Milestones Within Reach For Members of the 2018 Mets

Goals.  We all have them.  It's no different for baseball players.  In this era of advanced metrics, pitchers still enjoy reaching 20 wins.  Similarly, hitters set goals of batting .300, launching 30 homers or driving in 100 runs.  And a bench player's goal might involve finding a voodoo doll that bears a strong resemblance to the guy blocking his path to an everyday job.

Players who reach these single season goals on a regular basis will eventually hit some career milestones along the way.  The 2018 Mets have several players who could reach and surpass some important personal milestones during the upcoming season.

So which hitters in orange and blue are within striking distance of an individual mark?  Is there a Mets pitcher shooting for a nice round number on the back of his baseball card?  And why does Wilmer Flores have effigies of several Mets infielders hanging in his locker behind his Friends DVD box set?  At least two of those questions will be answered below.  Enjoy!

Attainable Individual Milestones (Position Players)

Asdrubal Cabrera is close to several milestones, leaving Jay Bruce to wonder how this is possible.  (Billy Hurst/AP)

Yoenis Céspedes:

• Needs five RBI to reach 500 for his career.
• Needs 35 HR to reach 100 as a Met.
• Needs to stay on the field to make opposing pitchers shake in their cleats.
• Needs to let me borrow five bucks.  I know he has it.

Asdrubal Cabrera:

• Needs 14 SB to reach 100 for his career.
• Needs eight runs and 70 RBI to reach 700 in both categories.
• Needs 12 strikeouts for 1,000 lifetime whiffs.  (Not every milestone is positive.)
• Needs to stop asking for a trade if the season doesn't go to his liking.

Jay Bruce:

• Needs 23 HR to reach 300 for his career.
• Needs 28 doubles to reach 300 as well.
• Needs to remember to pack his first baseman's glove since you know he'll be there eventually.

Jose Reyes:

• Needs nine hits to become the second player with 1,500 hits as a Met.
• Needs 25 doubles to reach 400 for his career.
• Needs to continue to mentor Amed Rosario and give him confidence in his abilities.
• Needs to not lead the team in games played like he did in 2017.  (Stupid injury-plagued team.)

David Wright:

• Needs 11 HR to become the Mets' all-time leaders in homers.
• Needs 30 RBI to reach 1,000 for his career.
• Needs one at-bat to have one more than anyone expects him to have this season.

Brandon Nimmo:

• Needs to smile more.  He takes his job way too seriously.

The look of a way-too-serious baseball player.  Or a fan of "The Terminator".  (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

Attainable Individual Milestones (Pitchers)

Jacob deGrom:

• Needs 108 strikeouts to move into ninth place on the Mets' all-time leaderboard.
• Needs 269 strikeouts to reach 1,000 for his career.
• Needs 22 wins to finally knock Steve Trachsel out of the team's top ten in career victories.

Noah Syndergaard:

• Needs 82 strikeouts to reach 500 for his career.
• Needs four homers to pass Dwight Gooden as the team's all-time leader in home runs by pitchers.
• Needs to reach 100 on the speed gun all the way into September.
• Needs to fight Mr. Met and start an online petition to ban the wave.  (He's Thor; he can multitask.)

Matt Harvey:

• Needs eight strikeouts to reach 600 for his career.
• Needs 30 starts to have the first 30-start season of his career.
• Needs to have two more wins than losses to pass the legendary Oliver Perez in lifetime winning percentage as a Met.

Zack Wheeler:

• Needs 148 strikeouts to reach 500 for his career.
• Needs 18 starts to reach that mark for the first time in four seasons.
• Needs to figure things out quickly in the minors if he wants to reach those goals this year.

Jeurys Familia:

• Needs two saves to pass Jesse Orosco into third place on the Mets' all-time leaderboard.
• Needs 33 appearances to enter the Mets' all-time top ten in games pitched.
• Needs to accept that someone else should take the ball in the ninth inning if the Mets play meaningful games in September.

Jerry Blevins:

• Needs to eat more.  (Just kidding, Jerry.  We love you just the way you are.  You be you!)

"Maybe I shouldn't have asked Wilmer for a Jason Vargas effigy." (Zack Wheeler photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Milestones Within Reach For Members of the 2017 Mets

Every year players set goals for themselves.  A hitter may want to bat .300 or hit 30 homers.  A pitcher could shoot for 20 wins or 200 strikeouts.  A bench player may try to find a voodoo doll that bears a strong resemblance to the guy who's blocking his path to an everyday job.

Reaching individual goals on a regular basis will eventually lead to players approaching certain milestones in their careers.  The Mets have no shortage of players who are set to reach some important milestones in 2017.  They even have a manager who's looking to make some history as well.

So which players are closest to making some personal history?  What huge number is the manager fast approaching?  And why does Wilmer Flores have an effigy of Neil Walker next to his Friends DVD box set?  At least two of those questions will be answered below.  Enjoy!

Attainable Individual Milestones (Position Players)

These guys need to do a lot of this in 2017.  (Kathy Willens/AP)

Jose Reyes:

• Needs 28 hits for 2,000 in his career.

• Needs 12 stolen bases to reach 500.

• Needs 11 homers to reach 100 as a Met.

• Needs 51 hits to pass Ed Kranepool into second place all-time in Mets history.

• Needs to play every day so that the Mets aren't just a one-dimensional homer-happy team.

Yoenis Céspedes:

• Needs 47 RBI for 500 in his career.

• Needs to score 94 runs to also make it to 500.

• Needs to stay on the field all year to make opposing pitchers shake in their cleats.

• Needs to loan me five bucks.  I know he has it.

Neil Walker:

• Needs 51 hits to reach 1,000 for his career.

• Needs 27 RBI for half of 1,000.

• Needs to continue to play the steady defense Daniel Murphy wasn't known for.

• Needs to make Mets fans forget that he's earning more money this year than Murphy.

Jay Bruce:

• Needs three homers to pass Ruben Tejada on the Mets' all-time leaderboard.

• Needs to raise his batting average by three points to have a higher average as a Met than Eric Campbell.

• Needs to produce in a way that'll make me stop comparing him to Tejada and Soup.

David Wright:

• Needs 11 homers to become the Mets' all-time home run leader.

• Needs 30 RBI to reach 1,000 for his career.

• Needs 51 runs scored to also make it to an even 1,000.

• Needs to slap me across the face and say...

                                                               

Attainable Individual Milestones (Pitchers)

Matt Harvey:

• Needs 190 strikeouts to enter the Mets' all-time top ten in Ks.

• Needs 18 starts to reach 100 for his career (and to have one more than he had all of last year).

• Needs to stay out of hospitals and stay on the field.

Jacob deGrom:

• Needs eight strikeouts for 500 in his career (and would also pass the legendary Nolan Ryan and the not-so-legendary Oliver Pérez on the team's career leaderboard).

• Needs 18 or 19 wins to pass relief pitchers Jesse Orosco, Tug McGraw and John Franco in victories.

• Needs at least 97 on the speed gun to make us forget last year's problems.

Noah Syndergaard:

• Needs 116 strikeouts for 500 lifetime Ks.

• Needs four homers to pass Dwight Gooden to become the No. 1 home-run hitting pitcher in team history.

• Needs to fight Mr. Met and start an online petition to ban the wave.  (He's Thor.  He can multitask.)

Jeurys Familia:

• Needs two saves to pass Billy Wagner into 4th place on the Mets' all-time leaderboard.

• Needs eight saves to knock Jesse Orosco down a spot as well.

• Needs to thank the baseball gods he only got a 15-game suspension and be super respectful of his wife for the rest of his life.  (Domestic violence is never okay.)

The Mets' starting rotation consists of a Dark Knight and two other Batmen.  (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

Attainable Individual Milestones (The Manager)

Terry Collins:

• Needs 75 wins for 1,000 in his career.

• Needs to avoid 75 losses so he doesn't reach 1,000 this year.

• Needs 56 wins to pass Bobby Valentine into second place all-time in Mets history.

• Needs 41 games to have been at the helm for more contests than any other Mets' skipper.

• Needs to make the playoffs to become the first Mets manager to lead his team to the postseason three times.

• Needs a plaque in the Mets Hall of Fame if he does that.

"A plaque in the Mets Hall Fame?  Don't make me laugh! ... Oh, wait.  You were serious?"  (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Broken News: Milestones Within Reach For Jose Reyes

Jose Reyes has experience at doing what he's not supposed to do.  Now we'll see if he's changed.  (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Welcome to yet another edition of Broken News, where someone else breaks the news and then we break some more.  Unless if you've been laying under a rock or beneath Bartolo Colon, you already know that the Mets have brought back Jose Reyes into the fold.  Obviously, his recent domestic violence issue is being discussed by anyone with an opinion.  That means all of us.

But that is not what we are intending to do with this blog post.  We'll leave that to people who know far more about the topic than we do.  Instead, we're going to stick to what we do best.  We're going to stuff numbers down your throat.  (Not to worry, some of them are tasty.  Some may even be gluten-free.)

When Jose Reyes left the final game of the 2011 season after dropping down a bunt in the first inning for the 1,300th hit of his career, we thought that would be it and he would never add to his numbers as a Met.  But once he ends his short stint in the minors, he will continue to make his way up the Mets' all-time offensive leader board.  He will also be approaching several career milestones.  Here is what he will be shooting for.

Mets Milestones Within Reach For Jose Reyes:

Reyes needs one triple to become the first Met to have 100 three-baggers.  Mookie Wilson is the only former Metropolitan who made it halfway to triple digit triples in his career, legging out 62.  Cleon Jones is third in Mets history with 45 three-base hits and he needed a dozen seasons to get there.

With 222 doubles as a Met, Reyes is currently fourth among all players who suited up for the team.  However, with four doubles, he would pass another former No. 7, Ed Kranepool, for third place.  Seven more two-baggers would put Reyes ahead of former teammate Daniel Murphy, who ended his Mets career with 228.  Reyes will probably have to settle to No. 2 all-time in doubles, as David Wright is well ahead of the pack with 390 two-base hits.

Jose Reyes currently sits at No. 3 in team history with 1,300 hits.  Since he is under contract through the 2017 season, it's reasonable to think that he will eventually pass Ed Kranepool at some point into second place.  Kranepool collected 1,418 hits in his Mets career.

During his first stint in New York, Reyes played in 1,050 games, good for 10th place on the club leader board.  Depending on when he is called up to the big leagues and how often Terry Collins decides to use him, Reyes could pass Edgardo Alfonzo (1,086 games), Darryl Strawberry (1,109 games) and Mookie Wilson (1,116 games) before the end of the 2016 season.  Playing time in 2017 for Reyes could cause Howard Johnson (1,201 games) and Jerry Grote (1,235 games) to move down a peg.

As a leadoff hitter, Reyes was supposed to get on base and score runs, but he was also quite adept at driving in his teammates when they were on base.  With 34 RBI, Reyes will pass Kevin McReynolds into 10th place in franchise history in runs batted in.  Reyes would need 46 RBI to move past Keith Hernandez into ninth place.

Career Milestones Within Reach For Jose Reyes:

Depending on when his second tour of duty with the Mets begins, Reyes has a chance to reach 2,000 career hits this season.  He currently stands at 1,906 hits, needing 94 safeties to reach the milestone.  Reyes just turned 33 a little over two weeks ago.  Only 81 players in history have reached 2,000 hits by their age-33 season.  Why is that important?  Because 23 of the 29 hitters who eventually made it to 3,000 hits had already reached 2,000 by their age-33 season.

Reyes needs 21 stolen bases to reach 500 for his career.  Should he make it this year, not only would he probably have more stolen bases than all of his new Mets teammates combined, but he'd be just the 24th player in the modern era (since 1901) to achieve that feat.

In the dead ball era (prior to 1930), triples were commonplace.  That's not the case anymore.  Reyes now has 117 career triples, making him one of the few modern players to surpass 100.  In fact, in the last 30 years, only the retired Steve Finley (124 triples) and the rarely-used Carl Crawford (123 triples) have legged out more three-base hits than Reyes.  Jose would need just eight triples to become the most prolific triples-hitter of the past three decades.

Unfortunately for him, Reyes might need more than triples to get fans back on his side.  (Getty Images)

Say what you will about Jose Reyes.  You may not like him as a person right now.  You may never like him the way you used to even if he helps the Mets reach great heights.  But what he accomplished on the field prior to what he did off it this past winter made him one of the most exciting players of our generation.

Boo the name on the back of his jersey.  Cheer the name on the front.  And bear witness to several franchise and career milestones that we never expected Reyes to approach in a Mets uniform.

 

Gary Sheffield's 500th HR Almost Didn't Come as a Met

So here I am alone on a lovely Sunday afternoon in New York while my wife is down with O.P.P.  (Other People's Pets.  She's a pet sitter and walker, you know.)  I have two choices.  I could take advantage and go outside to enjoy the comfortable 70° temperatures or I could stay inside our apartment pondering statistical data about a player who spent just one of his 22 seasons in the big leagues with the Mets.

Naturally, I decided on the latter option.

As you may or may not know, Gary Sheffield played 21 seasons in the major leagues before signing with the Mets just before the start of the 2009 campaign.  Sheffield, the nephew of Mets legend Dwight Gooden, entered his final season in the majors needing one home run to join the exclusive 500-HR club - a fraternity that guaranteed Hall of Fame induction prior to the steroid era.

It took Sheffield just six games into his Mets' tenure to club his 500th homer, as the bat-wagging slugger took Milwaukee reliever Mitch Stetter deep at Citi Field on April 17, 2009 - exactly seven years ago today.  A joyful Sheffield trotted around the bases and received an ovation only a New York crowd could give.  But Sheffield's landmark blast might not have occurred in the Big Apple had it not been for Mother Nature's interference just seven years earlier.

This reaction might have come in a Detroit Tigers uniform had Mother Nature not paid a visit to Shea Stadium in 2002.

In 2002, Sheffield was a member of the Atlanta Braves when the Mets' hated division rivals visited Shea Stadium for a four-game series in late June.  The Braves took two of the first three games in the series, with Sheffield providing the game-winning grand slam off Mets reliever Scott Strickland in the third game on June 26.  (That was career home run No. 327 for Sheffield, for those keeping score at home.)  The next night, Sheffield crushed a two-run homer in the first inning off Mets starter Pedro Astacio to give Atlanta an early lead.  But before the game became official, it was washed out by an early summer thunderstorm.  That wasn't the only thing that was washed out, as Sheffield's 328th career homer had to be removed from the record books as well, since the game was called before the conclusion of the fifth inning.

Because Sheffield lost a home run at Shea Stadium due to the elements in 2002, he came to New York as a member of the Mets in 2009 with 499 career homers rather than an even five hundred.  As a result, Sheffield made home run history as member of the Mets, just seven years after a home run he hit against the Mets was removed from the history books.

Today, Mother Nature is giving New Yorkers a taste of her sweetness.  But over a decade ago, she showed Gary Sheffield her other side - the side that washed out a potential home run that would have prevented him from making history in a Mets uniform.  And because of that side, I'm spending a lovely day inside my apartment sharing that story with you when I could be spending it outside with all the Gary Sheffield-loving Mets fans frolicking in Central Park.  (I'm sure there's more than one.)

It's a good thing I'm not as fickle as Mother Nature.
 

Milestones Within Reach For Members of the 2016 Mets

The Mets reached a meaningful milestone as a team in 2015, making the playoffs for the eighth time in the 54-year history of the club.  They won their sixth division title and fifth National League pennant before losing to the Kansas City Royals - who had won just their fourth American League pennant - in five games in the World Series.

A return to the playoffs in 2016, especially as a division champion, would give the Mets back-to-back postseason appearances for only the second time in franchise history and would also mark the first time the team reported for duty in October as winners of consecutive division titles.

But what about the individual players and the manager reaching milestones?  When put together as a cohesive unit in 2015, they achieved incredible things.  But as individuals, they could produce some wonderful moments of their own in 2016.  And because they're still the Mets, they could also reach milestones that they would rather sweep under Bartolo Colón's dinner table since no one ever looks there.  (What's on top of the table is the only thing of interest.)

So before you try to hatch a plan to see what's under the portly pitcher's table linens, please take time out to read the annual list of individual milestones (and some things that aren't really milestones) that are well within the reach of your favorite Mets.

Attainable Individual Milestones (Position Players)

Yoenis Céspedes should give a big hand to the team's offense in 2016.  (Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images)

David Wright:

• Needs 69 runs and 44 RBI to reach 1,000 in both categories for his career.
• Needs 17 homers to tie Darryl Strawberry for the all-time team lead.
• Needs 18 doubles to have 400 in his career.
• Needs seven stolen bases for 200 lifetime steals.
• Needs to reach all these milestones to give Mets fans faith in their captain.

Lucas Duda:

• Needs 17 homers to tie Ed Kranepool for 10th place in team history.
• Needs 18 homers to have more long balls than any lefty-swinging Mets hitter not named Darryl Strawberry.
• Needs 124 strikeouts to have more whiffs than all but three Mets (Wright, Strawberry, Howard Johnson).
• Needs to drop a bunt every now and then when opposing teams employ the shift.

Curtis Granderson:

• Needs 49 runs to reach 1,000 for his career.
• Needs 65 hits to be halfway to 3,000.
• Needs nine games in right field to become the first man since Strawberry to play 300 games in right for the Mets.
• Needs to repeat his 2015 campaign in 2016.

Yoenis Céspedes:

• Needs a 100-RBI campaign to become the first Met to do so since Wright in 2010.  (Céspedes had 105 RBI between Detroit and New York.)
• Needs a 100-run campaign to become the first Met to do so since Jose Reyes in 2011.  (Céspedes scored 101 runs between Detroit and New York.)
• Needs to do both (and play an adequate center field) to make Mets fans believe last year was not a flash in the pan.

Michael Conforto:

• Just keep that sweet swing.  That's all we need.

Attainable Individual Milestones (Pitchers)

Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom can never lop off their luscious locks.  (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)

Bartolo Colón:

• Needs 19⅓ innings pitched for 3,000 in his career.
• Needs 12 wins to have the third-most victories for a Latin-American pitcher.  (He would only be surpassed by Dennis Martínez (245) and Juan Marichal (243).)
• Needs 40 strikeouts to enter baseball's all-time top 50 in the category.  (Needs 57 Ks to pass Dwight Gooden.)
• Needs to win the Silver Slugger Award to make Mets fans and his wallet happy.

Matt Harvey:

• Needs 51 strikeouts for 500.
• Needs 151 strikeouts to become the 14th Met to reach 600 Ks.
• Needs 30 starts to achieve the first 30-start season of his career.
• Needs to jump in a DeLorean and erase the ninth inning of World Series Game Five from the current timeline.

Jacob deGrom:

• Needs 200 strikeouts to become the fourth Met with multiple 200-K seasons (joining Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden and David Cone).
• Needs two postseason wins to become the team's all-time leader in that category (passing Jerry Koosman, who won four playoff games).
• Needs to put a restraining order on scissors, making sure they're never within 100 feet of his hair.
• Needs to convince Noah Syndergaard to go with him the day he gets that restraining order.

Jeurys Familia:

• Needs nine saves to finally knock Braden Looper out of the team's all-time top ten.  (Seriously, Looper has been 10th in saves for over a decade.)
• Needs 38 saves to crack the team's all-time top five (behind only John Franco, Armando Benítez, Jesse Orosco and Billy Wagner).
• Needs to put those three blown saves in the World Series behind him.  (Let's just choose to remember the 0.61 ERA and 0.48 WHIP he had in the postseason instead.)

Attainable Individual Milestones (The Manager)

"I don't need to stinkin' comment on any stinkin' milestones.  I'm Terry Stinkin' Collins!"  (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)

Terry Collins:

• Needs six wins for 400 as Mets skipper.
• Needs a 92-win season to finally reach a .500 winning percentage as Mets manager.  (Barring any postponements, he'd be 486-486 if the team goes 92-70 in 2016.) 
• Needs 52 losses to have the most defeats by a manager in team history.  (Not exactly a milestone to shoot for.) 
• Needs to lead the team back to the World Series to become the only manager in franchise history to win multiple pennants.

Milestones Within Reach For Members of the 2015 Mets

The Mets lost their first eight Opening Day games from 1962 to 1969 before getting off to their first 1-0 start in 1970.  Since then, they have lost back-to-back Opening Day games just once in the last four and a half decades, dropping their season openers in 1999 and 2000.  And of course, New York made the playoffs in both of those campaigns.

The 2015 squad is trying to avoid becoming just the second Mets team to drop consecutive Opening Day affairs since those 1960s clubs.  That's a team mark no one on the current club wants, especially with hopes being so high for this year's club.  However, several players on the current squad can reach individual milestones that are mostly positive.  And of course, since these are the Mets we're talking about, there are some milestones that can potentially be reached that players would rather not discuss.

The time for dilly-dallying is done.  By the power of Scott Atchison's stubble, I give you the list of individual Mets milestones within reach (even if some players would rather I keep some of these milestones to myself).


Attainable Individual Milestones (Position Players)

Juan Lagares doesn't need anything but his Gold Glove.  (Getty Images)

David Wright:

• Needs 93 runs scored for 1,000 in his career.
• Needs 61 RBI to reach 1,000 as well.
• Needs 22 home runs to tie Darryl Strawberry for the franchise lead.
• Needs nine stolen bases for 200 lifetime steals.
• Needs 12 SB to be ahead of every Met not named Jose Reyes or Mookie Wilson.
• Needs a return to his non-injured self to validate his continued use in the No. 3 hole.

Daniel Murphy:

• Needs 173 hits for 1,000.  (Only nine Mets have reached that figure.)
• Needs 10 doubles for 200.
• Needs 36 doubles to become the second-most prolific Doubles Machine in team history.
• Needs to be careful what he says when asked for his opinion on certain "lifestyles".

Lucas Duda:

• Needs 26 home runs for 100.  (Just 11 Mets have reached triple digits in homers.)
• Needs 55 RBI for 300.
• Needs 136 strikeouts to enter the team's all-time top ten in whiffs.  (Boo.)
• Needs to string together two complete sentences in a post-game interview.

Curtis Granderson:

• Needs 13 home runs for 250.
• Needs seven blasts to pass Jason Bay for 65th place on the Mets' all-time home run list.
• Needs to make sure hitting coach Kevin Long never leaves his side.
• Needs to smile more.  (He doesn't do it nearly enough.)

Michael Cuddyer:

• Needs 13 homers for 200.
• Needs 76 hits to be halfway to 3,000.
• Needs to let Juan Lagares catch every fly ball hit in the left-center field gap.
• Needs to check out of the DL Hotel.  (He's been staying there way too often.)

Ruben Tejada:

• Needs to accept that Wilmer Flores isn't going to give him back his job at shortstop.

Attainable Individual Milestones (Pitchers)

Matt Harvey needs to pitch so he can make money to buy clothes again.  (Martin Schoeller/ESPN)

Bartolo Colon:

• Needs to pitch 214 innings for 3,000 in his career.
• Needs 166 strikeouts to enter baseball's all-time top 50.  (He'd pass Roy Halladay, Vida Blue, Jim Palmer and Lefty Grove along the way.)
• Needs to allow 20 home runs to become the 27th pitcher in history to allow 350.  (On the bright side, 14 of the other 26 pitchers are in the Hall of Fame.)
• Needs his batting helmet to continue flying off his head for a good belly laugh.

Jonathon Niese:

• Needs two strikeouts to pass Bobby Jones for 9th place on the Mets' all-time list.
• Needs 22 starts to enter the top ten in team history, displacing David Cone from 10th place.
• Needs 14 wins to tie Steve Trachsel for 10th place in Mets history.
• Needs to stay off the disabled list so the Mets can always have a lefty starter in the rotation.

Matt Harvey:

• Needs 27 starts to establish a new single-season career high.
• Needs 239 strikeouts to become the 22nd Mets pitcher to reach 500 career strikeouts.  (Hey, if Oliver Perez could strike out 239 batters in just 196 innings in 2004, why can't Harvey do the same?)
• Needs to give upper management the middle finger if they try to make him change his ways.

Bobby Parnell:

• Needs one appearance for 300 in his career.
• Needs 63 appearances to move into 6th place in club history, behind only John Franco, Pedro Feliciano, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jesse Orosco.
• Needs 51 strikeouts to become 7th pitcher in team history to record 300 whiffs as a reliever.
• Needs to give the team more than the one inning he pitched for them in 2014.

Jenrry Mejia:

• Needs 29 saves to crack the team's all-time top ten in career saves.
• Needs to pitch more 1-2-3 innings.  (He allowed at least one base runner in 28 of his last 40 appearances in 2014.  He allowed two or more base runners in half of those 40 outings.)
• Needs his new haircut to not get in the way of his game-ending stomp after each time the Mets put it in the books.

Attainable Individual Milestones

(People Who Have "Manager" In Their Title)

"You think I'm not going to win more games than I lose this year?  Don't make me laugh!"  (Jeff Roberson/AP)

Terry Collins:

• Needs 36 wins to pass Gil Hodges to become the third winningest manager in team history, behind only Davey Johnson and Bobby Valentine.  Seriously.
• Needs 76 losses to tie Joe Torre for second-most defeats for a Mets manager.  (Collins would pass Casey Stengel and Davey Johnson along the way.)
• Needs 39 games to pass Joe Torre for third place in games managed by a Mets skipper.
• Needs to wear his pants a little lower.  He looks like a modern day Steve Urkel.

Sandy Alderson:

• Needs a winning record to tie Frank Cashen by getting his team above .500 in his fifth season as the team's general manager.
• Needs to borrow a couple million bucks to bring in a top offensive player.
• Needs to stop posing with Mets teddy bears and start posing as a successful general manager.
• Needs to prepare for meaningful games in September for the first time as the Mets' GM.

This bear will be very happy if the Mets play meaningful games in September.  (Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus)

Milestones Within Reach for Members of the 2014 Mets

On Monday, the Mets will begin their 53rd season of play, looking to begin the season with a 1-0 record for the 35th time.  New York's .654 winning percentage in season-opening games is tops in the majors, ahead of the Baltimore Orioles, who are second with a .580 success rate on Opening Day.  (For the record, the Mets are 27-25 on Opening Day II, a dropoff from their won-loss record in Game 1s, but still not bad for a team that's nearly 400 games under .500 in all other games played.)

The Mets would like to continue their team success on Opening Day in 2014, and obviously would like that magic to spread to all other games throughout the season, unless if the Wilpons have been secretly replaced by Rachel Phelps, the "owner" of the Cleveland Indians in Major League.

While the team attempts to put big numbers up on the scoreboard and the win column, several of its players are also close to reaching significant individual milestones.  Some of the milestones will get honorable mentions on the Citi Field scoreboard and will cause the players who reached them to receive standing ovations.  Unfortunately, some other milestones will be embarrassing to the players and will cause them to send me direct messages asking me not to share those moments with their friends or loved ones.  To which I say, "Stop striking out so much, Ike, and I wouldn't have to write about you approaching the 500-strikeout plateau in well under 2,000 at-bats!"

But I digress.

Anyhoo, here are the milestones that your favorite Mets players should have no problem reaching at some point during the 2014 season.  And once those players reach those numbers, please feel free to share them on Twitter before anyone else gets a chance to do so.  That way your friends can either marvel at your Mets knowledge or call you the biggest geek they know.  Enjoy!

Attainable Individual Milestones (Position Players)

Ike Davis better not set any new club records for striking poses with his eyes closed after striking out.

David Wright:

• Needs 31 home runs to surpass Darryl Strawberry as the Mets' all-time leader.
• Needs 53 plate appearances and 263 at-bats to knock Ed Kranepool down to No. 2 in both categories.
• Needs 17 stolen bases for 200 and 19 steals to be ahead of every Met not named Jose Reyes or Mookie Wilson.
• Needs 1 hit-by-pitch to end Ron Hunt's four-decade reign as the team's top punching bag.

Daniel Murphy:

• Needs 11 home runs and 8 steals to become the 11th Met to attain 50 HR and 50 SB.
• Needs 18 doubles to enter the Mets' all-time top ten in that category.
• Needs to reach double digits in homers and steals to prove 2013 wasn't a fluke season.

Ike Davis:

• Needs 33 homers to reach 100 and to set a single-season career-high.
• Needs 19 doubles to reach 100 and to still be well behind Daniel Murphy and David Wright in two-baggers.
• Needs 89 strikeouts for 500 and just as many boos.
• Needs 1 good season to avoid being traded or demoted.

Curtis Granderson:

• Needs 20 runs scored for 800.
• Needs 1 double for 200.
• Needs 1 double to become the 11th MLB player in the last 50 years to reach 200 doubles, 80 triples and 200 homers.
• Needs 1 decent season to have a better Mets career than Jason Bay.

Ruben Tejada:

• Needs a whole lotta luck.

Attainable Individual Milestones (Pitchers)

Bartolo Colon almost fit within the borders of this photo.  Almost.

Jonathon Niese:

• Needs 7 wins for 50.
• Needs 97 strikeouts to enter the Mets' all-time top ten.
• Needs to stay off the disabled list, please.

Dillon Gee:

• Needs 19 starts for 100.
• Needs 130 strikeouts for 500.
• Needs to repeat his second half of 2013 and stretch it out for both halves of 2014.

Bartolo Colon:

• Needs 11 wins for 200.
• Needs 50 strikeouts for 2,000.
• Needs to turn Harvey Day into Día de Colon.
• Needs to stay as far away from Shake Shack during his bullpen sessions.

Zack Wheeler:

• Needs 6 wins to have more career victories than Matt Harvey.  (For that matter, Noah Syndergaard needs 13 victories to join Wheeler in that respect.)

Bobby Parnell:

• Needs 2 games for 300.
• Needs 14 saves for 50.
• Needs 22 saves to finally knock Braden Looper out of the Mets' all-time top ten saves leaders.
• Needs to not turn his neck whenever he gives up a long fly ball.  (It's probably not leaving the park anyway and he's still recovering from neck surgery.)

With just 22 saves in 2014, Bobby Parnell will cause Braden Looper to walk right out of the Mets' top ten.  Let's go Bobby!!

Milestones And The Mets Who Can Reach Them

As is common before the beginning of each season, many bloggers and reporters write about those Mets players who are approaching statistical milestones in their careers.  At Studious Metsimus, we enjoy our stats - sometimes a little too much - just like everyone else.  Therefore, we'd also like to contribute our list of players and personnel who are approaching career milestones.

But of course, this is Studious Metsimus, so why should you expect the typical milestones you can find anywhere else?  And why stop at just Mets players reaching milestones, when the entire Mets team is approaching a few milestones as well?

So sit back and enjoy.  And when one of the players (or the entire team) reaches a milestone, feel free to tweet about it before anyone else and watch as your dozens, hundreds or thousands of followers retweet you left and right or ask you if you got this from Studious Metsimus.  Claim ignorance if it's the latter.  That's what yours truly would do.


Individual Milestones Within Reach

David Wright won't wear a "C", but he does wear an "M" for Milestones.

David Wright:

• Needs 74 hits for 1,500 (or half of the magic 3,000 plateau)
• Needs 16 homers for 220 (would tie Mike Piazza for 2nd most in Mets history)
• An All-Star Game selection would be his 7th (would tie Darryl Strawberry and Piazza for 2nd most in club annals)
• Needs 1 sacrifice fly to knock Ed Kranepool off another perch (Wright and Kranepool are currently tied for the team lead with 58 sacrifice flies - tip of the Mets cap to Mark Simon for pointing this out, even if Kranepool himself would probably want this to stay on the down low)

Daniel Murphy:

• Needs 33 hits for 500 (nowhere near the magic 3,000 plateau)
• Needs 31 games for 500 (would become 41st Met to reach that mark)

Ike Davis:

• Needs 33 doubles for 100 (clearly he's still early in his career)
• Needs 42 homers for 100 (would also break the team's single-season HR record)

Ruben Tejada:

• Needs 1 homer for 3 (tying Rick Aguilera, Juan Samuel and Kelvin Chapman - and breaking a tie with Mike Nickeas)

Lucas Duda:

• Needs 8 runs for 100 (a total reached 19 times by a Met in a single season; this is Duda's fourth season in New York)
• Needs 1 strikeout for 200 (and a congratulatory boo from the Citi Field crowd)
• Needs 1 furniture mover to avoid another embarrassing off-season injury (duh!)

Terry Collins:

• Needs 24 wins to tie Casey Stengel for 9th most wins in team history
• Needs 53 wins to tie Jerry Manuel for 8th most wins in team history
• Needs 78 wins to tie Dallas Green for 7th most wins in team history
• Needs 109 wins and a World Series title to shut Greg Pomes up
• Needs 3 inches between his number and his his belt to stop dressing like Steve Urkel

Terry Collins prepares for "Family Matters Night" at Citi Field.

Bobby Parnell:

• Needs 44 saves to enter the Mets' all-time top ten in saves (and break Armando Benitez's single-season team record)
• Needs 5 saves to pass Anthony Young for most saves by a homegrown Met since 1990

Jonathon Niese:

• Needs 202 strikeouts to enter the Mets' all-time top ten in Ks
• Needs 23 strikeouts to match Nolan Ryan's totals as a Met (sigh...)
• Needs 16 starts and 12 wins to have more than Johan Santana had as a Met (double sigh...)

Johan Santana:

• Needs 1 start to make more starts than anyone expects him to make this year (triple sigh...)

"Oh, crap.  I'm missing another full season."

Team Milestones Within Reach

70,000 hits:

• Through 51 seasons, the Mets have collected 69,041 hits.  With 959 more hits, the Mets will reach the 70,000 mark.  The only years the Mets failed to reach 959 hits were in 1981 and 1994, both strike-shortened seasons.  As long as the Mets don't bring back Jason Bay, this milestone should be reached in late August or early September.  Plan your trip to Citi Field accordingly.

5,000 stolen bases:

• The Mets should have reached this milestone last year, but stole only 79 bases in 2012 - their lowest full-season total since 2003.  How much of a station-to-station team were the Mets in 2012?  They stole one more base than Jose Reyes stole by himself in 2007.  The Mets' non-pilfering tendencies caused the team to finish the 2012 season with 4,998 steals, leaving the team two thefts short of the magic 5,000 plateau.  They could reach that figure on Opening Day or it could take them an entire month.

50,000 strikeouts:

• If only this was 50,000 strikeouts by Mets pitchers.  But since the Mets traded all-time strikeout king Nolan Ryan before he became the Ryan Express, this 50,000 figure refers to the number of times Mets hitters have whiffed.  When the team strikes out for the 549th time this year (which should happen sometime in late June), they can thank several of their human windmills for helping this nightmare come true.  Without the likes of Dave Kingman, Jeromy Burnitz, Mo Vaughn and other futile flailers, this milestone would not have been possible by 2013.

The more Mo Vaughn struck out, the faster he could partake of the post-game spread.