outfield is as injury prone as we think, we will eventually play almost every day at second or DH.
11. Chris Bassitt will have a slow first month frustrating fans, but he will have a terrific stretch starting in the middle of May as he adjusts to working with the new catchers and Jeremy Hefner.
12. Starling Marte is going to have a fast start and quickly become a fan favorite. When he’s snubbed at All-Star time, fans are going to be livid.
13. Mark Vientos will have a thrilling MLB debut. Vientos’ bat is arguably Major League ready, and he’s going to get some run during some point of the season as a third baseman or DH. He may not relinquish a spot.
14. Brett Baty will be moved at the trade deadline. With the emergence of Vientos and the ground ball problems, the Mets feel comfortable moving him for that big piece at the trade deadline.
15. The Mets everyday catcher is not on the Opening Day roster. At some point, the Mets will swing a deal or call up Francisco Alvarez to take over as the everyday catcher.
16. The Philadelphia Phillies will be the Mets main contenders. Last year, the Atlanta Braves were dead in the water until the Mets were too injured. The Mets won’t do that again this year, and the Phillies pitching and hitters will give people more of a run than we think.
17. The Atlanta Braves will not challenge the Mets at all for the division. They’ll really miss Freddie Freeman, the bullpen will falter, and they will not get Ronald Acuna Jr. back in time.
18. Tylor Megill will last the entire season in the rotation. Now that he’s here, it is going to be difficult to remove him from the rotation. If need be, the Mets will go to a six man rotation to keep him in the majors.
19. Carlos Carrasco will rebound and will pitch like he did with Cleveland, but he will not make more than 20 starts.
20. Trevor Williams will become a huge part of the Mets bullpen as he becomes more of a fastball/slider pitcher.
21. Steve Cohen will purchase SNY during the course as the 2022 season as the Wilpons are scared off by the increasing rights deals with streamers.
22. The Mets will have multiple Gold Glove winners with Lindor and Marte.
23. Hefner will get interviews for managerial positions with other teams after this season.
24. So will Eric Chavez.
25. The Mets will not have any player at DH for more than 40 games this season.
26. J.D. Davis will make multiple relief appearances for the Mets this season.
27. The Joely Rodriguez trade will work out as well as the Alex Torres trade did for the Mets.
28. None of the Mets outfielders will play over 135 games this season.
29. Fans will fall in love with Nick Plummer and get more frustrated by Khalil Lee.
30. Mark Canha will play more games than any other Mets outfielder, but he will have the lowest WAR out of all the regular outfielders.
31. There will be an issue over Marcus Stroman not receiving a video tribute when the Chicago Cubs visit the Mets in September.
32. Old Timers’ Day will have one team wearing the 1986 Mets jerseys and the other team wearing the black jerseys.
33. Carlos Beltran will not return to Citi Field for Old Timers’ Day. We also will not see Carlos Delgado.
34. The loudest ovation on Old Timers’ Day will go to Piazza. The second loudest will go to Nolan Ryan, who will be a surprise attendee.
35. The defensive highlight of the season will come from Luis Guillorme.
36. Pete Alonso will take a step back defensively, and he will see more time at DH than initially expected.
37. A week or two into the season, we will hear some rumblings about Michael Conforto looking to return to the Mets. He won’t return, and likely, he will not sign with anyone until after the Major League draft.
38. Some team will crack the frequency on the pitch calling device, and we will eventually know it is them because they will be the surprise team of the 2022 season. It won’t be the Mets.
39. Mets fans will actually enjoy the Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts this season.
40. Showalter will be the 2022 NL Manager of the Year, and it might be unanimous.
41. Seth Lugo will return to his dominant form, but he will only be a one inning reliever. The multiple inning role will be assumed by Williams.
42. The Tom Seaver statue will be perfect.
43. Drew Smith will take over the eighth inning and will be groomed as the next closer. He will not take over the eighth due to any fault of Trevor May who will have another good year.
44. People will talk about how Scherzer isn’t what they thought he’d be and the contract was a mistake. Those people will be idiots.
45. The Mets are going to have a monster second half with them running away with the division.
46. With the Toronto Blue Jays winning the division, the Mets are going to make a push to get their unvaccinated players vaccinated to ensure their availability for the World Series.
47. Jeurys Familia will receive a tribute video when he returns to Citi Field, and there will be a mix of cheers and boos with probably more boos.
48. The Wild Card round will be a complete dud and fans will be clamoring for the return of the winner-take-all Wild Card Game.
49. We will see David Peterson bounced around between starting and relieving due to the injury issues with the Mets starting staff. He will struggle for it.
50. The Mets will not need to add bullpen pieces at the deadline because we will see pitchers like Colin Holderman and Thomas Szapucki emerge as quality relief options at the Major League level.
51. James McCann will have very similar production to what he had in 2021, and in short order, he will find himself in a catching rotation with Tomas Nido.
52. No New York baseball player will sign an in-season extension. That includes deGrom and Nimmo, and it also includes Aaron Judge.
53. There will be no negative articles written about Showalter this season even during a time in the season where the Mets slump (as even the best teams in baseball always do).
54. Taijuan Walker will make the fewest starts of anyone in the Mets pitching rotation.
55. The Mets will have a no-hitter this season, but it will not be from a starting pitcher going all nine innings.
56. This will be the last Major League season with nine inning double headers. We will see the return of seven inning double headers in 2023.
57. The Mets will announce their next Hall of Fame class, and it will include Al Leiter and Johan Santana.
58. Mets fans will not care about the Apple TV game, but they will be absolutely livid about the game on Peacock. Of course, MLB will not care one iota about the blowback.
59. Showalter is going to get Guillorme in a lot of games for late inning defense.
60. To reiterate, the Mets will win the World Series, and they will not have to wait another three decades for their next World Series.
Well, it didnt’ take long for the New York Mets depth to be tested. Jacob deGrom is out for about half of the season with a stress reaction in his right scapula. Max Scherzer has a hamstring issue. Taijuan Walker has issues with his surgically repaired knee. Brandon Nimmo needs cortisone shots in the neck he injured last season.
Buck Showalter is talking about the Opening Day starter being one of Tylor Megill, David Peterson, or Trevor Williams. Travis Jankowski, Peterson, and Nick Plummer have been put on the taxi squad awaiting the call-up. Without even playing a game, this is far from the situation the Mets thought they would be.
However, this does underscore the job the Mets did this offseason to address their overall depth.
In years past, at least one of Megill or Peterson (;ikely both) would have been guaranteed a rotation spot, and Williams would have been non-tendered. Instead, all three are there to provide innings if needed. More than that, the team still has Jose Butto in the minors. There is depth here allowing the Mets to throw credible Major League starters even in the absence of at least three starting pitchers.
In terms of the outfield, the depth is there to sustain a Nimmo injury. The question is whether the Mets do what needs to be done on that front.
In all honesty, the Mets fourth best outfielder is Jeff McNeil. If Nimmo’s injury is serious enough to necessitate an IL stint, McNeil should shift out to left field allowing the team to see just how much Robinson Cano has in the tank. In some ways, this would be the best test for the team to see what Cano can actually provide to this team.
However, in all likelihood, they will play Dominic Smith in left. On one hand, this underscores just how much the Mets needed Smith and why they were smart not to trade him. On the other hand, Smith isn’t a good left fielder underscoring why the Mets should go out and re-sign Michael Conforto.
Whatever the case, the Mets have versatile players, and they have credible Major League players to plug into the lineup even without 3/5 of their rotation and their starting center fielder. This underscores the good work the team did in the offseason. However, the proof is in the pudding, and we won’t find out just how good of a job the Mets did until we see how it translates on the field.
Look, we should not get too over excited about Spring Training results. Yes, that is even the case when the New York Mets annihilate the Miami Marlins and their starter Pablo Lopez, who is coming off a very good year. The same goes with the Marlins having many of their Opening Day players in the game.
But . . .
The Mets didn’t just look great in the game. They have looked great all Spring. More importantly, the players they need to be great have looked great.
Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer are deGrom and Scherzer. Chris Bassitt has not allowed a run this Spring. Right there, the top three in the league look ready to run, and if they pitch like they can, the Mets don’t need much more help.
And yet, they are getting that help as Francisco Lindor seems poised to have his 1999 Mike Piazza or 2006 Carlos Beltran season. Lindor has been a man possessed hitting four homers this Spring, posting high exit velocities, and playing great defense even by his own standards:
WHAT A DEFENSIVE PLAY FROM FRANCISCO LINDOR pic.twitter.com/j2XGhQbjyB
— Nate Mendelson (@NateMendelson) March 29, 2022
Jeff McNeil seems poised to put a down year behind him, and he looks to be playing the best defense we’ve seen from him. We’ve also seen James McCann ready to put a bad year behind him as well as he’s been hitting the ball hard this Spring, and he seems to be getting back to the catcher we thought he was after the 2020 season.
Dominic Smith came to camp ready to win a starting job, and really, at this point, it’s impossible not to give him one. Starling Marte put injuries behind him, and he’s literally hit the ground running. Up and down the lineup, the Mets appeared like they came to Spring Training with World Series aspirations, and they are not going to leave anything to chance.
That goes down to Luis Guillorme and Tomas Nido, who have also had strong Springs. Really, you have to look deep at the Mets roster to find someone who is not contributing and who has not done something to claim a job.
Maybe this is the retooled roster. Maybe this is the excitement over the Scherzer and Marte signings. It could be a Buck Showalter or Steve Cohen effect. Whatever it is, right now, it looks great. If this carries over to the season, the Mets are going to run away with the division.
The Major League Baseball rules coming out of the lockout and new Collective Bargaining Agreement keep getting more and more absurd. We keep moving away from the challenge and strategy of the game, which makes it great, to participation trophy nonsense rule changes.
The shift had an impact on the game. It made it more difficult for pull only hitters to get on base. It seemed batters were unwilling or unable to adjust. Instead of teams investing in players like Jeff McNeil, who supposedly had that all fields approach and get the ball in play game MLB supposedly wanted, they are banning the shift.
After the implementation of the universal DH, they made a special rule just for Shohei Ohtani. If Ohtani wants to continue hitting in games after he has been removed, great news; he can! For the first time in history a player lifted from a game can now stay in the game.
They are also bringing back the ghost runner or Manfred man. We all thought we were done with the runner on second in extra innings, but we are not. That is here to stay because we don’t want to keep using pitchers. After all, we can’t penalize teams who want to bullpen games or keep going to their pen all of the time. That wouldn’t be fair to ask teams to fully develop pitchers and have to strategize past that one game.
Oh, and we also have more postseason teams. After all, it’s not fair that only five teams per league make the playoffs. Oh, and a winner-take-all game for two teams who didn’t win their division also wasn’t fair. They now get to play and be a part of a series.
There’s more nonsense in the rule changes, and there is certainly more on the way. In the end, this isn’t good for the game, but this is what happens when you put people in charge who don’t care.
The Brooklyn Nets season has been altered because then Mayor Bill DeBlasio instituted a COVID19 vaccine mandate for private employers. As a result, Kyrie Irving was only permitted to play in road games. What made the rule obtuse was road players who had not been vaccinated could play in Brooklyn.
However, the rules are the rules. The same goes for when the indoor vaccine mandates were lifted with the private employer ones in place. As a result, Irving could attend Nets games, but he could not play in them.
Of course, the easy answer would be for Irving to get the vaccine. That goes without saying, but we also know he isn’t. More than that, we do know there are going to be baseball players who do not have the vaccine. With the vaccine mandates still in place, yes even for outdoor games played for a private employer, there are potentially going to be New York Mets and New York Yankees players who have not been vaccinated.
As we have seen by and through the reports of Mike Puma of the New York Post, Francisco Lindor, Max Scherzer, Jeff McNeil, and Robinson Cano have been vaccinated. When presented with the question, Jacob deGrom, Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, and J.D. Davis declined to answer. Then, there is Jordan Yamamoto, who took a completely different approach to answering the question en route to being the first player optioned to minor league Spring Training:
“It’s a very divisive topic that people use to portray someone as a bad guy or a good person,” Mets Jordan Yamamoto said about vaccines. “That’s why I don’t believe that any of these things should be talked about. It’s one of those topics like abortion…" https://t.co/58dVrkabpu
— Dennis Young (@dpyoung13) March 17, 2022
Now, it is important to note declining to answer is not exactly the same thing as not being vaccinated. Also, as we saw with Aaron Rodgers saying you are vaccinated or “innoculated” doesn’t definitively mean you received the COVID19 vaccine. Moreover, as we saw with Antonio Brown, actually having a vaccine card doesn’t mean you’re vaccinated.
Whatever the case, sooner or later, we will discover which Mets have been vaccinated. If they are, they will be eligible to play games at Citi Field. If they’re not, they can’t, and the Mets are going to have to figure out how exactly to fill their roster spots. Like Irving, the simplest solution is for those players to get vaccinated, and it’s possible those players still might as that mandate does not appear to be getting lifted anytime soon.