2009 New York Mets Odds & Predictions
It was bad enough the first time as Mets fans had to watch the Phillies surge past them down the home stretch to capture the 2007 NL East title. It was even worse in 2008 as the Phillies surged past the Mets again and this time really salted the wound with a World Series title. Can the Mets finally breakthrough in 2009? Jimmy Boyd breaks down their chances in this 2009 MLB betting preview. The New York Mets are listed at +850 to win the World Series.
Pitching
Johan Santana lived up to the hype and then some in 2008. The southpaw ace jumped leagues and made his presence felt by leading the NL in ERA (2.53). Santana was sensational down the home stretch, going 9-0 with a 2.09 ERA over his last 17 starts. In all, Mets starters ranked seventh in the bigs with an ERA of 3.98. Mike Pelfrey will follow Santana in the rotation. He won 13 games in his first full big league season and logged over 200 innings. John Maine’s season ended with a bone spur in his shoulder in August. He underwent arthroscopic surgery and is expected to be ready to go this season. Maine was 10-8 prior to his injury. Tim Redding comes over from the Nationals to find a spot in the starting rotation. He won 10 games with Washington last season but has never had a winning record as a starter. We are about to find out if it has been him or his team. Southpaw Jonathan Niese likely rounds out the top five.
The bullpen has been the one major problem for the Mets and they hope to have come up with a solution by signing closer Francisco Rodriguez, better known as K-Rod, who set a MLB record with 62 saves for the Halos last season. Oh yeah, and the Mets grabbed J.J. Putz from Seattle. He could emerge as one of the game’s most dangerous setup artists if he is satisfied in that role.
Lineup
Shortstop Jose Reyes is one of the game’s most deadly leadoff men. He led the NL in hits and triples in 2008 but his September slump proved detrimental to Mets as they went after the NL East title. Reyes also swiped 56 bases. Third baseman David Wright might just be the most complete player in the game. Wright hit .302 with 33 homeruns, 124 RBIs, 94 walks, and 15 steals. Oh yeah, and he won his second Gold Glove last season. The next Met that must be mentioned is center fielder Carlos Delgado. He captured his third straight Gold Glove in 2008, slugged 27 homeruns, 112 RBIs, and had 25 swipes. First baseman Carlos Delgado went on a second half tear to finish with 38 homeruns and 115 RBIs. Second baseman Luis Castillo, rightfielder Ryan Church, leftfielder Fernando Tatis, and catcher Brian Schneider will likely round out the order.
Prediction: 2nd NL East
The Mets are favored over the Phillies to take home the NL East title this season, but with the way they have choked down the stretch each of the last two seasons, I’m not yet ready to make that leap. With an improved bullpen, we should see the Mets in the postseason though, via the wild card. The New York Mets are listed at +120 to win the NL East.
Beat the baseball odds in 2009 with Jimmy Boyd’s expert MLB picks!
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Comments
5 Responses to “2009 New York Mets Odds & Predictions”
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rays had 10 loosing season. did anybody knew thy were gonna win the division last year. last 2 years are in the past. mets coming 2nd with a good bullpin is just stupid. they lost by 1 game with a bad bullpin
Looks like we got a die hard Met here. Look, I won’t be surprised at all if the Mets breakthrough and win the division this season. History tells us they choke down the stretch, and that has happened plenty of other times besides the past two seasons. Your bullpen point is a good one, but it’s not always easy to jump leagues and stay at your best. There’s no way K-Rod is as good this season as he was last, but for your sake, I hope he is. I have to go with recent history with my prediction until the Mets show me otherwise. Good Luck this season, and for the record, I’m a huge David Wright fan. Who isn’t, right?
David Wright has to start coming up in the clutch a little more. Yeah he has sensational numbers but if he’s going to be the leader of this team he has to start producing better numbers from inning 6 on. I agree with you with K-rod, it is very hard to make a jump from one league to another but if he does half of what he did last year he’ll still have 31 saves which with J.J. Putz and possibly Billy Wagner the second half of the year will be a lot better than Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis. I think it is going to be a break out year for the New York Mets, somewhere up there with 2006 and 1986. They definitely won’t win the division though by such great margins as they did those years with the defending World Champion Phillies and what I think is going to be a very tough Florida Marlins team.
P.S. I thought it was a very well written article with very good points.
Appreciate the kind words Marc. And you’re right, Putz is a capable closer. I just hope he can be happy as a setup man if K-Rod is mowing ‘em down again because I know he’d rather be getting the ball in the 9th. Yes, Wright has had some trouble producing late in games, much like the other big name slugger in NY (A-Rod), but he’s still young. Personally, I think the best thing he can do in those late game spots is just focus on getting base hits. He’s a star and has lots of pressure on him and sometimes I just think he tries to do too much. Hope your Mets have the breakout season you’re looking for, it certainly appears that they have all the pieces to do so as long as the injury bug stays away.