The Mets didn’t exactly set the world on fire last season, but their new general manager seems to believe that’ll be far from the case in 2019.
In 2018, New York missed the playoffs and finished fourth in the National League East for the second season, leading many to wonder if it would consider a rebuild. Instead, the Mets have gone out and gotten a variety of veterans in Edwin Diaz, Robinson Cano, Jeurys Familia and Wilson Ramos. So far they’ve held on to Noah Syndergaard, though his name has popped up in trade talks, and it appears Jacob deGrom isn’t going anywhere.
So what’s Brodie Van Wagenen’s outlook on next campaign?
“Internally, we would argue that we’re the favorites in the division right now,” Van Wagenen told SNY Network, via ESPN.
Bold.
The Mets have finished well behind the first-place team in the NL East the last two seasons, and only have avoided finishing last because the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins were dumpster fires in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Now, there’s no questioning some of the talent the Mets possess, but that didn’t seem to help them much last season. Because of that, they’ll be hinging their success on young players taking a step forward and the veterans actually panning out (which in some instances, like Ramos, simply means staying healthy). Even if they do up their game considerably, the Atlanta Braves proved to be a force last season, and the Phillies were very much the same way until flaming out down the stretch.
While the Mets winning the East next season certainly isn’t impossible, it’ll require enough of a turnaround that Van Wagenen’s take at the moment is a little hot.
