The Fun Time of Year
Posted by Gregg Hopps
Remember the Christmas special, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas?" Remember the part when the Grinch and his dog Max are hanging over the cliff, the sled just barely keeping balance, and then the Grinch's heart grows 3 1/2 times it normal size? Last season as the injuries continued to mount, I became the Grinch, and yes my heart exploded. I began looking at other aspects of the Mets, such as the young kids, and took a joy in watching them play. Wondering what the future is going to hold for the Mets.
Well, the future is here, and there are a lot of fun story lines and competitions to look at.
Lets start at first base. Ike Davis so far has had a pretty good spring. There's no arguing that point. But that doesn't make him the number one first baseman, perhaps not even the number two guy. Daniel Murphy is the Rodney Dangerfield of this club, he gets no respect. Murphy is going to be the number one guy going into the season. Unless Murph cannot produce, I expect to see him at first pretty much all season. Even if Murph goes down, the Mets have both Tatis and Mike Jacobs. I may be wrong here, but I doubt we'll see much of Davis on the 2010 Mets.
Catching is interesting. The Mets have decided to go with two veteran catchers with Henry Blanco, and Rod Barajas. It's going to be interesting to see how the two veterans handle Mike Pelfrey when he goes through one of his meltdowns.
The biggest question, I think is when will Jose Reyes be able to play? I said it before, and I'll say it again: Jose Reyes is the most exciting baseball player in New York. The good news here is that Reyes thyroid condition is minor, and could be controlled by diet. All I know is the Mets need Reyes to get healthy.
The Gary Matthews Jr.-Angel Pagan situation in center field should be interesting too. I guess Pagan is the number one guy, with Matthews assuming the role as fourth outfielder. I really haven't seen Matthews play too much, but what I've seen so far I like. Competition is a good thing. Lets watch Matthews and Pagan battle for playing time.
As for pitching, the number 5 slot is up for grabs with Jon Niese apparently the font runner. If the starters are Johan, Pelf, Maine, Ollie and Niese, what happens to Figueroa and Nieve? I think the only sure guys in the bullpen are K-Rod, Feliciano and Green. It'll be fun to see who Jerry and Dan Warthen decide to bring up north.
After a very long wait, baseball 2010 is finally here, and slowly the questions are starting to be answered.







