Mets All-TIme Team v.2012
Continuing the revamp of our All-Time teams, we look again at the Mets. 50 years old this very season, the Mets don't have as much of a rich history as the cross-town Yankees. For reference, the original team can be found here.
Historically, the Mets have had lots of great role players. In the late 60s and early 70s, there were guys like Tommie Agee and Ron Swoboda. Not stars in their own right, but great role players that contributed to the team's overall success. One such player that we left off the team was Ed Kranepool. The leader in hits, Kranepool played his entire career with the Mets. While we heavily favor guys that played the majority of the their career with the All Time team in question, he just couldn't crack our infield.
The middle 80s sported several players of this caliber the likes of Ray Knight, Tim Teufel, and Dave Magadan. Even the surprising turn of the century teams that made the post season had contributors like Benny Agbayani and Jay Payton who put together quality seasons. However, All-Time teams have to be comprised of guys that were better than above average contributors. There are certainly some valid arguments for guys that were left off the team. Here's the team...
C - Mike Piazza
1B - Keith Hernandez
2B - Wally Backman
SS - Jose Reyes
3B - David Wright
IF - Howard Johnson
OF - Cleon Jones
OF - Mookie Wilson
OF - Darryl Strawberry
OF - Carlos Beltran
SP - Tom Seaver
SP - Dwight Gooden
SP - Jerry Koosman
SP - Ron Darling
CL - John Franco
Catcher is the first debatable spot on this team. Passing up a Hall of Fame catcher like Gary Carter wasn't easy. We saw Piazza's offensive prowess as the overriding factor, however, no one would fault anyone that said Carter was the better pick. It was also tough leaving Edgardo Alfonzo off the team as he had a number of really solid years in the late 90s and early 00s. HoJo won out the final infield spot because of his versatility. He hit for power, played well enough defensively, and stole bases. He had 5 x 20/20 seasons and three of those were 30/30. The final two pitching spots went to Koosman, who is second all time in team wins and Darling, a mainstay of those great 80s teams. We thought long and hard about El Sid, Sid Fernandez, as his numbers are very similar to Darling with the added bonus of more strikeouts.
Historically, the Mets have had lots of great role players. In the late 60s and early 70s, there were guys like Tommie Agee and Ron Swoboda. Not stars in their own right, but great role players that contributed to the team's overall success. One such player that we left off the team was Ed Kranepool. The leader in hits, Kranepool played his entire career with the Mets. While we heavily favor guys that played the majority of the their career with the All Time team in question, he just couldn't crack our infield.
The middle 80s sported several players of this caliber the likes of Ray Knight, Tim Teufel, and Dave Magadan. Even the surprising turn of the century teams that made the post season had contributors like Benny Agbayani and Jay Payton who put together quality seasons. However, All-Time teams have to be comprised of guys that were better than above average contributors. There are certainly some valid arguments for guys that were left off the team. Here's the team...
C - Mike Piazza
1B - Keith Hernandez
2B - Wally Backman
SS - Jose Reyes
3B - David Wright
IF - Howard Johnson
OF - Cleon Jones
OF - Mookie Wilson
OF - Darryl Strawberry
OF - Carlos Beltran
SP - Tom Seaver
SP - Dwight Gooden
SP - Jerry Koosman
SP - Ron Darling
CL - John Franco
Catcher is the first debatable spot on this team. Passing up a Hall of Fame catcher like Gary Carter wasn't easy. We saw Piazza's offensive prowess as the overriding factor, however, no one would fault anyone that said Carter was the better pick. It was also tough leaving Edgardo Alfonzo off the team as he had a number of really solid years in the late 90s and early 00s. HoJo won out the final infield spot because of his versatility. He hit for power, played well enough defensively, and stole bases. He had 5 x 20/20 seasons and three of those were 30/30. The final two pitching spots went to Koosman, who is second all time in team wins and Darling, a mainstay of those great 80s teams. We thought long and hard about El Sid, Sid Fernandez, as his numbers are very similar to Darling with the added bonus of more strikeouts.
Other than being a surprisingly weak all time team, excepting their starting pitcher, it's amusing to note no Mets player has ever had more than 1500 hits and only three have topped 200 home runs.
ReplyDeleteHow about Edgardo Alfonzo at 2B? I like Al Leiter over Ron Darling.
ReplyDelete