The Mets, fresh off a 74-88 season, are starting spring training with faint hopes of a great season.
For the second straight offseason, the team has lost one of its best players (R.A. Dickey) though this time around they received compensation in return in catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud. Here are the team’s biggest question marks headed into 2013.
1. Does the trade of Dickey mean the Mets are throwing in the towel for 2013?
That wasn’t the driving force behind the deal, but yes, the Mets realize that the team isn’t necessarily equipped to compete with the big boys this season and thus traded one of their most prized assets at the peak of his value.
The deal was really about taking advantage of a 38-year-old’s prime—or lack thereof. Dickey’s career curve is a wild one, coming into his own at such a late age. Despite the Cy Young season at 37, it’s not a great bet that he'll continue to be this great into his 40’s or even later 30’s.
Yet Dickey being a knuckle-baller, which usually translates to a longer yet not necessarily dominant shelf-life, made him attractive to the Blue Jays, which are clearly all-in for 2013.
The risk that d'Arnaud, who is just 23, will be a good player for years to come seems like a good one, considering the former first-round pick of the Phillies hit .333 in 67 games last season in the Pacific Coast League.
2. Who plays the outfield?
This is the long-anticipated question from the Mets following Jason Bay’s departure. Bay certainly wasn’t tearing it up, but he was physically in the outfield when not on the DL, making the outfield-starved Mets come up with someone to man left field, without making a free agency splash.
According to the team’s website, the outfield competition consists of Lucas Duda, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Collin Cowgill, Marlon Byrd, Mike Baxter, Andrew Brown and Jamie Hoffman ... yikes.
Duda, who just turned 27, looks like the biggest lock after hitting .292 in 100 games in 2011. Unfortunately in 2012, he slumped to .239. Nieuwenhuis may be next after hitting .252 in 91 games last season. The 35-year-old Byrd may be the most well-known of the group but hit just .210 last year between Boston and Chicago.
Barring a miracle, the strength of this team will not be in the outfield.
3. What can be expected from Johan Santana this season?
A fair amount of success, should the Mets monitor his pitch count.
Santana, who threw the Mets’ first-ever no-hitter last season, threw for the first time off a mound since last August on Sunday. The former two-time Cy Young award winner will turn 34 before the season starts and though he’s had a lot of success as a Met when healthy, his health he hasn’t been very great of late.
