Big Apple Battle: Who’s Poised For A better 2016, Mets Or Yankees?

The Yankees bowed out meekly in the AL wildcard game while the Mets made it all the way to the World Series in 2015. Who is set up better to succeed in the coming season?

Yankees

The Yankees enjoyed productive seasons from Mark Teixeiria, Alex Rodriguez, Brian McCann, and a good second half from . Prized international signing Masahiro Tanaka pitched well in his first season back from an elbow injury many feared would lead to Tommy John surgery.  The bullpen was arguably the best regular season bullpen in baseball, with all-star Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller forming a formidable late inning combination. There are free agents available that would instantly put the Yankees on the same level as the incumbent AL East Champion Blue Jays (particularly if pitcher David Price leaves in free agency), but will Yankees management be willing to spend? With such a deep pool of free agents, it’s possible they’ll eschew their big money ways and look for relative bargains.

Things to Watch:

Veteran Performance:

Brian McCan will be 32. Mark Teixeiria will be 35. Carlos Beltran will be 38. Alex Rodriguez will be 40. The thump in the middle of the Yankee’s lineup is aging, and who knows how they will hold up. Even outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner, for whom speed is a major tool, are 32. If these players age well and their skill sets hold up, the Yankees will be a productive and formidable lineup. If not, things could go very, very badly.

Injuries, Injuries, Injuries

While Tanaka did pitch well this year, he also spent some time on the DL with forearm/wrist soreness and later a hamstring injury. The entire starting rotation dealt with injury in some form or another, and for pitchers, that’s a dangerous trend. Even the best bullpen will turn sour if overused, particularly early in the season. Mark Teixeiria spent the last month or so of the season on the DL, and probably should have gone there a lot earlier , so who knows how his leg will respond. How well does A-Rod’s body hold up after playing a full season last year? Only time will tell, but the Yankees can’t afford many of them missing significant time.

 

 

Prediction:

Yankees make shrewd moves in free agency and jump out to an AL East lead. But post All-Star Break injuries do them in, and the Yankees miss out on both the division crown and a playoff berth.

Mets

It’s going to be a tough offseason for Mets fans. The heartbreak of losing a World Series (especially when it looked like there would be at least one more game), the conciliatory afterglow as they reflect on a season that exceeded expectations, including a Division Crown and a deep post-season run. Then the uncertainty surrounding their free agents will begin to set in. Outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and Infielder Daniel Murphy, who carried the Mets offensively for much of the season and post-season, are free agents, and one or both are more than likely gone. The Mets will have some money to spend in free agency, but can they replace or hold onto that sort of pop in their lineup while competing with the big spenders of MLB? That’s a tall task.

Things to Watch:

Rock-Solid Rotation:

The Mets are absolutely stacked when it comes to starting pitching, with young power arms galore. Matt Harvey, Jacob DeGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz all look like rotation mainstays for the forseeable future. They also have pieces in Jonathan Niese and Zach Wheeler that can slot into the rotation as needed or be used as trade chips to acquire a bat or two. Whatever the case, the Mets look to have strong pitching that will keep them in most games.

Bye-Bye Bats:

Good thing the pitching is outstanding because they’ll need it, too. Before the arrival of Cespedes the Mets were a middling team, trailing the Washington Nationals and hanging on in the fringes of the wild card race. Now, it coincided with the return of third baseman David Murphy from injury and the thawing of first baseman Lucas Duda’s cold streak, as well as the arrival of infielder Juan Uribe and the call-up of outfielder Michael Conforto. Once the postseason rolled, it was second baseman Daniel Murphy’s turn, homering in seven straight games to send the Mets to the World Series. Here’s the bleak truth: chances are, both Cespedes and Murphy will be gone. And while the Mets may not be the truly light-hitting team they were in May-June of 2015, they may not have the offense that stormed their way through August and September.

Prediction:

Mets fail to replace the offensive firepower they lose in free agency, while division foe Washington Nationals finally play up to their talent level. They battle it out all year long with the Mets’ pitching finally faltering late in the year, as they settle for a wildcard berth.