Benjamin Grimm

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.) Final IPP thread of the year, unless somebody else starts one for a player that I skipped. I think that Eric Young will start the season as the Mets regular center fielder and leadoff hitter. (I'd rather see Juan Lagares get the job, but I don't think that will happen.) Eric Jr. will keep his starting role and leadoff spot as long as he steals bases and gets a bunt hit every once in a while. I don't think that will last throughout the season, but probably at least into July. By then, if the Mets are in the race, they'll find a way to improve their outfield if possible, and if they're not, they'll shake it up with an eye towards 2015. My guess is that Cesar Puello will displace one of the Youngs, whichever one is performing more poorly.

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.) I think I was the only one to pick Chris Young as the "key Met" for 2014. If he has a bounceback season for the Mets, hitting 30 or more homers, it will make a huge difference for the team. But I don't think he's going to do that. I'm going to say 15 homers, .220, traded by July 31 or benched in August. He'll be a one-year Met.

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.) Perhaps you've heard of David Wright. I can't help but be somewhat worried about his durability. I don't think he'll make it through the season without at least a short stint on the DL for some aches-and-pains type of issue. Hopefully nothing more than that. I'll say 130 games, 21 homers, .310, 85 rbi.

I guess I missed this, but he signed a five-year, $25 million deal with the Dodgers three weeks ago.

And Juan Samuel!

I suspect that teams would rather trade someone out of the division than within if all else is equal, but the main thing is to make the deal that brings the best return. Remember, Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter came to the Mets in trades from NL East teams.

That's what I've been doing!

Jon Heyman says that Baltimore and Tampa, along with the Mets, are all interested in trading for Nick Franklin.

That sounds about right. I think by September he'll be throwing off a mound, but I don't expect him to pitch in any games. (Maybe simulated games in St. Lucie.) But who knows? He may very well surprise us. Maybe he'll start the seventh game of the World Series.

Thanks! (Added Matt Harvey.)

Ceetar wrote: I predict 9/10 people that write about him by the end of the year will correctly use Zack instead of Zach. Oops! I had learned the correct spelling last season, but must have forgotten over the winter. I'll fix the thread title. Ceetar wrote: (are we doing a Harvey IPP?) I wasn't planning on it, since he's not likely to pitch, but you can start one if you like.

Added Torres, Walters, and Wheeler. I'll wrap this up tomorrow with my final three entries. If I end up skipping anyone who someone else deems worthy of a thread, feel free to go ahead and start it yourself. I won't be offended!

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.) The Mets seem to have more options this year, so Carlos Torres is a lot less likely to be called upon to be a starting pitcher. I could see him as a long reliever, like Tom Gorman or Pat Mahomes, but in this era of too-frequent pitching changes, relievers rarely go three or four innings, unless it's extra innings and the closer is being "saved" for "save situation". I think he'll be less reliable than he was in 2013. 40 games, 4.60 ERA.

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.) [crossout]Zach[/crossout] Zack Wheeler pitched 168 innings last year. I think this year they'll let him get to around 190, he'll be pulled after five or six innings in many of his early starts. 3.30 ERA, 10 wins. Hopefully he'll keep his pitch count lower than it often was last season.

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.) I know little about Jeff Walters, other than the following, which I had to look up: He's a 26-year-old right-handed reliever who had a 2.09 ERA in 53 games in Binghampton in 2013. He saved 38 games. 16 walks and 60 strikeouts in 56 innings. Kevin Burkhardt spoke highly of him on a Mets Hot Stove this offseason, and it seems like he may have a good shot at a spot in the Mets bullpen. (He's lasted longer in camp than Josh Edgin, anyway.) I'll say he makes the team, goes back-and-forth to Las Vegas a few times. (I almost typed "Tidewater." Boy, am I old!)

He'd also be a hero turning into a villain, when viewed from the South. I imagine that if Rollins were dealt to the Mets, the salary obligation would come along with him. I wouldn't be too surprised if he could be had for one decent prospect. (I have no idea which one, so I won't offer any specific names. I just have to hope that it's one who's destined to disappoint.) If Rollins goes, do the Phillies have a replacement for him? That would influence whether or not they'd have any interest at all in having Tejada as part of the package.

It's true; the only time you'd be able to see the Mets is when they're on a national telecast. (If you get an HD antenna you'd be able to pick up the games on WPIX, but that's probably not enough games to suit you.)

Well, that would probably make his injury a lot worse than mine was. If I recall, I was just limping for a few hours.

That happened to me once, at Joshua Tree Park in California. The spines of the cactus went through the sole of my sneaker and also through the sides. I had to sit down and pull each one out of my foot and out of my sneaker. I suppose that's one of the perils of training in Arizona. Better to train in Florida, where the worst thing you can step on is an alligator.

The 2012 numbers aren't bad either.

I really hope that Wilmer gets 500 at bats for the Mets this year (without the opportunity coming from an injury to Wright or Murphy). Right now there are two openings in the Mets infield. If he can hit in the majors like he's done in the minors, I'd like to see the Mets try to find a way to get him into one of those spots. Shortstop is one way. First base is another. Or he can play second and Murphy can play first.

And the bad teams must blow the saves more often than the good ones.

Added Satin, Syndergaard, and Tejada. I expect to be done adding new IPP threads by Friday. I'm sorry these posts are flooding the forum, but they seem to be getting pretty good participation.

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.) One word for Ruben Tejada: Flop! If he wins the starting shortstop job out of spring training (which seems unlikely) it will be by default and he won't keep it for long. He'll be replaced by Flores, or Quintanilla, or Tovar, or Seratelli, or someone not currently in the Mets organization. If he hasn't already played his last game as a Met, he'll have done so by July 1.

It was moderately popular last year, so we'll try it again this year. IPP stands for Individual Player Predictions. These will be threads where we share our expectations of how a player will perform in the current year. Feel free to make your predictions as specific or as vague as you like. (You can find a listing of the 2013 IPPs here.) The plan for Noah Syndergaard isn't hard to guess; he'll follow the precedent set by Matt Harvey in 2012 and Zach Wheeler in 2013. Start the season in AAA, come up after the "Super Two" deadline in late June or early July, and then pitch until he runs out of innings. I think he'll have 80 innings with the Mets, and a nice 3.20 ERA. I also suspect that the Mets will try to find a creative way to extend Noah as deep into the season as possible before he gets shut down, something they really didn't do with Harvey or Wheeler. Whether it's more days between starts, early removals from starts, stints in the bullpen, or a combination of all three options remains to be seen.