The Sporting News Outlook for the 1993 New York Mets

Below is scans from The Sporting News 1993 Baseball Yearbook previewing the 1993 season.  It’s not real positive.  There are even a lot of parallels you can draw to this year.  The Mets are hoping Dwight Gooden and Bret Saberhagen can fully recover from surgery and return to Cy Young form.  The Mets needed to cut payroll after having the highest one in MLB history in 1992 yet finishing 5th.  GM Al Harazin is hoping most of the 1992 failure was due to injury.

Other interesting tidbits:

It’s due or die time for Todd Hundley.  (Perhaps the same for 2012 Josh Thole?) The 1992 Mets trust Hundley’s defense, but are unsure if he’ll ever be a good hitter after hitting just .209 in his rookie year.

Harazin is still happy with the David Cone for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson trade.

The Mets depth in the minors includes Jeromy Burnitz, Brook Fordyce, and Bobby Jones.

The Mets bullpen, besides John Franco, will also feature Mike Draper, a Rule V pick they took from the Yankees.  Imagine how that’d go over these days?

The Mets open the season at Shea Stadium to play the newly minted Colorado Rockies.

Play Two, Win Two

Something you’ll hear a lot today:

“It’s hard to win both games of a doubleheader”

Don’t listen to them. This is just an excuse to temper expectations. The Mets can win both ends of the doubleheader today, if they pitch and hit the ball. Dickey on the mound for the first game with a healthy nail should be the starting point for a win. In my mind you never settle for a situation that includes losing, and accepting a split would be just that. If the Mets win the first game, should they just go home and concede the second? It’s hard to win both anyway right, so why burn out the pitchers? If you concede you solve the “Who pitches Friday?” problem as well, slotting in Capuano.

The Mets split the first doubleheader in Citi Field history on July 30th, 2009 against the Rockies. They swept the Rockies in a doubleheader on 8/19/04 in Colorado.

It’s still early and the Mets are still getting used to each other and the new leadership and the new season. Obviously you’d have preferred a rip-roaring start to this putrid mess of a homestand, but they’ve got a big series against the Braves this weekend and then six games at home against bad teams. Plenty of time to get the ship righted.

Upcoming Milestones:

Carlos Beltran is 1 double away from sole possession of 8th place on the Mets All-Time doubles list. He’s at 182 right now, tied with Cleon Jones.

Reyes, tied with Edgardo Alfonzo at 1136 hits for fourth in franchise history, needs 1 for sole possession. He’ll have a tough time catching up to #3, David Wright with 1163, but they’re both poised to pass Cleon Jones’ 1188 this summer.

MLB Playoff Predictions

Let’s talk MLB playoff predictions. My picks are probably slightly biased, but there is nothing wrong with that. Anything can happen.

NLDS:

Colorado Rockies vs. Philadelphia Phillies.

My pick is the Rockies. Probably in four games. The Phillies have shown at times this year that they are not that good a team. They haven’t been playing well lately. Lee hasn’t had a good September and Hamels hasn’t had a good year, period. Their bullpen is shaky. They won last year because their pitching got hot at the right time. I don’t see that happening this year. The Rockies have the Wild Card momentum thing going for them, and they can actually pitch pretty well, which is the best thing to have to face the Phillies.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

This is another case of a hot team facing a team that coasted in. The Dodgers are a good team, but I don’t think they have things clicking. I think the Cardinals, behind their pitching and their Pujols, take this series in four games. You can never rule out the Mannywood factor, but I think even if he has a good series, which he probably will, it won’t be enough.

ALDS:

Minnesota Twins vs. New York Yankees

This series is being billed as a mismatch, but I think there is too much Yankees love out there. We can talk all we want about being tired and worn out, but I bet the Twins wouldn’t describe themselves that way. I think game 163 even helps them, because they won’t have time to unwind and feel tired. They barely have enough time to get to the next game. I think the Twins take the series in four. I think age catches up to the Yankees offensively, I think the pitching won’t be up to task, especially Joba after how he’s been mishandled. The one thing to say is that if the Yankees can hold off the steamroller in game one and win it, I think the Twins could cave to exhaustion and collapse in three.

Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

This is a compelling series too, and I think the hardest one to pick. I think this series will go five, and be the best series. I’m giving the edge to the Red Sox, because I think they have an edge talent wise and that will shine through, but it’ll be close.

NLCS: Colorado Rockies vs. St. Louis Cardinals

I think this is where the Rockies magic wears off. I think they get destroyed, and swept, by the Cardinals.

ALCS: Boston Red Sox vs. Minnesota Twins

Similarly I think the Red Sox take care of the Twins in five.

World Series: Boston Red Sox vs. St. Louis Cardinals

I think this is going to be the best World Series in a long time. I think it’ll go to November 5th, all the way to game seven. The Red Sox will take it in the end, winning their third championship of the decade and establishing themselves as the dynasty of the early century.

So Long

Oh Look, the Phillies aren’t in the Playoffs. Did anyone not see this coming? Honestly I thought they may win a game just because they can occasionally hit the ball and no one pitches that well all the time, but apparently not. Good job further proving that the division title in the East was lost and not won.

Most people out there are saying the Mets would’ve lost too, and while that may be true, I don’t think they would’ve made as poor a showing as the Phillies. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter. Congratulations to the Rockies, and It’s hard to not feel good about a team winning it’s first postseason series, even if it wasn’t against top-quality opposition.

The Mets won just as many playoff games as the Phillies this year. Here’s to another 14 years of playoff drought for Philadelphia.