A New Beginning for the Mets at Citi Field
The past three years have been devastating for the New York Mets. After being favored in an NL East Division that doesn't consist of many great opponents, the Mets managed to have a fatal collapse at the end of each of the past two seasons. These two downfalls came after a heartbreaking loss in the 2006 NLCS, where the Mets saw themselves a game away from the World Series. The past two seasons, when everything was on the line and the last game determined their future, the Mets have had no response and saw their playoff hopes dwindle down into nothing. Despite their recent failures at reaching the postseason, there are many reasons to believe in the 2009 Mets.
Approaching the off-season, the Mets had a large sum of questions to answer, and a long period of time to think over the events of the most recent season. The most important question needed to be answered led to the biggest off-season change that occurred within the organization, the bullpen. Last year, despite all other causes, the Mets bullpen was the team’s ultimate downfall. All year, the bullpen was the Achilles heel of the team, and when the team’s best reliever, not to mention their closer, Billy Wagner suffered an injury that ended his season, the late innings were bound to spell disaster. The Mets were third in the entire MLB with 29 blown saves, a staggering number, one that encompasses the inability to win. Knowing that they needed to revamp and remodel a complete dump of a bullpen, the Mets went to work with their checkbook and also swung a few trades.
In order to prevent himself from being the most hated man in all of New York, Mets General Manager, Omar Minaya, signed All-Star closer Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez to a three-year contract. Rodriguez is coming off the most dominant year of his career in which he broke the single season save record by recording 62 saves, while posting a terrific 2.24 ERA. After signing arguably the best closer in the game, Minaya went out and swung a three team trade with the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians where he brought in another phenomenal closer in J.J. Putz and a solid 7th inning reliever in Sean Green. Another component to this deal that appealed to fans of the orange and blue was the cutting loose of Joe Smith and more importantly, Aaron Heilman. Both Smith and Heilman were members of last years disastrous ‘pen, where Heilman was the unanimous winner for the most hated Met award. The aforementioned Putz had been off the charts in 2007, but injury prevented him from performing well last year. Now that he is healthy, Putz will join K-Rod in the bullpen and take over the role of setup man. The new 7th inning man, Sean Green, is a solid relief pitcher who posted an impressive 17 holds last season. The next and final significant bullpen move GM Omar Minaya made was trading away dreadful reliever Scott Schoweinweiss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Mets received an unproven reliever in Connor Robertson, but after this move, the major components of the most recent downfall had been rid of. Along with the previously mentioned players the Mets have subtracted from their bullpen, Luis Ayala and Duaner Sanchez, two other relief pitching duds have left the team since the off-season began.
Another important note on the Mets to-do list was to either find a new number two starter or renew one (Oliver Perez). After missing out on Derek Lowe and A.J. Burnett, the Mets settled for re-signing their number two guy from ’08. Oliver Perez. Going down the list, the Mets came to a point where as an organization, they needed to determine whether to stick with grossly overpaid second baseman Luis Castillo, or eat up his contract and sign free agent Orlando Hudson. As the winter wore on, the Mets announced that they would stick with Castillo, who has reportedly lost a good deal of weight and gotten himself back into formidable shape.
Although a dark cloud hung over the 2008 Mets season, there were some bright spots. Johan Santana’s first season in New York could not have been better. He finished with 16 wins and a 2.53 ERA, but easily would have surpassed the 20 win mark and won the NL Cy Young Award had it not been for the dismal bullpen. Rather than naming the obvious studs from the roster, two guys who came in and performed better than expected were starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey and left fielder Daniel Murphy. In his first full season in the majors last year, Pelfrey had an impressive 13 wins. Although his overall numbers were not All-Star caliber, the young man out of Wichita State proved himself to be dependable for a few stretches during the course of the season. Left fielder, Daniel Murphy was absolutely stunning in his first glimpse of the majors where he batted an outstanding .313 with 14 extra base hits in only 131 at bats. Murphy came up when room opened up in the outfield and he performed well despite having to deal with a position foreign to his normal location of second base.
As Opening Day of the 2009 MLB season approaches, the Mets have answered most of the big questions that developed during the conclusion of the ’08 season. With the moves that GM Omar Minaya has made, fans have to be feeling more confident in this years’ team. We can only imagine that having Manager Jerry Manuel, for the entire season should benefit the team, as his loose clubhouse presence and intelligence of the game should encourage the Mets to perform better than they managed under Willie Randolph. Now that Shea Stadium lies in small pieces, destined to become a parking lot, the new center of Mets baseball, Citi Field, stands tall aside the location the Mets once called home. With a new bullpen and stadium, hope is growing for the Mets organization. Finally, with “next year” looming awfully close, the New York Mets look ready for another season of baseball, and another chance to dethrone the now World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Everything that has occurred in recent years is now left behind in the past. Soon, Citi Field will open its gates and become the new home for a promising club that is hoping start the next chapter in its history on a high note.
