During a season where they were without Matt Harvey and witnessed David Wright battle injuries all year, the New York Mets managed to scrape up 79 wins and finish second in the National League East division. They signed general manager Sandy Alderson to an extension and will return manager Terry Collins in 2015, so what's next?
New York Mets (79-83), 2nd in NL East
Heading into the offseason the Mets looked like they were one or two big moves away from making a serious push in the NL East division. They have serious competition with the Washington Nationals, who were the NL's top team in 2014 as well as the Miami Marlins, who just signed Giancarlo Stanton to a record 13-year contract and are working on extending their other young talent. The Phillies are in an all-out rebuilding mode and the Braves appear to be doing something similar to a lesser degree, so the Mets have a good opportunity to make a move in 2015. However, they sort have gotten off to a questionable start this offseason...
Let's take a look at their needs:
Outfielder: This was a need heading into the offseason and still perhaps is. I think they made the mistake of signing Michael Cuddyer to a two-year, $21 million contract, thus surrendering their first round draft pick (15th overall) in June to the Colorado Rockies. Cuddyer will be 36 years old next season and played in only 49 games last year, but was the NL batting champion in 2013. That was also when he was playing 81 games at the hitter-friendly Coors Field and he'll now head to the pitcher-friendly Citi Field. Not sure how this signing will pay off for New York, but they at least filled a need in right field.
Center fielder Juan Lagares had an impressive second season with the Mets. He won his first career Gold Glove award and slashed .281/.321/.382 with 46 runs, 47 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. But they're stuck with Curtis Granderson for the next three seasons, who is earning $16 million in 2015 and 2016 and $15 million in 2017. He batted .227/.326/.388 with 20 home runs and 66 RBIs, so unless he can keep his home run numbers where they are and increase his RBIs, he's clearly not going to be worth the money the Mets signed him for. The combination of Cuddyer and Granderson may not turn out well for New York, especially since there's no DH position in the NL. They might have been better off trading for any of the Los Angeles Dodgers outfielders (Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford or Andre Ethier), but it looks like their plan is set here for next season. There are a number of free-agent outfielders available, but there's no point in signing them now.
Shortstop: For some reason the team isn't viewing Wilmer Flores as a formidable option at shortstop. The 23-year-old played 78 games with the Mets in 2014 and slashed .251/.286/.378 with 28 runs, six home runs and 29 RBIs. He added a .979 fielding percentage at shortstop and also played 19 games at second base. He had two good seasons at Triple-A Las Vegas before he was called up to the roster, which is why it's puzzling as to why the Mets are exploring trade partners for a shortstop. They've been linked to the Colorado Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki and the Chicago Cubs' Starlin Castro, which would be great options. However, each of them will be very costly and the Mets will have to likely part ways with valuable prospects. Alexei Ramirez, Elvis Andrus and Didi Gregorious are also subject of trade talks within their organizations and would probably be better targets because they'll be much cheaper. New York also reportedly explored Phillies' shortstop Jimmy Rollins as an option, but he doesn't want to leave Philadelphia. Unless their plan is to send off Daniel Murphy in a trade for a shortstop and move Flores to second base, I'm really not sure what the Mets' plan is.
That's all I got for New York. Their starting rotation has the potential to be one of the best in the MLB if Matt Harvey can return to form next year, during which he would join NL Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler, Jonathon Niese and Bartolo Colon. The team also has Dillon Gee and prospect Noah Syndergaard they can add into the mix if anything were to occur. There are very few issues in the bullpen, which was ranked 8th in the MLB with a 3.14 ERA and 12th in opposing batting average (.237). They'll be getting Bobby Parnell back at some point during the first half of the season, so other than that they just need to work on winning games.
