Hop in, strap in tight -- I had to deactivate the airbags; you know, for the youngsters -- and let's take a quick ride in the Wayback Machine ... all the way back to 2008, when the New York Metropolitans won 89 games and finished just one game behind the Wild Card-winning Milwaukee Brewers.*
Spring Training 2011 Question Of The Day: New York Mets
Not so long ago, the Mets had three of the best players in the National League. All three are still Mets, but can they play like they played in 2008?
Here we are! And just look at those 2008 Mets!
At third base, there's David Wright, who absolutely crushes enemy hurlers. Scores 115 runs, drives in 124, and will collect a Gold Glove after the season.
Over at shortstop, there's Jose Reyes, widely considered one of the game's most dynamic players. Reyes leads off and steals 56 bases, but he's no spindly slap hitter; he'll finish the season with 72 extra-base hits.
And patrolling the central garden is Carlos Beltran, who falls just short of Wright's numbers and collects a Gold Glove of his own.
Wright, Reyes and Beltran will miss only six games all season. Which is to say, they’ll play in 474 of the possible 480 player-games.
Seen enough to think the Mets will be in good shape for some years to come? With both Wright and Reyes entering their prime years?
Okay, let’s hop back into the Wayback Machine, return to our own heady times, and avail ourselves of some super-modern, InterWeb-assisted analytical tools (and yes, 2008 was just so primitive) ...
According to FanGraphs, the Mets in 2008 featured the third-, seventh-, and eighth-most valuable players in the National League. I’m not nearly smart enough to figure out how rare that might be, so I’ll just say this: That must be pretty rare, to have three of the best eight or 10 players in the league.
And so we might excuse analysts who thought the Mets were due for better luck (or pitching) in 2009, and would dethrone the Phillies. Or grab the Wild Card, at least.
You don’t need a Wayback Machine to know that didn’t happen. After playing 474 games in 2008, those three fantastic Mets combined for 261 games in 2009 and 354 in 2010. And when they have played, they haven’t played as well as they did in 2008. Not nearly as well. Which is almost exactly how you go from consecutive 89-win seasons to 70-92 and 79-83 seasons.
The Mets aren't going to top the Phillies in 2011. There's a pretty good chance they won't top the Marlins (let alone the Braves). They don't have the pitching. What they do have is three players who were, not so long ago, among the very best on Earth. If Wright and Reyes and Beltran can stay in the lineup and play something like they played just three years ago, the Mets might at least be interesting.
And not a train-wreck Ponzi Scheme sort of interesting. A good interesting, the sort of interesting that might get New Yorkers and Long Islanders and West Chesterites excited about coming to the ballpark again.
Contending? That’s a goal for another season. Pitching, etc. This season, interesting would be good enough.
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