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According to John Harper in the Daily News, ‘The Mets have major 
age-old issues, adding:
“I wouldn’t bet the ranch on this team. Age and some injury issues at the moment are significant enough to point to how a lot could go wrong, as has been the case too often for the Mets over the years.”
…seriously, though, isn’t this the case for most teams…doesn’t every team talk about spring-time confidence, etc, but then qualify it by adding, ‘As long as we stay healthy.’…i mean, yes, i’m concerned about the same things as harper, but what fan isn’t…
Harper continues on to list a variety of injury– and age-based talking points, many of which you could recite in your sleep, all directed at the “Fatalistic Mets fans.”
…i’m not saying harper is wrong…i actually think every single point he makes is valid…it’s just, i suspect every team, every writer and every fan think about this exact same story in regards to every team every spring…so, it’s the scope of his validity that i question…i mean, do the Mets have more to worry about than others…maybe…i don’t know…time will tell…but to frame it like the Mets are a walking emergency room, one banana-peel slip away from being a last-place team, is a bit much…
For what it’s worth, Aaron Heilman, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Johan Santana and Ryan Church all under 30 years old.
…and that’s the thing, unlike in year’s past, the Mets are not nearly as reliant on the older, more vulnerable player…which is maybe why harper’s column comes off as being a bit alarmist…
Matt, I know you were fond of saying “age is just a number” last year, but I’m wondering if you still really believe that.
I do agree that Harper has gone overboard, but he does make valid points, especially in regard to Alou, Delgado and El Duque. With Alou and El Duque, at least they will likely go on the DL and the Mets can get healthy and perhaps just-as-good replacements in there. What worries me about Delgado is that he may be bad for a long time yet because he’ll be healthy, he’ll stay in the lineup and represent dead weight in the middle of the order. Delgado definitely is my biggest worry this year. Bigger than Duaner. Bigger than Alou or El Duque.
Nice visual, lol.
I do believe that, but mostly in theory. I mean, yes, the older you are the more likely you are to pull a muscle. No doubt. But, my gripe is, it is often framed as a guarantee that younger people will stay healthy while older people will get hurt. Like it’s all unavoidable. That is what I disagree with.
This issue brings to mind the NY Giants and one of the ingredients that helped them win the superbowl. That ingredient is depth. It’s something that I think that this Mets team lacks to a certain extent. Omar, has not done a good job in this area and may have hurt the team’s depth with some of the offseason moves. The way it looks on paper right now, if almost ANY key player goes down for an expended period of time, this team is cooked. Yes, you can say that about any team, but this team is too old in key positions (1B, OF, Pitching) to not have sufficient depth to deal with injuries for at least a short period in any of these key areas. Even Castillo at 2B have question marks, both coming off surgery and all. I know Willie plans to rest guys more this year, which is all the more reason to have shored up the bench during the offseason.
i agree that the depth is a little low right now (but hey, we got Santana!)
however, while 1B and OF are certainly key spots, they are also fairly easy to get someone into as a S/T stop gap.
If Alou goes down, we have Damion Easley/Marlon Anderson/Endy. If Delgado goes down, we have Marlon Anderson. If Castillo goes down, we have Gotay. If El Duque goes down, we have Pelfrey. If Martinez goes down too.. we have Sosa. And we have some scrubs past that who might step up between now and a Sosa injury. We have serious depth in the bullpen. I’m pretty confident in our depth. The main problem I see, if any, is who replaces Castro and Schneider if they both go down.
yeah i mean to have 3 out of 5 starting pitchers under 30 is a tremendous acomplishment…and 2 out of 3 of your best hitters are 25 or younger and the other one is like 31…so the mets older player begin to become replaceable in the coming years…and while i feel they are a win now team…they’re also a team setup to contend for atleast the next 5 years as well.
Exactly. That’s the key. How reliant is a team on those older, more vulnerable players. In season’s past, I think the Mets may have been too dependent on those guys. Now, not so much.
Of course the Mets have issues. It’s starting to sound like we are guaranteeing a world series championship, or at least a run in the playoffs (if healthy, of course). I’m definitely not saying that. I will NEVER go into a season thinking or saying that we will get in easy, it just doesn’t happen that way. After the Yankees won the WS in 2000, they went out and got Mussina and everyone in baseball just assumed they would win it, doesn’t happen that way…
Baseball should be enjoyed one game at a time. To look
for a world series win before the first pitch is going against
the pace of the game itself. We’re going to have a very
entertaining team to watch this season, I’m not going to
try to rush October and miss the daily pleasure that this
game gives. For pete’s sake, some poster’s are already
looking ahead to what free agents will be available next year!
Only Alou and Duque are really old. Pedro and Delgado (at 36) aren’t young, but there are still pelnty of regulars doing fine at that age.
And Duque is your fifth starter, which for most teams is a revolving door wasteland.
I agree that they need a solid back up for Alou, since he is likely to miss time.
Delgado at this point is a worry (not if he will be on the filed, but how good will he be?)
But in the big scheme of things, the Mets are not an old team.
Say Duque goes down, and Pelf gets the spot. The rotation has a 29YO (28?), a 24 YO, 2-25/26 YO guys, and Pedro as the elder statesman at 35. Again, not old, and not injury prone.
And the mets are certainly not the only team that has guys that might get hurt.
Just play the seaon already.
Yes. And even with injuries, I’d rather have Pelfrey and Sosa as my 4 and 5 than the Phillies’ Moyer and Eaton. And talk about old, Moyer’s 45. If either of them gets injured their next option is our old friend Kris Benson.
Even though this piece gave me the shivers, i thought it was put together really well.
Speaking personally, it brings me down to earth a little bit on what the team is facing and might need to overcome. I’ve been so high since the Santana trade that i haven’t really taken an objectionable look at the team.
That being said, i think they’re still going to be tops.
Beltran, Chavez & Schneider aren’t much older than 30 if I recall, although most catchers age as quickly as dogs…
Whatever happened to the idea of the perfect blend of kids and veterans?? Isn’t that what everyone strives for??
I love the misconception in the media that the Mets are the only teams to have age and injuries on their roster. Each and every team has problems. You go out there, you minimize your risks by elminating any glaring weaknesses, you have a combo of youth and experience, you have several likely hall of famers in your lineup, you have almost and even split of Lefties and Righties in your lineup, rotation and bullpen.
But you know what? Someone always needs to complain. I’d love to see an analysis like this of teams who actually have glaring weaknesses.
This writer is a spoiled brat.
Exactly. And if you were to ask any manager of any MLB organization of which team had the most balance and most depth the Mets would be at the top of the list. I think we have a great balance of up and comers, young stars and veteran HOF’s who can still play. And our bench, consisting of Endy, Gotay, Anderson and Easley, is one of the best in the majors.
Every single team in the MLB has the same issues the Mets have, except most teams don’t have Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana, Carlos beltran, David Wright, Jose Reyes and a slew of other great players.
If having some bullpen issues and a few age issues at 2 or 3 spots is our biggest issue this year than paint me happy because we are ahead of the rest of the league.
Matt,
I disagree. While every team might have the attitude toward injuries you stated the Mets have a few unique factors:
1) They have several players who are key to their success that are older and/or injury prone (Alou, Pedro, Delgado, Castillo, Beltran, most of the bench)
2) They do not have depth in the minors to bring up a possible break out player to fill that gap. This has been the biggest achilles heal over the past few years that the fill-ins are mostly also rans or low ceiling prospects that didn’t pan out. Fernando Martinez is the only exception and I think he’s still too young to make an impact this year.
3) From a non-practical standpoint, they (and the fans) have their hopes pinned on a few big name players that, if they alone went down with an injury, would dampen everyone’s hopes. If any of Johan, Wright, or Reyes has a season ending injury or extended time on DL the perception of the fortunes of this team would change instantly. The Mets have not shown (because they haven’t really been w/o those players) how they can bounce back.
Thus, while there are other teams who might be in a similar position, I think this is more the exception then the rule amongst other teams.