Crystal Ball on the Mets and Yanks

Photo Courtesy of mets360.com

Which NY club can claim their ‘Future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades’? (Hint: the choice of Pheatured Photo is not for nothing).

Matt Harvey by slgckgc on Flickr

Surprise, it’s the Mets and it’s not even close. As we stand today, yes things change but based on what you want in place for the future, the Mets have it.

Injured as they are, the Yanks have more talent in place than the Mets for this year…although their results may be no better than the Mets. The Yanks have the oldest roster in MLB as well as the toughest division to compete in. If their starting pitching doesn’t click on all cylinders or Small-Ball doesn’t work for them it could be a long summer.

The Mets are looking at a season of experimentation and waiting. Experimenting with outfielders to see if anyone can play and waiting for the young pitchers to mature (and the Santana contract to expire).

As for the future, what does every franchise covet? Young stud pitchers and a cornerstone franchise everyday player (or two). What do the Mets have? Well, they have two studly pitching prospects in Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler who both show all signs of being high-ceiling-type starting pitchers. Jonathan Niese is emerging as a solid middle-rotation guy with Dillon Gee a serviceable back-end guy. Noah Snydergaard has a big arm, could be the closer. These are all young guys.

Photo by Keith Allison

As for position players of course it starts with face-of-the-franchise David Wright. He might not be the infallible superstar that Met fans want him to be but he can hit, he’s a leader and he’s a Met at heart. I like Ike, I believe in Ike Davis. Ruben Tejeda can probably hit enough to be a good SS on a playoff club. I don’t know that David Murphy hits enough to justify his weak glove (he’s no Jeff Kent), they’ll need to find a 2B. It doesn’t appear that any current OF will be a long-term answer…they’re all 4th or 5th OF’s at best. But they do have a highly-rated catching prospect in Travis D’Arnaud. The Mets’ prospect list is truly superior to the Yanks’.

So the Mets have solid young players in some hard-to-fill slots…SP, C, SS and 3B. They have no Closer to speak of but the bullpen is something you can assemble when you get the rest in place.

Photo by Keith Allison

Now the Yanks’ future…all I can say is ‘Yikes’. Assuming they re-sign Cano (not a foregone conclusion), at 30 he’s about the only current Yankee  you could imagine featured on the next Pinstripe contender. Maybe CC Sabathia (32) if his body holds up. Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova look to be no more than back-end starters. As for prospects they have C Gary Sanchez and OF Tyler Austin…and that’s about it. Their most advanced pitching prospects, Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances, have become suspects with injuries and ineffectiveness. They desperately need Michael Pineda to get healthy and fulfill his potential.

The Yankee future is really pretty grim, the cupboard is bare. The only attraction is to get on the Bronx Goodbye Tour to see some guys who will be having their “Day” at Yankee Stadium before you know it.

Think about this: much of the rosy Mets outlook is a product of two trades…Carlos Beltran (for Wheeler) and R.A. Dickey (for D’Arnaud and Snydergaard). Big kudos there. Meanwhile how different would the Yanks look if they could have do-overs on the A-Rod re-signing and the Curtis Granderson trade (for Ian Kennedy, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke)?

Photo by Keith Allison

The Mets have their organizational dysfunction but in Sandy Alderson they have a solid executive who will be disciplined and stay the course. Eventually the question for Met fans is, will they have the wherewithal to keep the club intact and buy some needed pieces?

For the Yankees it feels like we’re heading into the wilderness of 1965 all over again. With the newfound mantra of ‘fiscal responsibility’ in place, reinforcements are not on the way. And to riff on Rick Pitino’s memorable line, ‘Ruth, Gehrig, and Joe D are not walking through that door’. Ironically while we’ve all been calling on the Wilpon’s to sell the Mets in hope of better fortunes…there’s more of a need for the Steinbrenner’s to sell out to a Dodger-type new ownership group (as I’ve speculated) in order to restore Mystique and Aura to the Bronx.

For Met fans, at last, time to dream…for Yankee fans, alas, time to dread.