If you could go back in time, and pick and choose your greatest Mets starting lineup, pitchers and bench from all the players in Mets history, who would you choose?
What years would you pick?
What would your lineup card look like?
There have been so many amazing individual seasons--it's tough to narrow down--also, when you look at the all-time Mets stats, it's amazing how much better our lefthanded pitchers have been over the years. We have several great righty's, Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden come to mind, but for individual outstanding seasons, the lefty's dominate.
The bench was difficult--you need speed, pinch hitting, and defense. There are several obvious omissions, but only so many slots. HoJo is my utility guy.
Overall I think this team would win about 125-130 games over a 162 game season and sweep the playoffs and World Series. Then again, we might lose 1 or 2 games in the playoffs with Benitez and Franco as the closers.
Here are my picks for the greatest Mets team ever:
The Starting Lineup:
Jose Reyes, SS, (2006 season), 122 Runs, 64 SB
Edgardo Alfonzo, 2B, (1999 season), 123 Runs, 122 RBIs, 125 OPS+
Carlos Beltran, CF, (2006 season), 41 HR, 116 RBI, 150 OPS+
David Wright, 3B, (2007 season), 113 Runs, .325 BA, 34 SB, 150 OPS+
Darryl Strawberrry, RF (1987 season), 39 HR, 104 RBI, 36 SB, 162 OPS+
Gary Carter, C, (1985 season), 32 HR, 100 RBI, 138 OPS+
John Olerud, 1B, (1998 season), 197 H, .354 BA, .447 OBP, 163 OPS+
Cleon Jones, LF, (1969 season), .340 BA, .422 OBP, 16 SB, 151 OPS+
The Bench:
Mike Piazza, C, (1999 season), 40 HR, 124 RBI, .303 BA, 134 OPS+
Keith Hernandez, 1B, (1984 season), 15 HR, 94 RBI, .311 BA, 143 OPS+
Lance Johnson, OF, (1996 season), 117 R, 227 H, 50 SB, .333 BA
Bernard Gilkey, OF, (1996 season), 108 R, 30 HR, 117 RBI, 155 OPS+
Howard Johnson, 3B/SS, (1989 season), 104 R, 36 HR, 101 RBI, 41 SB, 169 OPS+
Rusty Staub, PH, (1981 season), .317 BA, .398 OBP, 147 OPS+
The Starting Pitchers:
Tom Seaver, RHP, (1969 season), 25-7, 208 K, 165 ERA+
Dwight Gooden, RHP, (1985 season), 24-4, 268 K, 228 ERA+
Jerry Koosman, LHP, (1976 season), 21-10, 200 K, 1.09 WHIP
David Cone, RHP, (1988 season), 20-3, 213 K, 146 ERA+
Frank Viola, LHP, (1990 season), 20-12, 182 K, 141 ERA+
The Bullpen:
Jesse Orosco, LHP, (1983 season), 13-7, 17 SV, 247 ERA+
Armando Benitez, RHP, (1999 season), 4-3, 22 SV, 128 K in 78 IP, 240 ERA+
John Franco, LHP, (1996 season) 4-3, 28 SV, 219 ERA+
Pedro Martinez, RHP, (2005 season), 15-8, 208 Ks, 145 ERA+
Al Leiter, LHP, (1998 season), 17-6, 170 ERA+
Tug McGraw, LHP, (1971 season), 11-4, 200 ERA+
I'd absolutely want Gil Hodges managing this team with Davey Johnson as his bench coach.
For a look at the all-time Mets leaders, please click here.
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8 comments:
Fun idea! Good job
However, putting in Carter ahead of Piazza is a stretch at best
You're right--that was a tough call.
Ultimately it came down to Carter's defense and his ability to call a game.
No love for Ed Kranepool and Jerry Grote makes me sad :(
They'd be September callups for sure!
I agree that piazza gets nod over carter and I would take pedro over viola. pedro would have won more games if not for BP and he had that swagger.
BTW isn't it great to see that THREE starters on that team are on the current team?
Armando Benitez?
Look at Piazza's 2000 season instead... otherwise pretty solid list. Read the Hardball Times annual - Piazza was a pretty good game caller. Not good at throwing out baserunners, but Carter wasn't that much better (23% for Piazza, 35% for Carter). Maybe Leiter could find a spot in that rotation over Cone or Viola.
MT--hey Dude.
Yeah, trust me I was back and forth with Piazza and Carter.
In the end, I just weighted defense at catcher a tad higher and Gary got the nod.
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