Milestones Within Reach For Members of the 2019 Mets

We all want to reach a certain number when we set out to do things.  Some people want to walk 10,000 steps in a day.  Others want to consume no more than 2,000 calories on a daily basis.  And a select few want a minimum of five engagement rings in a lifetime.  (I may or may not be talking to you, J-Lo.)

Our obsession with hitting a round number is no different than a major league baseball player's quest to do the same thing.  The guys who will forever be known as members of the 2019 Mets are no exception, as several of the team's players could reach and - dare I say it - surpass various career milestones during the course of the season.

So which of the everyday players are going to reach a lofty numerical mark this season?  Is there a member of the I-work-once-every-five-days fraternity who will look at his Baseball Reference page and see a nice round number next to one of his cumulative stats?  And why does Jason Vargas look like he just attempted to rescue a struggling swimmer on the beach before he himself needed to be saved by the lifeguard on duty?  At least two of those questions will be answered below.  Enjoy!

Jason Vargas has nothing on David Hasselhoff or his hair stylist.  (Matt Ehalt/Twitter)

Attainable Individual Milestones (Position Players)

Michael Conforto:

• Needs 24 home runs to reach 100 for his career.
• Needs 150 hits to reach 500 lifetime base knocks.
• Needs 20 doubles to reach triple digits in that category.
• Needs to strike out less.  I mean, seriously, by the end of this season, he's going to be knocking on the door of the top ten whiffers in club history.  Make more contact, dude!

Robinson Canó:

• Needs 30 hits for 2,500 in his career.
• Needs 12 runs scored to reach 1,200.
• Needs 93 RBI to become one of baseball's all-time top 100 run producers.
• Needs to forget he's 36 and hit like he's 26.  Oh, and we're going to need him to play solid up-the-middle defense as well.  As the wise philosopher Bill Lumbergh once said, "That would be great".

Todd Frazier:

• Needs seven home runs to reach 200.
• Needs 93 hits to reach 1,000 for his career.
• Needs 69 strikeouts to also reach a grand.
• Needs to realize that no one is going to be lining up outside Citi Field two hours before the gates open to get his WWE bobblehead on Saturday, April 6.  Except maybe those fans who mistakenly think the Jacob deGrom Cy Young Award bobblehead is going to be given out that day instead of the following afternoon.

Brandon Nimmo:

• Needs 26 RBI to reach 100 in his brief career.
• Needs 81 walks for 200, a number attained by only three dozen Mets players.
• Needs to get hit by 23 pitches to match Lucas Duda atop the Mets' all-time leaderboard.
• Needs another solid year at the plate to become just the fifth player in Mets history to produce back-to-back seasons with a 5.0 oWAR or higher.  I'm not kidding.  Only Darryl Strawberry (1987-88), Edgardo Alfonzo (1999-2000), Mike Piazza (2000-01) and David Wright twice (2007-08, 2012-13) produced an offensive WAR of at least 5.0 in consecutive campaigns.  Hernandez, HoJo and Beltrán never did it.  I'm sure joining those franchise legends would finally give him a reason to smile.

Yoenis Céspedes:

• Wait, he's still on the team?

Pete Alonso:

• Needs 15 home runs to surpass the total Dominic Smith put up in parts of two seasons.
• Needs to be on the Opening Day roster.
• Needs to hit one up in the Budweiser Landing on May 25 since I'll be up there and I've never caught a home run ball (or foul ball for that matter) in the 700+ games I've attended in person.  Do it for this beleaguered blogger, Pete!

Do me a solid and hit one solidly on May 25, Pete!  (Photo by Gary Dunaier/Baseball Fever; Orange Text by Ed Leyro)

Attainable Individual Milestones (Pitchers)

Jacob deGrom:

• Needs 102⅓ innings pitched to reach 1,000 in his career. 
• Needs 173 strikeouts to move into the Mets' all-time top five in whiffs.
• Needs 12 wins to finally knock Steve Trachsel out of the team's top ten in that category.
• Needs to get a bigger wallet 'cause the man's about to get paid.  By someone.  Hopefully by the Mets.

Zack Wheeler:

• Needs five starts to reach 100.
• Needs 184 strikeouts to be knocking on the door of the team's top ten lifetime fan artists.
• Needs 163 innings to enter the Mets' all-time top 25, an impressive feat considering he missed two full seasons due to injuries and surgeries.
• Needs to read the last attainable individual milestone I mentioned for Jacob deGrom and react accordingly.  Especially if he continues to progress as he did last season and doesn't turn into another Matt Harvey.

Noah Syndergaard:

• Needs 14 starts for 100 in his career.
• Needs 256 strikeouts to become one of the Mets' all-time top ten whiffer snappers.
• Needs 13 wins to reach 50, which would match Mike Pelfrey's total with the Mets and would continue to prove that wins are a meaningless stat for pitchers.
• Needs to decide what he wants to do with his famously flowing locks.  Man bun?  Shaved on the side, longer in the back?  What's next, a spiky hairdo a la Poindexter in Revenge of the Nerds?

Poindexter's hair looks like it had a date with Thor's hammer.  (Revenge of the Nerds/20th Century Fox)

Steven Matz:

• Needs 29 starts to reach triple digits.
• Needs 137 strikeouts for 500 in his career.
• Needs his grandpa to come out to more games.  He's fun to watch.
• Needs to stop being so streaky and start being more consistent.  The Mets haven't had many great southpaw starters in their history and right now he's closer to being Jon Niese than he is to being Jon Matlack.

Jeurys Familia:

• Needs 60 appearances to enter the team's all-time top five in that category.
• Needs two saves whenever Edwin Díaz needs a rest to reach 125 as a Met.
• Needs 40 strikeouts to have more Ks than any Mets reliever not named John Franco, Tug McGraw, Jesse Orosco or Armando Benitez.
• Needs to once again come into games with "Danza Kuduro" playing as his entrance music just so I can continue to use the Tony Danza GIF on Twitter.

Edwin Díaz:

• Needs 41 saves for 150 in his career.
• Needs 99 strikeouts for 400 lifetime whiffs.
• Needs to reproduce his 7.3 K/BB ratio from last year.  No Mets reliever has ever had such a season.  (Addison Reed's 7.0 ratio in 2016 - 91 K, 13 BB - is tops for Mets relievers.)
• Needs 34 saves to enter the Mets' all-time top 15, which says pretty much all you need to know about how few great closers this team has had in their nearly 60-year history.  I mean, Braden Looper and Doug Sisk are currently in the top 15, while Díaz has yet to throw a regular season pitch for the team.  Enough said.

Jason Vargas:

• No, seriously, what's up with that hair and why is he still a member of the team?

Borrowing Tim Teufel's old glasses isn't going to fool us, Vargas!  (SNY screenshot)

The Magic Fortune Cookie Predicts the 2018 Mets Season

Your friendly neighborhood Metsies are coming off their first 90-plus loss campaign since the dark days of 2009, when Omar Minaya was employed by the team, David Wright had his first trip to the disabled list and Terry Collins wasn't in the dugout at Citi Field.  The 2018 squad looks to be quite different, except for the fact that Omar Minaya is back with the team, David Wright is setting up a residency on the D.L. and Terry Collins is no longer in the dugout at Citi Field.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

On a related note, this off-season saw Jay Bruce re-sign with the team after spending a few months in Keith Hernandez's favorite city, Cleveland.  The club also decided to bring back Jason Vargas to the fold, 11 years after he posted a 12.19 ERA in two starts for the Mets.  The team is crossing its fingers that his lifetime ERA in orange and blue will go down this season.  But we won't know the fortunes and misfortunes of either former and current Met until the season starts.  Or will we?

In the past, we employed a Magic 8-Ball to help us predict the upcoming campaign for the Mets.  But in protest of the Mets parting ways with its favorite target, Ray Ramirez, the Magic 8-Ball has decided to retire from its prognosticating post.  Fortunately, it didn't take long to find its replacement, mainly because only one applicant showed up for an interview.  Let's give a warm hand to our new teller of Mets fortunes...

Of course you do.  We went through an interview process.  I told you I'd ask you questions about the Mets' upcoming season and you'd give me something that resembles an answer.  If you wanted to add a little attitude to your responses to show off your personality, that was very much recommended, even if it meant insulting the team or me.

Thank you for being so supportive of the Mets and not the guy who pays your salary.  It's much appreciated.  Now let's move on to the first question.  After a year in which the team's pitchers posted a collective 5.01 ERA, do you think the Mets did enough to improve their pitching in 2018?

Already looking forward to going to my local liquor store for some.  Now what do you think of the upgrades at the corner infield positions, namely Adrian Gonzalez and Todd Frazier?  Are they going to remind us of Carlos Delgado and David Wright, circa 2006?  Or perhaps Robin Ventura and John Olerud from 1999?  Maybe they remind you of another corner infield duo.

You're talking about Willie Montañez (.234, 5 HR, 47 RBI in 109 games) and Richie Hebner (.268, 10 HR, 79 RBI and a John Rocker-like hatred of New York).  How is it that your memory goes back to the 1970s?  Just how long were you in that restaurant before you came out to be interviewed for this position?

Oy, vey.  Calgon, take me away!  Anyway, what do you think of the team potentially playing Wilmer Flores and Jose Reyes in the outfield?  Is that something that intrigues you?

Not exactly a vote of confidence for the two long-time infielders.  Is there any other position on the team you're not confident about heading into the season?

I see you're referring to the man who oversees the team's strength and conditioning program.  That's an interesting choice.  Speaking of strength and conditioning, now that Ray Ramirez is no longer able to be on the receiving end of boos during Opening Day introductions, who do you think will be subject to the wrath of Mets fans at Citi Field during the pre-game ceremonies?

Of course.  I should have known better than to ask that question.  After all, the Mets are playing the Cardinals on Opening Day.

Valid point.  Speaking of relievers, Mickey Callaway suggested that he might use a closer-by-committee approach.  Do you think this has a chance of working out for the team and the players involved?

Wow, you sound pretty confident about that.  Why do you think this move by the manager will fail?

Ah, so this is personal for you.  And why, pray tell, would any reliever on the 2004 Mets be a favorite of yours?

Wait, a former misused Mets reliever paid homage to a family of fortune cookies with his last name.  Okay, I have to know.  Which pitcher are you referring to?

I never claimed to be.  But I do know that Fortunato wasn't misused at all.  He was just "the other guy" who came to the Mets with Victor Zambrano in the much-maligned trade for former No. 1 overall draft pick Scott Kazmir.

Fair enough.  Now let's move on to my last question before I ask you to predict the team's final record in 2018.  Will Yoenis Céspedes ever stay on the field long enough to challenge the Mets' single season home run record?  He's averaged nearly 40 homers per 162 games played as a Met and the team record is 41 home runs, set by Todd Hundley in 1996 and matched by Carlos Beltrán ten years later.

So are you saying there's a chance we could potentially see home run history at Citi Field in 2018 as long as Céspedes shields himself from injuries?

Wait, what?  Okay, that's enough of that.  Just tell me what you think the Mets' final record will be and where they'll finish in the N.L. East.

Ya gotta love fortune cookies that stand up for those who stand up for them.  Even if said fortune cookies insult you by making off-color mom jokes.

And on that note, we'd like to thank the Magic Fortune Cookie, who did its best not to be just like the Magic 8-Ball used to be.  I didn't say the fortune cookie succeeded; I just said it did its best.  And if its predictions are on point, Mets fans can look forward to a season of high octane offense, Swarzak and Vargas coming through for the team and a healthy dose of boos for Yadier Molina.  Unless if Aaron Heilman makes a guest appearance at Citi Field.

Until next time, I hope you enjoy Opening Day and the upcoming season and please lay off the MSG; something I wish the Magic Fortune Cookie had done before I brought it in for the interview.

LET'S GO METS!!

Hey, kids!  Prior to this year's hiring of the Magic Fortune Cookie, it was the Magic 8-Ball that was making predictions for Studious Metsimus, doing its job every season since 2010, the year Jason Bay first soiled us with his presence.  To see what the Magic 8-Ball said prior to each of the previous eight seasons, please click on the links below:

2017 Magic 8-Ball Predictions
2016 Magic 8-Ball Predictions

2015 Magic 8-Ball Predictions
2014 Magic 8-Ball Predictions
2013 Magic 8-Ball Predictions

2012 Magic 8-Ball Predictions

2011 Magic 8-Ball Predictions

2010 Magic 8-Ball Predictions

D.J. DFA

I woke up this morning (no, those are the first five words of a blues song parody, although with the way the Mets' bullpen has been performing lately, my songwriting skills might be needed soon) and the following five letters kept scrolling in my head like an SNY sports ticker on a slow sports night:

DJDFA

Whatever could those letters mean, I asked myself?  There were several possibilities.  First, I thought DJDFA was the opening act for LMFAO on their tour.  Unfortunately, that was not the case, as LMFAO is currently not touring with another act, but they'd probably want to know who this DFA is, and if he was a good DJ.

Staying on the music front, I then considered the possibility of DJDFA being somehow related to the German industrial rock band, KMFDM, but then realized that the only reason why I was thinking of a German connection was because I had seen Hans and Simon Gruber way too much this week in repeated broadcasts of Die Hard and Die Hard with a Vengeance.

Maybe DJDFA stood for Don Johnson Doing Frankie Avalon.  After all, the man who made all thespians proud with his portrayal of Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice (and don't forget his turn in Nash Bridges) was also once a singer.  (Now that I think of it, did Johnson ever find that "Heartbeat" he was looking for?)  But no, Johnson isn't working on a album of Frankie Avalon covers.  In fact, he hasn't put out an album since 1997, when his record label put out an "Essential" Don Johnson greatest hits album.  (More like a "Greatest Hit" album, if you ask me.)

So what could DJDFA stand for?  Those aren't the initials of the obscure fan club (D.J. Dozier's Freakin' Amazing), mainly because that fan club never existed, although I think I remember Dozier hitting a walk-off grand slam in a spring training game for the Mets in the early '90s, which unfortunately did not turn into success in the regular season (Dozier hit .191 in 47 at-bats with the Mets in 1992, driving in two runs, or half the amount he had in one mighty spring training swing). 

I was about to give up guessing why those letters were taking up space in what passes for my brain.  Then I checked MetsBlog, saw one particular post, and knew immediately what the letters stood for.

DJDFA = D.J. Designated For Assignment

Unlucky No. 77.

Well, it's about frickin' time, Mr. Bigglesworth!  Over his final two games as a Met, Carrasco threw three pitches that sealed his fate:

• Pitch #1: Long home run by Rickie Weeks.  Prior to the home run, Weeks was hitting .153 (19-for-123) with 43 strikeouts.  If Ike Davis' woes can be contributed to Valley Fever, then Rickie Weeks had Valley Flu, which of course, was cured by one D.J. Carrasco meatball over the plate.

• Pitch #2: Ryan Braun gets plunked.  Intentional or not, Carrasco had no problem throwing the ball over the plate to Weeks, so why did he miss so badly on his first offering to Braun?  Carrasco got tossed from the game for his "efforts".

• Pitch #3: Deep goes Frazier!  Todd Frazier, he of the seven career home runs coming into the game, hit a monster shot off Carrasco to turn a one-run contest into a 6-3 deficit, a hole the Mets could not climb out of.  It was Frazier's second home run of the game.  Down goes Carrasco!

D.J. Carrasco signed a two-year deal with the Mets prior to the 2011 season.  Since becoming a Met, Carrasco has been awful.  He is the proud owner of a 6.11 ERA and 1.68 WHIP.  In 53 innings, opponents are hitting .338 against him and are reaching base at a .402 clip.  He has also hit seven batters, thrown four wild pitches and allowed nine home runs.

Needless to say, I can't say I'm upset to see him go.  Having him on the team was like hiring a pyromaniac to be a firefighter.

D.J. has been DFA.  Now GTFO and don't let the bullpen gate hit you on the way out.