Nope its not Harvey or Wheeler, apparently its Niese?

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove12/story/_/id/8744909/james-shields-next-generation-hidden-aces-mlb

Don't have ESPN insider, but I was somewhat surprised to see that he was at the top of the list. Granted he did have a very solid year that went mostly unoticed due to Dickey's cy young season.

eh,idk about ACE.but he could easily be one. im gonna place my chip on wheeler though.

Of course it's Niese.

This is why all the Niese for __________ threads are humorous.

Well on his way to being an ace. Just in time to trade for prospects.

Personally I'd rather have the woman in your avatar pitch for the Mets.

Sure would increase attendance.

I always thought of Cliff Lee being Niese's ceiling. He can be really great if everything breaks right

Stephen Matz

I am hoping that Niese can just be a consistent starter that can slide in #3-4 of the rotation. I am not saying that because I dont want Niese to be better than a #3 starter, I am saying that because ideally I would want Wheeler and Harvey to also possess ace like stuff.

An ace means nothing if the rest if your rotation stinks or you cant hit the ball, we seen that in 2012. I am confident in our rotation even with the loss of Dickey. The future looks bright, we have 4 solid young starters that have loads of potential and we have a young catcher that has just as high a ceiling. These are the hardest chips to have on any team. Outfielders come and go and are easy to come by compared to good young pitching and a good hitting catcher.

Needs to win the Cy Young Award before they trade him

Good point. That how you net prospects and journeymen catchers!

Hopefully they are not one and the same.

Someone posted this from it:
"

Jonathon Niese, LHP, New York Mets
In addition to throwing with his left hand, Niese shares are a lot of similarities with a young James Shields. His average fastball velocity is around 90 mph, and to balance it out he leans heavily on his cut fastball while also working in his curve and change. And, like Shields early in his career, Niese has a problem with allowing home runs, which may be the only thing keeping from being a front-line starting pitcher. From 2010 to 2012, 11.7 percent of the fly balls hit off Niese have left the yard; of the 24 NL starters who have thrown 500 or more innings over the last three years, only Bronson Arroyo has a higher HR/FB rate, and he pitches in a much more hitter-friendly ballpark.

In K/BB ratio, Niese actually grades out ahead of guys like Anibal Sanchez and Johnny Cueto, but his propensity for giving up the long ball has kept his results from matching their numbers. If he can get his home run rate down -- and HR/FB rate is far less predictive than things like walk rate or strikeout rate -- then Niese could be in for a breakout season sooner rather than later.
"

Niese is a nice pitcher, who's getting better. He's the closest thing we have to an ace, but isn't and probably will never be more than a good #2. However, since the rest of our pitching stinks, we gotta hope he's more than he seems.

Look at our staff,

1- Niese. Really only an average #2, might be able to improve a bit to a good#2. Still, his
record for a very bad 2012 Met team with no hitting, bad defense, and the worst BP in
baseball was impressive. He might fool us all. We should trade him because he doesn't fit
on the 2013 Mets. He doesn't stink.

2-Santana. Was great, but injuries have killed him. His arm is attached by duct tape, and every
pitch could be his last. I expect him to breakdown again at some point during 2013. Till he
does, he's a 5 inning pitcher getting by on savvy and guile. He'll give you 5 good innings
75% of the time. Get shelled early 25% of the time.

3-Gee. Recovering from a serious medical condition that shut him down in 2012. Can he even
pitch in 2013? If he can, how effective can he be? He was nothing special to begin with.

4-Harvey. No, he's probably not winning 20 games, or even 15. Nobody knows what he'll do for
sure. Now that major league hitters have seen him, they'll adjust to what he's doing and
pound him. He'll need to adjust back. IF, he can, he'll be somewhere between decent and a
star. If he can't, he's just another failed prospect. My guess is he goes 8-15 with an ERA
around 4. That's if he does adjust and pitches well. With Duda,Murphy and Valdespin on
defense, the lack of hitting, and our putrid BP, expecting more is expecting a lot.

5- Mejia? Familia? Someone else? Mejia and Familia both stink. We have nobody else worth
spit. Unless we make a trade, we got a mess.

So, starting pitching is no longer a strength...except maybe by comparison, because we're even worse everywhere else.