The Future

There is a greater sense of optimism around the New York Mets over the past few weeks than I can remember at any point in the last few years.

Matt Harvey looks like an ace. Zack Wheeler is living up to his promise, even though he’s having some growing pains. Jenrry Mejia has resurfaced after being all but forgotten and is reminding us why we were excited about him in 2010.

If Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada didn’t manage to live up to our expectations, Juan Lagares, Eric Young Jr. and Josh Satin have surpassed them. Even Wilmer Flores, who must hold some kind of record for most years as a “prospect,” has finally arrived to the party at the ripe old age of 22.

And there are more talented young players on the way. On Sunday, I got to see Noah Syndergaard combine with two relievers to shut out the Harrisburg Senators. My friends and I had great seats in the first row behind home plate – Syndergaard looked every bit as impressive as his stat line would suggest. His catcher, Travis d’Arnaud, will be joining the New York Mets in September, if not sooner.

If Sandy Alderson is able to re-invest the money from expiring contracts into the team, the Mets could legitimately be a contender next year. Our patience may finally be rewarded.

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As you may have noticed, this blog has not been particularly active over the last month. That’s probably not going to change much in the near future for a variety of reasons, unfortunately. I hope to re-launch Paul’s Random Baseball Stuff at some point this winter and get back to a more regular posting schedule, but I won’t make any promises.

In the meantime, I’m more active on Twitter (it’s much easier to find a moment to write 140 characters or less than a full blog post) and you can see my photos on Flickr.

And if anyone is interested in contributing, whether it’s one guest post or a more long-term basis, email me at PaulsRandomStuff@verizon.net. My url is “randombaseballstuff.com” and I think I might be ready to drop my name from the title. 🙂