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New York Mets
Scouting Report
By the Numbers | Players To Watch | Projected Roster
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The best-fielding infield in baseball, led by shortstop
Ordoñez, could have Mets fans dreaming of 1969
again.
(Chuck
Solomon)
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Later, when
the instant books come out, detailing the heroics with
minute-by-minute accounts, it will be helpful to know who
said it first. Bob Murphy, the club's radio announcer since
1962, said it first. On Friday,
Feb. 27, 1998, at
12:18 p.m., at Port
St. Lucie, Fla., he compared the 1998 Mets with the 1969 World
Series-winning Mets, using these words: "What people
forget about the '69 Mets is that all through April, you
looked in the clubhouse, you saw a bunch of nobodies. There
was no magic associated
with the '69 team until after they won. This year you have a
roster filled with solid, dependable guys, without a single
marquee name among them. I think the club is poised to do
something
special."
Could he be correct? Sure he could. For starters, New York
is loaded with nobodies. When you meet the players on
Opening Day, you'll think you're attending a John Doe
convention. The Mets are trying to sell a baseball team
without
any
luminaries to New York
fans.
Over the winter the Mets did a magnificent imitation of a
team attempting to acquire name talent. November: That Gary
Sheffield would sure add punch to our lineup, eh? December:
What would we have to shell out to get that Gary Sheffield?
January: Nice
player, that Gary Sheffield, but way too rich for our
blood.
The guys who make the decisions, co-owner Fred Wilpon and
34-year-old general manager Steve Phillips in particular,
are plainly not ready to pull out all the stops, and you
can hardly blame them. Todd Hundley, the switch-hitting
catcher who had 71
homers over the last two seasons, is likely to miss at least the
first 70 games this year, recuperating from elbow surgery.
If Independence Day comes and Hundley looks about ready to
return to the lineup, and the team hasn't played itself out
of the wild-card
race, the Mets might actually do something—spend money,
part with promising talent—to import a proven starter or a
reliable slugger. The personnel game is a lot more
calculated than it was in '69, now that second place can be
worth
something.
Last year, bad news for the Mets came in unrelenting waves.
Righthander Paul Wilson was out all year with a shoulder
injury. Righthander Jason Isringhausen broke his hand
punching a garbage can. Lefthander Bill Pulsipher missed
the entire season with
elbow problems. Righthander Pete Harnisch was disabled by
depression until August. Outfielder Carl Everett was
accused of being an abusive father, charges later dropped,
though the Everetts still haven't regained custody of their
daughter, Shawna, 6. And
manager Bobby Valentine, inexplicably, picked a public fight
with Hundley over the catcher's sleeping habits. Phillips
says that had he known last April what was in store for his
club, he would have predicted a finish 30 games under .500.
Yet the collective effect of all this chaos was to make the
clubhouse peculiarly
... upbeat. Valentine used 131 different lineups, and the
Mets finished 88-74—their first season over .500 in seven
years.
This spring Valentine was apologetic for his team's lack of
star power. But what makes the team special, or potentially
special, is its lack of star power, and the manager knows
it. Valentine gets practically giddy when he runs down his
roster, knowing
that none of the names sparkle but anticipating better
results through good chemistry. "There are 18 guys on
this
team, you could put a check next to their name and say, 'Very
good major league
player,'" Valentine says. He's telling the
truth.
There are the problems. The Mets are slow. They have
limited power. They play in the same division as the
Braves. The farm system is not likely to produce anybody
who can make a major contribution this year. It's not hard
to make a case against them,
but there's no pleasure in
that.
The Mets are not telling anybody that
the magic is
back, that they're
amazin', that
you gotta
believe. There's no hype. They know you don't realize yet that the
infield of third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo, Gold Glove
shortstop Rey Ordoñez, second baseman Carlos Baerga
and first baseman John Olerud is the best-fielding infield
in baseball. They hope their
unheralded but effective starters will surprise a lot of
people. And they know their deep bullpen, led by John
Franco, will nail down a lot of wins. They're O.K. with
that. When you're playing for a wild-card spot, you want to
sneak in, anyhow. That's
the plan. Slip in when nobody's looking. Capture some hearts
along the
way.
—by Mark Bechtel
Scouting Report | By the Numbers | Players To Watch | Projected Roster
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