2011 MLB season in review: New York Mets
Oh the poor New York Mets. If were not for Frank McCourt they might have the worse ownership group in all of baseball. Now they want to sell minority stakes in the team, ya spend millions of dollars for a vanity purchase and let these guys keep running the show whatever. They had a deal to sell a big chunk of this team but the people in the know, know the Mets are simply a bad investment.
For 2011 they went 77-85 and finished in fourth place in the National League East. It is not as bad as some may think as they did go 33-39 against the other four teams in their division. They were able to play even the best team in their division, the Philadelphia Phillies, tough. They went 7-11 against them this year. The bad news is they do not seem to be in a position to keep their own free agents and might get a lot worse before they get any better.
The Mets scored 718 runs on 1,477 hits. That hit total was second among the NL teams, and the team batting average was .264, which was also second. This is a team that can hit, SS Jose Reyes hit .337 and the Mets are already waving the white flag saying they will not be able to resign him. 3B David Wright hit .256 and if the Mets lose him they will have a ton of offense to replace. Since they only hit 108 home runs, just 13th best in the senior circuit, there is a legitimate argument that they could use a little more pop in the lineup. They did steal 130 bases, and play the NL style of the game very well. They drew the most walks with 571, and struck out the fourth least amount of times with 1,085.
That of course is the good news. The bad news is the pitching staff gave up 742 runs on 1,482 hits, which was the second most hits given up by a NL club, and the staff ERA was 4.19. That number was the fourth worst staff ERA in their league. While three of their starting five registered double digit wins, two of them also had double digit loses. The Mets struck out 1,126 batters and issued 514 walks. Both of those numbers were in the bottom half of there league.
There are no easy answers for the Mets. They have to get their ownership situation squared away before the on the field product can be improved. They will likely lose a ton of free agents, and we do not know if the current owners can afford to resign new ones. They are in a tough spot.
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