Faith of Falice in Flushing? New York Mets 2024 Season Preview.

By Philip Ehlers.
Coming into the 2024 baseball season, The New York Mets are one of the most fascinating teams in Major League Baseball. Just two seasons removed from a 101-win season, the Mets come into this season in a strange spot. In the Steve Cohen Era, the Mets have shown they have money and will spend money. However, during the disappointing 2023 season, the Mets shipped off high-profile players Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to rebuild the farm system. It was a puzzling move for some, with neither player on an expiring contract. These moves demonstrated a potential change in the Mets’ approach in the Steve Cohen Era. The Mets’ focus now seemed to be building a competent team today, with the future in mind still. This approach continued this offseason when David Sterns joined the Mets front office. The Mets also hired Carlos Mendoza to take over the managerial position. Mendoza was previously a bench coach with the Yankees. He also had a brief stint with the Mets in 1997 as a player. In free agency, the Mets did not sign a big-name free agent. Instead, they signed some lower-tier players with high upsides that can be incorporated into deadline deals to continue to build for the future. These moves place the Mets in a spot where they can compete for a wild card spot. However, they are no longer on the elite level of teams such as the Atlanta Braves or Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mets star power is still present with Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Kodai Senga, and Edwin Diaz. However, there are still questions surrounding the rest of the roster.

The Mets come into this season with many questions. Pitching is one of the big question marks for the Mets this season. Outside of Kodai Senga, no one is sure what the rest of the pitching staff will bring. The rest of the rotation includes Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, and Tylor Megill. These pitchers have all shown flashes of greatness but have also lacked consistency. Two of these pitchers must step up into legit 2nd and 3rd options if the Mets want any success this year. Next, the bullpen raises more questions come up. The biggest question is what will Edwin Diaz be this season. Two seasons ago, when the Mets had won 101 games, Diaz was the premier closer in the National League, if not the entire MLB. Last season, he suffered a torn patellar tendon and missed the entirety of the 2023 season. If Diaz regains his 2022 form, where he had 32 saves to go along with a 1.31 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and 17.1 SO9, the Mets will have a boost coming in to save games and secure wins they did not have last season. The rest of the bullpen will consist of Brooks Raley, Drew Smith, Adam Ottavino, and Shintaro Fujinami. These four guys will work to get the game to Diaz in the 9th in high-leverage
situations. These four will also get save opportunities when Diaz is unavailable.

Offensively, The Mets will feature star powers at the top with Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo. Those three will be the driving force behind the Mets’ offense again. What the Mets are looking for this year to push them back into the upper tier of teams is the young players to continue to develop and the veterans to play like they did in 2022. Leading the charge for the young players will be catcher Fransico Alverez and infielders Brett Baty and Mark Vientos. Alvarez is coming off a promising rookie campaign and has established himself as a top option offensively at the catcher position. Baty and Vientos have each shown promise and will compete for the third base and designated hitter spots in the lineup. Veterans will also regain their former glory this season to push the Mets from the middle of the pack back to the upper echelon of National League teams. These players include Jeff McNeil and Starling Marte. McNeil won the National League batting title two seasons ago and has consistently been a hitter that you expect to hit close to or above .300 and be on base for sluggers like Alonso and Lindor. Marte has shown the ability to be a well-rounded offensive player and needs to find that again. These two will be vital to the Mets proving the doubters wrong this season.

This Mets team will be different from past teams. Some recent Mets teams have relied on home runs and a higher-powered offense. Although that will still be something the Mets are looking for, they look to feature a more run-prevention style that David Sterns-led teams in Milwaukee featured. With this said, I expect the Mets to sneak into
the playoffs this season as a wild-card team with around 85 wins.