Prologue

Everyone who knows me probably saw this headline and collectively rolled their eyes. I’d say a good 20% of my life is spent talking about the Mets, but considering today is Opening Day I thought it would be appropriate to rant about some things online.

For those who don’t know me well, the Mets are my team. You could probably tell as much because half the hats I wear on the podcast are orange and blue. But I wanted to reiterate the sentiment anyway. As much as I love the Giants and Auburn sports, the New York Metropolitans are my guys.

When we started Views from 400 back in September of last year the Mets were dead in the water. Matt pretty much had to dance on his own in terms of our MLB content (not that he didn’t enjoy it).

@views.from.400

THE #PHILLIES ARE MOVING ON AND MATT IS READY TO RUN THROUGH A WALL!!! #philly takes down the #braves in 4 and will take on the #diamondbacks in the NLCS

♬ original sound – Views From 400

That time has come to a close quicker than Matt Harvey’s bladder gives out. Now I get to talk about the Mets.

Looking back on 2023

I HATED watching the Mets last year. That’s not because they were bad, although they were, but simply because they were boring, old, tired, lifeless, and boring.

*I’m aware I said boring twice

I’m all for the “all business” approach to the game but for the love of chopped cheese, your highest paid player is a guy with the nickname “Mr. Smile” and the whole dugout was a constant state of emotionless garbage. Listen, you don’t have to revert back to the days the dugout in Queens was a pop-up crack den in the 80’s, but it doesn’t have to have the same vibe as an episode of the Handmaid’s Tale either.

Imagine my dismay when I read an article last season that third base coach Joey Cora told the only fun guy on the team, 20-year-old Francisco Alvarez, to calm down with the celebrations last season.

Joey. Your job is to do some light cardio and arm circles. If there’s one guy who should be having fun it’s you. Take that stick out of your ass and give it to Brett Baty so he can hit over .220 this year.

New York should no longer have a smiling problem. Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuna, Christian Scott, and the rest of the reinforcements are coming. Gilbert has been described as “playing with his hair on fire”. If the little Acuna is anything like his brother, he’ll be tons of fun. Christian Scott is a hard throwing pitcher. Joey Cora left after the Carlos Mendoza hire.

The starting lineup is young, the pitching staff is new, and the coaching staff is fresh. No longer are the Mets under the facist rule of boring veterans like Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and Tommy Pham. Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor run this team.

*and the trumpets are back 🙂

The offseason and the Pete Alonso Problem

After all that “gooshy gooshy” feel good stuff I do have one thing to say. If Steve Cohen and David Sterns don’t resign Pete Alonso after this season, the Mets are dead to me. Letting Degrom go was tragic but it made sense. Letting Pete leave would be a slap in the face.

That being said, David Sterns has made it clear he plans to upgrade the roster significantly after this season. You’d think priority number one would be resigning your best player. Then again, the Mets don’t always think.

Onto this offseason, I actually liked what the Mets did. I wish Steve Cohen anti’d up the money to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I wish J.D Martinez would have been signed a few weeks earlier so he didn’t have to start the season in snowy Syracuse (thanks Punxsutawney Phil… jackass). But I also like the fact the young guys are getting a shot.

The young prospects mentioned above should make their way to Flushing at some point this season. The guys currently in town (Alvarez, Baty, Megill, Stewart) should all get ample at bats/innings which hopefully leads them to prosper.

David Sterns, like Steve Cohen, grew up a Mets fan. I have full faith in the direction he is going to take this team. Just please build a ballpark with a roof. I’m sick of looking at tweets from @MetsWeather.

2024

I’m not one for honest predictions when it comes to the Mets (I will tweet about how they are going to win the World Series tomorrow morning). But I will go over what I HOPE happens in 2024.

Obviously I hope this pretty abysmal pitching rotation stays healthy. Rebound seasons from Luis Severino and Tylor Megill would be amazing and unexpected. I do like what Sean Manea did with his hair (he basically cut it off) so that’s a plus.

I might have to walk back this take, but the bullpen is actually the strength of the team as long as no super models throw out a first pitch at Citi this season Drew Smith should be back to normal. It’s crazy to think he’s the longest tenured Met on the roster. Him, Pete, and Jeff McNeil are actually the only three still left from when I was in college (which is kind of sad).

If the Mets make the postseason I’ll be happy. Anything north of that is icing on the cake. Personally I just can’t wait to see Brandon Nimmo sprint down to first base after a walk again.

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