With spring training now in the books, it’s time to look ahead to the 2011 baseball season for the New York Mets, which will be a pivotal year for the franchise—both on and off the field.

Remember that there are serious issues with ownership that will be looming over this team the entire season.

Unfortunately, that’s only the beginning.

There will be plenty of other people with their previews and opinions on the season. While I have my own, I wanted to put out some thoughts in the form of bullet points to make it a little different.

  • With Jason Bay on the disabled list and Carlos Beltran probably not being at 100 percent for the entire season, throw in Angel Pagan and a potential back issue, you will need more than angels in the outfield. Biblical proportions will not begin to describe the trouble that the Mets will be in if these three guys are not healthy enough to give it a go. Injuries have a tendency to linger, especially on this team.
  • Jason Isringhausen staying in Port St. Lucie for extended spring training could be interpreted in a lot of ways. For now, I’ll take it for what it is—Izzy getting his elbow in shape, which the Mets will need desperately if the bullpen should falter in the early stages of the season.
  • I do have concerns about only one lefty in the pen with Blaine Boyer, but I’m willing to let it ride for the time being.
  • I’m not looking for a whole lot from Brad Emaus at second base right now. Not because I don’t like Emaus, but I don’t really know him. It’s just that he’s the biggest unknown right now in the starting eight for this team.
  • I do think that the power guys (Wright, Beltran, Davis, Bay) will put up their regular numbers, or at least close to it. I just don’t know if the Mets have the other guys around them to make it work for 162 games, in terms of a run at the NL wild card. It does help that Jose Reyes is playing for a contract.
  • These are just a few of the issues that the Mets will face going into the season. I haven’t talked about the competition in the NL East, although it may not be as tough as it looks. Let’s just hope that the Mets can keep pace and catch lightning in a bottle. If so, maybe Mets GM Sandy Alderson will be a miracle worker, after all.

 

Korbid Thompson can be found at the Extra Bases with Korbid Thompson blog, and also heard on the 2011 premiere of the New York Mets Audio Minute at Lexy.

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