Even though the kids are home from school, the shopping is mostly done and neighborhood lights are up, it still seems strange to me that Christmas is four days away. Seems like it was Thanksgiving just last week. Anyway, there’s one tradition sure to get me in the holiday mood. Move over child in the manger and guy in the sled with the reindeer – it’s time for my annual Christmas wishes for the Mets, where I give these guys what they really need.

Vic Black – Everyone complains about Wheeler’s inability to go seven innings or Mejia’s tendency to constantly put people on base yet Black’s 4.93 BB/9 goes unnoticed. Let’s give him the command to be a dominating eighth inning guy.

Bartolo Colon – In 2013, Colon was great in nearly every start. Last year he was very good in a majority of outings and lit up like, well, a Christmas tree in six or eight starts. So, he gets the ability to limit the blowout starts to one or two this year.

Michael Cuddyer – A better fate than last year’s free agent outfield signing.

Travis d’Arnaud – The concentration necessary to cut down on his passed balls.

Jacob deGrom – As dominating as he was down the stretch, somehow deGrom finished the year with a 23.2 LD%. Here’s hoping for a normal rate from him in the category this year.

Lucas Duda – Another year with 550+ PA.

Josh Edgin – A pitching coach/manager/GM/Owner (whoever is responsible) to let him be a real reliever and not a specialist.

Jeurys Familia – A pitch to throw to LHB, who posted an .821 OPS against him in 2014.

Wilmer Flores – A league average BABIP.

Dillon Gee – Continued success with his changeup, which might have been the most valuable pitch of any hurler on the staff last year.

Curtis Granderson – A quick start.

Matt Harvey – A drama-free season.

Juan Lagares – The green light to steal on a regular basis.

John Mayberry Jr. – A year against LHP like his dad had in 1975 versus all pitchers. Oh, and Happy Birthday!

Jenrry Mejia – The grace to handle a move from closer to set-up guy.

Rafael Montero – A catcher/pitching coach/manager (whoever is responsible) to call for pitches in a location besides low and outside.

Daniel Murphy – A double-digit walk rate.

Jon Niese – Every year there’s a pitcher or two on the team who doesn’t get run support. In 2014 that was Niese, who averaged 3.4 runs of support per nine innings, meaning he got less support while he was actually in the game. This year let’s give him some offensive backing. Perhaps people will consider him a better pitcher if he has the same peripherals but has a shiny won-loss record to go with them.

Bobby Parnell – A repeat of his 2013 numbers.

Anthony Recker – The chance to catch Harvey, which he didn’t get in 2013.

Ruben Tejada – The maturity to handle a part-time role and be happy and productive in it.

Carlos Torres – May he enjoy steady work without being abused.

Zack Wheeler – The ability to throw strike one much earlier in the count, say on the first pitch.

David Wright – The gene that allows him to tell management that he’s hurt or tired and needs some time off before an extended streak of sub-par play occurs.

*****

Sandy Alderson – A seven-figure book contract, so he can tell the truth (ha!) after he retires about how things really were in his tenure with the Mets.

Terry Collins – The ability to improve in just one area of the game, whether that be bullpen management, roster deployment, lineup construction, telling the GM to get his act together or 100 other things that drive us all crazy.

*****

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of the readers here at Mets360! I’m very happy that you come to our site on a daily basis. And I’d like to give an extra special thanks to loyal readers like Pete, Name, Metsense, Chris F, TexasGusCC, NormE, JC, James Preller and AJ, whose contributions add to the site and make us all better writers. And finally, thanks to all of the writers at the site. May you have a wondrous holiday season.

Share this: Email

Facebook

Print

Reddit

Twitter

More

Pinterest

LinkedIn



Tumblr

