![]() ![]() Two years is a long time in baseball, though, and a lot has changed with this group. The pitching core of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, and Jeurys Familia are still on the roster, as are outfielders Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes. There, we find many of the same names that led the Mets to the playoffs in 2015. With limited help coming from the development pipeline, the burden of bouncing back falls almost entirely on the major league roster. None of these players are likely stars, however, and that’s reflected in the low rankings of the Mets’ farm system across the industry. Tomas Nido and Chris Flexen were rushed to the majors and struggled in 2017, but both still could contribute. Peter Alonso has to show he can make contact in the upper minors, but he has a ton of power. Luis Guillorme could be the same, but he has more offensive questions to answer. Andres Gimenez projects as a useful middle infielder. David Peterson, the team’s first-round pick in 2017, could rise quickly and slot into the back half of a rotation. In terms of imminent major league impact, there are only a few names. Justin Dunn’s transition to starting has not been smooth, either, and he’s struggled with his own shoulder problems late in the season. Marcos Molina, David Humphreys, Thomas Szapucki, and Anthony Kay are all in various stages of Tommy John recovery, while Desmond Lindsay has struggled to stay on the field with multiple leg injuries. Like with the major league team, injuries have wreaked havoc on the system. The 2018 Mets have little in the way of reinforcements coming from their minor league system. If contention were in the cards, there would be a lot of work to do. This puts them at a crossroads entering the 2017-18 offseason, as they were set to return the same core, a year older and a year more expensive. They scraped their way into a Wild Card game loss against the Giants in 2016 and suffered a near team-wide collapse in 2017 largely due to injuries. Since nearly reaching the pinnacle of the sport in 2015, the Mets haven’t been able to duplicate that same level of excellence. ![]()
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