Mets Fans: Be Wary

I write about this, because Mets fans high off off-season acquisitions.  At first I believed in the hype.  It felt nice to have a big named closer for the Mets; however honestly, I think the Mets and the Yankees are not as good as perscribed.  The Mets have serious pitching and defensive problems, not to mention questions on offense.

Why There Was Such a Hype?
Acquiring Wagner, Lo Duca and Delgado were huge.  By doing so, they immediately covered three issues they had faced all 2005: closing out games, offensive production and stability.  Wagner is one of the most coveted arms in baseball, as he constantly throws 100 mph fastball, Lo Duca is a veteran catcher who also provides flexibility of playing OF and 1B and Delgado is the masher they really needed since Dave Kingman (37 HR but .204 BA in 1982).

The Mets sought out to improve their bullpen woes by also acquiring Jorge Julio, Duaner Sanchez, Steve Schmoll, Chad Bradford, and Yusaku Iriki.  Combined with possibly Heilman, Wagner and Heath Bell, they have a solid bullpen even if Julio falters.

However, there are problems.  The Mets, first and foremost made one of the worst deals this off-season by trading Kris Benson for John Maine and Jorge Julio.  Maine is a 24 year-old had-been prospect, which seemed to fall out of Orioles favor and Julio has fallen out of favor with the Orioles for years.  Julio signed to arbitration, will be one of the focal points of this bullpen to pitch in the 8th inning.  I don't think Maine has much potential, and Julio has control problems.  This gave Zambrano a spot in the rotation, and moves Aaron Heilman's role into flux, alongside Aley Soler.

Zambrano is an injury-plagued pitcher throughout his career who has problem commanding the strike zone and has velocity issues.  An athlete by trade, these issues are difficult to overcome the strong NL East hitting (sans the Washington Nationals).  Also, Pedro Martinez has an lingering injury--a toe injury which causes him pain while pitching.  Not to mention, you don't know what you are going to get out of Tom Glavine (age) and Steve Trachsel (inconsistent throughout career).

In the field defensively, there are still two glaring holes: second base and catcher.  If the season started today, Kaz Matsui or Anderson Hernandez is your starting 2B.  Hernandez is a rookie, with talent, but wasn't able to translate it in his September call-up.  Kaz Matsui has been the talk of trades.  Nobody wants to take on his contract, nor the issues of injury.  He's a big a bust as Sammy Sosa, Juan Gonzalez and Mike Lowell last season.  In addition, neither of these guys produce offensively or this season expected to.

At catcher Paul Lo Duca is an arm upgrade over Mike Piazza; however, I'm an upgrade at catcher over Mike Piazza.  More indepth however, Lo Duca has a propensity to break down throughout the season, as his stats become worse as the season progresses, both offensively and defensively.  The Dodgers and the Marlins used him at other positions throughout the season to keep his bat in the lineup, however, it didn't prove helpful.  For the Mets, he's unlikely to do so, unless he knows how to play second base.

The Mets have one issue with Delgado.  His ability to not make contact.  As a regular he has never had a season under 100 strikeouts.  They need to worry about maintaining health of Cliff Floyd, Carlos Beltran and whomever is to play RF (Victor Diaz, Xavier Nady, Endy Chavez?).

The last offensive issue is of the top of the lineup.  Jose Reyes as talented as he is, does not get on base enough.  The Mets have the worst BA from the 1 and 2 spots.  Carlos Beltran did hit well with RiSP, but it's hard to improve those stats when nobody is on-base.  The Mets don't have a soul speed guy past Reyes, although Beltran, Floyd and Wright can steal 10-20 bases a season (in Beltran's case 30).  Most importantly, if Jose can not get on base, the Mets can't get into the post-season.

But they'll challenge with the Braves and Phillies.  As Omar Minaya does, he puts out a competitive team; but is it really playoff or World Series calibur or building blocks; I have my doubts.