New Season!!

Yahoo, the new season is about to get under way!!! What better way to start the season than with my favorite team, the Mets of course. I am actually a little dismayed with the rollover, like $20M in training and medical didn't seem to to diddly squat. At least we weren't  beat up by retirements but do have many career minor league pitchers in the FA market to sign.  So what are the Mets up to this season, lets take a look.

Coaches:

Fielding:  Jason Reynolds will be returning. Don't think he is the reason for the range problem I am seeing with my players but what else is causing it.
Bench: Opening here which isn't all that bad and will probably promote Jerry Dawkins from AAA.
Pitching: Kid Cornelius wants the job and I am willing to pay the extra 140K. Reginald Kline just didn't gain any knowledge but I don't think he has reached his pinnacle yet.
Third: Phil Hitchcock returns for yet another season. I would replace him as I think he is the reason we have a hard time scoring but there just isn't that many better than him that might be available.
First: Marvin Morris wanted the 3B job which is a laugh, so I will have to find a body to bounce balls off of. Melky Rijo is the only coach in the minors I would think about so I am not exactly sure what to do.
Bull Pen: Since Kid is moving up a spot and I have a fight for the pitching job at AAA a little promotion is in order and Dan Melton is in line for the job. Consensus says he is good enough but I usually get a better coach for this job.
Hitting: Hector Levrault is returning for another season.

C: Mariano Pimentel had a career year for him and it was actually his first to really show off his abilities. The bad news for him, it will be for another team as the Mets are not interested. Pepper Murton was well liked by the pitching staff and picking up his relatively cheap arbitration contract is not going to be a deterrent. The big question is whether the Mets go for a possible big FA name if one is available or call up one of their AAA defensive hacks in Felipe Izquierdo, Leonardo Williams or Yamid Ortiz.

1B: Leo Rodney is signed thru season 30 so you know he is the guy here. The Mets were happy about his 33/31/103 output last year but still scratch their heads over the his sub par average even at .264.

2B: John McInerney had a terrible time playing CF and was moved back to is old haunt. The Mets are highly perturbed about his slowly declining range at such a young age.

3B: Felipe Peralta was voted team MVP last season even after only playing 51 games. He did lead the World in Home Runs with 70, 28 of those for us which almost ended up leading the team. The fans were upset about his disappearing act in the playoffs however. He is excited about getting a chance to go after a GG at 3B.

SS: Ronn Penny has endeared management with his play which should be better than ever this year.

RF: Marc Redman will get his long term multimillion dollar contract soon enough. His play at 3B last season was unexpectedly ugly so it is back to his old stomping grounds.

LF: Omar Ordonez will only play here this season as he wasn't real thrilled about playing RF so much last season.

CF: This position is totally up in the air and could wind up in the hands of Carl Browning.

At least one and up to three of the following will find a new home in the coming season. 

Guy Oquist was the little darling of the Met fans last season because of his .309 average that was in the .350 area for most of the season. An arbitration case even though cheap for the season could become a casualty because of questionable diminished range. Chances are good he gets another season  however only as a bench warmer to backup SS.

Dan Radke is rather pissed with the organization. His talent is actually being wasted because there is no place for him to play.

Mariano Diaz is unsure of his status with the ML club. They like his power but is highly inconsistent at the plate. Fielding doesn't make the high-light reels as he is positionally challenged and expendable.

Clarence Valentin was the GG at 2B last season but his playing days are numbered. Another range casualty only this one severe because of age. He may find himself flipping burgers with the AAA lot before the season ends or begins for that matter. Oh wait, last time I tried to put him at AAA he declined, so the waiver wire route is probably coming to a store near you.

Miguel Otanez has a few things going for him, he can play 3B well enough and bats left handed. Picked up late last season from the waiver wire and given a chance that just didn't help his stature.

Starting Pitching:
Harry Rodriguez pitched well last year and is ready for another good year.

Bobby Forbes pitched well last year but didn't get much in the way of offensive support.

Dean Boone had a good season and another one that got little offensive support at times.

Ubaldo Rijo was brought in to anchor the end of the rotation last year and what a wonderful job he did.  The Twins may be kicking themselves for not giving him a chance.

William Galloway is one of those players I keep my fingers crossed every time he is due up and seems to come through well enough.

Pen: Benny Calero was a 10 game winner out of the pen last year. Need him to do the same if we are going to repeat.

Trace Kennedy surprised us last season and we are hoping for more and better things this season.

Sherm Brock done a great job as a short guy and sometimes closer.

Ted Maxwell should be a rival to Ivan but he just doesn't get the job done as a stater or in long relief. Last year we moved him into the closer role at All-Star break where he was 20 for 21 in the save department. We are expecting a Fireman award winner from him this season.

Bernie Diaz is an emergency pitcher of sorts and is quite capable even with his anemic splits. Just gotta love his pitches with that control.

Birdie Osbourne and Billy Olson were call ups but don't expect them to be on the roster opening day.

Needing to find replacements for:

Cesar Perez who had his greatest season ever last year, but his health and diminished abilities makes him too big of a liability.

Tito Gao might have another season left in the tank but it won't be in New York.

Wayne Hampton is going to get his walking papers. Was in the the Met dog house for much of his early career but finally learned how to pitch as we didn't give up on him. Now, his terms are just not in our wheel house.
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After all that we can say we are going to look heavily into the FA market in the off-season. Possibly into a catcher or center fielder that might catch our eye. Definitely will be after pitching as we will need three or more.