What Me Worry?

Or what is making you worry?

We are down to the final days of spring, the roster is just about complete and the drama all seems to have faded - at least whatever drama there was in this relatively sedate spring for the Mets.

So I've got a question now.

What is making you worry?

The bullpen has been restocked, Carlos Delgado still looks like he has the form of last year's second half run and even Luis Castillo has eased the need to boo.

So what is keeping you up at night? Not the economy please. But as long as you're up sweating the finances like everyone, what Mets thoughts are creeping into your head? What makes you wonder if the Mets can catch the Phillies?

Comments

[Azy]

Maine and Ollie

[MikeS]

The starting rotation is my sole worry. Outside of Santana there are a lot of question marks. Will Perez get his act together and pitch like he did the last part of 2008? Can John Maine and Mike Pelfrey stay healthy and build on their great potential. Will Livan Hernandez be the answer to the number 5 starter and if not, will he get bumped by Tim Redding once he is back from his shoulder issues?

The bullpen is improved, all signs are pointing the the offense being as good if not better then last year, we have some pop and experience off the bench, the only worries are the Old, Erratic and Untested.

[Steve Popper]

I think that's the way we're headed this year - those middle three starters might be the biggest question mark. With Livan on the back end, you know what you're getting - not great, but reliable.

But the good Ollie or bad Ollie? Who knows? Will Maine be the same after surgery? And can Pelfrey build on last season?

[LuAnn]

I'm worried about Perez and Maine. In order to win the division, we need them to win 15 games each. I am hoping they can pull it together and have a strong season.

[limetfan]

As above the middle of the rotation makes me nervous. Can the Big Pelf have another good year? Can Maine not over think himself. I am not a big fan ofTatis being only person that can belt one out on the bench.

[raincntry]

all starters after Johan.

[Genesis Does]

Omar's inability to get dependable role-players. It seems like all he likes are superstars and scrubs. Guys like Victorino and Werth arent great, but theyre miles ahead of the schneiders and castillos of the world.

Heres hoping Castillo bounces back, CHurch and Murphy can at least put up league average corner OF numbers, and our starting pitching doesnt collapse on itself.

[CharlieH]

Which Ollie shows up?

Only 1 lefty in the bullpen???

That's about it...I expect a solid year from both Pelfrey & Maine.

[Robert]

The rotation. I think we know what we're going to get from Santana and Hernandez. Everything in between is up in the air.

Pelfrey - Is Pelf going to give us the same stellar ~3.20 ERA he posted over his last 150 innings last year, or is he going to regress, and how much?

Maine - Does he have a feel for his pitches yet? And even if he does, we're going to need to see better than 5 IP with 1/3 of the pitches fouled off.

Perez - Ah, here's the tricky one. Forget whether or not he's matured, or whether we can get a decent year out of him. Is he even in shape? Perez had an abysmal 2006 in part because his conditioning suffered thanks to the WBC. Ollie's velocity is heavily dependent on his conditioning, and he pitched in the WBC again this year. Will he be effective before June?

Fingers crossed, and hoping for the best, as always.

[Goldglv17]

I am pumped about the Murphy-Era about to be ushered in, but will admit that putting too much pressure on him may cause him to falter this year, and expecting Tatis to pick up any slack if he does falter is unrealistic. We can't expect Fernando to be the unlikely star that he was last year.

And like exeryone else stated, I am very concerned about Ollie being content with his money and not show any progress this year.

[Jon]

What if Feliciano has issues, then we don't have any lefty in the pen

[Tom]

What makes me worry are the last 3 weeks of the season. I know we have a good enough team, barring injuries, to stand nose to nose with the Phillies, if not be better than them. If we play good enoug, we should get no less than a Wild Card.

What would worry me thought is a suprise team, like the Cardinals, dominating the Wild Card.

I'm not worried about Murphy. He looks very confident. I'm more concerned about Ryan Church. Hopefully, not healthy, but I'm concerned of whether he can produce or not. In the 6 hole, he has to.

Last season, Marty Noble said Carlos Delgado would make or break our line up, and he was right, because we ended up scoring the same amount of runs as the World Champs. This year, that's Castillo and Church. What also concerns me is John Maine's arm. Oliver Perez's consistency, and possibly becoming complacent with this new contract, could be a problem, but I think it's reasonable to expect good seasons out of them. Of course, the thought of Johan's elbow giving out worries us, but the Phillies deal with that with Cole, except worse.

What bothers me if the Mets cheapness. In early November, if Will Ohman said I'll sign for 1 year/2 million, the Mets would have thought he was smoking. We cut 1.4 million on Sanchez, yet are too cheap to sign him? With Ohman, we have as good a bullpen as the Phillies, if not better, which says a lot because it's what won them their title.

K-Rod vs Lidge - Even (but better for us, because no arm problems)

Putz vs Madson - Putz (closer's experience)

Ohman vs Romero - Even (but Romero's suspended until June)

Feliciano vs Eyre - Even (Eyre started off horribly, but Feliciano has plenty of room for improvement)

Durbin/Condrey/Park (or Happ) appears similar to Parnell/O'Day/Stokes too...

[Tom]

A reasonable expectation of Tatis is a decent right-handed bat off the bench, that can occasionally spare the corner OF or corner IF's. He's got the pressure of a hitting Nick Evans waiting behind him, so I believe he'll produce.

[Tom]

The reason why I said the last 3 weeks worry me the most, in the last 17 games though, is purely psychological.

The Mets were absolute cowards the last two mid-to-late Septembers. Much of this last season was due to the bullpen, like two big Ayala back-to-back blown saves in September, but losing like every game to the Braves in ATL is no excuse either. Also, we didn't always get the clutch hits we needed, and the clutch hits we did get were only from like 2 or 3 players (Delgado, Tatis, Murphy).

[Tom]

The thought of Brian Schneider hitting 7th isn't exactly warming either, but the Phillies don't have the best 7 or 8 hitters either, so we'll be alright. Inevitably Murphy's going to have to move up to the 2 role, because of his plate discipline and ability to set the table. I don't know what kind of pitches Castillo will see in the 8 hole, if this happens, but we'll see.

[Steve Popper]

I feel kind of guilty, Tom - you wrote more than I did today!

I appreciate the thoughts though and they are good ones. I think you're right - the market has just changed drastically (although the payoff for Duaner was just $275,000, not $1.4 million). I think that it may come back on them not to have another lefthander, but they seem convinced that with Putz and K-Rod, there is not the great need for situational lefties, or at least for more than one.

Jerry just announced tonight that Murphy will be in the two-hole as long as he succeeds against lefties and righthanders. I think that will be a plush - he'll hit well in that spot.

That 7-8 spot is troublesome. What the Mets are hoping is that Castillo will continue to take a lot of pitches, get on base somehow, and then use his speed with the pitcher behind him.

[Warren]

Besides the queston as to the middle 3 starters, I think Schneider and his knee are a huge question mark PLUS I cannot trust Castillo (despite his prior good stats) until I see him do it when it counts, because he looked truly washed up last season.

[Dave]

Worried that once again, Omar has failed to round out a roster with competent role players. Shudder at the though of Cora taking over the everyday 2B job when Gimps Castillo has to do a DL stint or two.