It's kind of funny to me. All of this "we need help in the outfield" talk screams of people who haven't followed a lick of Mets history.

I remember 2000. What a team! Piazza, Alfonzo, Rey-O, Todd Zeile, Robin Ventura, Al Leiter, Mike Hampton!!!

Notice what position none of those guys play.

Now I'm NOT saying the 2013 Mets are a WS contending team (although you never know. See: early 90's Twins and Braves worst to first very young teams), but they do seem to building the new Mets in the very style that the late 90s Mets were built. Offensive pop at strange positions (Catcher), young starting rotation behind a grizzled veteran in Leiter (remember, Pulsipher started the season as a starter before he stunk and Reed replaced him).

I see the trades being made and the skeleton of a team being put into place and that skeleton looks strikingly similar to the winning formula that was put on the field in 99 and 2000.

We don't "need" outfield help. It can come in the way of good seasons from Kirk, Den Dekker, Valdespin, and any number of Benny Agbayani type surprises.

To sum up, I see the bones being formed. They are still brittle and will be cracked and re-healed a few times this season to strengthen them, but the structure is almost EXACTLY the same as a team we all hold in high regard in Metland. This is something all of us should recognize....and be happy with.

That said, who wants to trade for Matt Holliday?

BIG difference was the offense that we got from the infield and catching,the two teams can only be compared in that vein

what we got offensively from Murphy,Tejada,and Thole falls far short of what we got from Alfonzo and Piazza alone,those two guys were pretty close to driving in 200 runs as i recall

I understand where you are coming from but I don't want to depend on "surprise" seasons from our players. I also don't want to get estatic over the team making the post season two years in a row. I want to build a perennial contender

I understand where you are trying to go here, but there was more talent at 2 positions you listed than there is in our whole infield right now.

Piazza.
Alfonso.

It would take Wright and Ike to make Piazza
Then we still fall short with Murphy and Tejada compared to Alfonso.

Zeile
Ventura
Ordonez

We have Buck.

This skeleton is still in the closet.

Wright can put up a season equal to Piazza, Davis is able to put up at least a half season equivalent to Alfonzo, who knows what a full season of no Valley Fever and no recovery from injury will do?

My grandmother can outhit Rey-O.

Now we get to TDA...what will he become? He is one of the brittle bones of this similar skeleton.

Murphy = Zeile (unfortunately, his range at 2nd = Zeile too)

Once again, I am NOT...repeat....NOT saying this team is as good or will be as good as our beloved 2000 Mets, but the template is there. You can see it being built. You can see it coming. While any baseball fan in their right mind would like to see upgrades at any position whenever possible. Any baseball fan in their right mind with some education of the history of baseball knows it is not necessary for us to have All-Stars at every position in the outfield.

IMO, the pieces being put in place right now are signs that this organization is once again being developed in the right way.

But who can you even field in the OF Baxter, Newy, and Duda. They had better than those guys Agbayani, etc

>>Wright can put up a season equal to Piazza, Davis is able to put up at least a half season equivalent to Alfonzo, who knows what a full season of no Valley Fever and no recovery from injury will do?<<

There would be leftover stuff from the Ike David combo to spill over into the attempt to make the Edgardo combo, I'll give ya that. LOL, I feel like a mad scientist.

Ike has yet to do anything. He had a nice couple months one year, then again another year, he needs to show he is legit first.

Murphy isn't Zeile or Ventura. even if you add Tejada

Rey is the cherry on top.

But we are definitely taking steps in a direction, no doubt.

Lets hope for the best.

You only call Agbayani "good" in hindsight. I remember talking with Mets fans during that season and the ENTIRE 2 years of 2000 and 1999 it was "Benny who?"..."Jay F-ing Payton??!"

Fast forward to 2013

"Baxter who?" "Lucas F-ing Duda??!"

My point is basically I rather have Agbay and Payton over what they could trot out there right now. I saw the experiment last year didn't work. Duda's defense is suspect, hes a big lug, power was not really there. Baxter is a 4th OF at best good bench player. Captain Kirk is the only guy I would want out there honestly

"Agbayani's defense is suspect, hes a big lug, power was not really there. Payton is a 4th OF at best good bench player."

And that is what was being said in 1999.

haha point taken sir. I get where you are coming from

So you're saying Wright will put up .324 with 38 HR 113 RBI 58 BB and 69 K's. Those are Piazza's stats from 2000

Wright is capable of a similar offensive metric.....yes.

I remember 2000. What a team!

>>>> Only the Wildcard, lost to the Yanks and I hate to say it, but if they had come up against the Braves in the LCS instead of the Cards, they'd have lost that one too. "What a team" - lets strip the romanticism away, they were always the Braves b*tches in the biggest of games. Having a better OF than Benny (though he's one of my favorites) and Timo might've pushed us over the top.

it would be a mistake by Mets management to try to mold a team after the 1999/2000 Mets. They were an overachieving group who came back down to earth in 2001 and even more so in 2002. The idea should be to build a team with the ability to be a perennial winner. That's what Braves management did in the late 1980s by fashioning a team around top notch pitching. They then added more offensive pieces as the years went by and won a World Series in 1995 after losing out in two straight earlier in the decade. Even our beloved 1986 Championship squad wouldn't have won with just Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez and Mookie Wilson added to a bunch of no hit/good field players.

We have the makings of a good young starting staff. If D'Arnaud is as advertised, we have a much better infield/catching crew. We need an outfield, we need a bullpen and we need a lineup which fits together and better defense. If memory serves, those 1999/2000 teams played good defense. The team as presently constituted does not. Considering the talent the teams ahead of us have (some acquired in the past few weeks), I can't see a 2000 surprise occurring (of course, that's what makes a surprise a surprise). We can only hope the team continues to be built up intelligently. Now that Alderson has dealt with the catching situation, he needs to look at the outfield, the bullpen, team defense and balancing the line up (bonafied leadoff hitter, solid middle of the lineup, speed, power etc.).

I didn't say I saw a 2000 (or even 1999) surprise occurring either. I merely stated that we are building upon the same skeleton that the 1999 and 2000 teams were built around.

We need an outfield that can play defense. Offensive woes aside, Duda is not an outfielder

Neither was Agbayani.

Why are you so eager to build in the image of a team that ultimately failed to win either it's division or the world championship?

Because I like 94 win teams.