Reese Kaplan -- A Fresh Start With Familiar Hopes and Problems

With the first pitch being thrown the 2022 baseball season has finally begun and the frustrating, hostile and egotistical period of the lockout is all but forgotten.  The game has made concessions to what has happened, from expanding the size of the roster temporarily to make up for the shortened preseason to adding the DH to the National League.  

On day one of any new season hope usually is in abundance from the fans to the players to the media to the front office.  Mets fans have felt this way every year (even during the harrowing Wilpon nightmare).  However, they have been burned many times through personnel moves not made, players not performing as expected and a spate of injuries that rendered second rate players into much more prominent roles than had been envisioned for them.  

This season is like others in that the year starts with Jacob deGrom on the IL for a long period of time, Max Scherzer nursing his hamstring injury, Taijuan Walker rehabilitating his injured and recovering knee, and Carlos Carrasco remembering what worked for him in the past before his injuries.  About the only scheduled member of the rotation to begin the season completely healthy is latecomer Chris Bassitt.  Tylor Megill looked impressive this Spring, but he was not slated to be part of the starting rotation.  Health problems sometimes push players onto center stage and that's what's happened with the 26 year old right hander.

On the offensive side of the game it appears the club is in somewhat better shape.  Starling Marte started off slowly as a result of an oblique issue but played the last few days in Florida to demonstrate he was ready.  J.D. Davis had off-season surgery on his injured hand but appeared to swing normally.  Right now the one player people are watching closely is oft-injured centerfielder Brandon Nimmo who has not exactly been Lou Gehrig when it comes to staying on the field.  He's entering his walk year before free agency yet in his 6 seasons completed he's only once hit triple digits in the number of games played.  

One thing Mets fans have grown accustomed to accepting is that the club will never go quite far enough when it comes to putting together a winning organization.  This year it seemed to change with the arrivals of Starling Marte, Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar, Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt and others.  The biggest difference and what separates the 2022 season from failed efforts in the past is that they went out to lure in arguably the best available manager in Buck Showalter.  The man has received Manager of the Year three times already and to compare him to the likes of Terry Collins, Mickey Callaway or Luis Rojas is a lot like having a drag race between a Ferrari and a Yugo.  For once the club went all out for quality and hopefully that means that the results will improve significantly.

As the season unfolds it will be interesting to see how the injured players recover, how younger Mets hopefuls turn into productive cogs in the machine, and how decent players will be brought in rather than over-the-hill retreads so common in the past.  There are lots of questions about the rebirth of Francisco Lindor, the hopefully PED-free Robinson Cano and the newcomers responding to the media glare of New York City.  

While there's no reason for folks to doubt what Showalter can do for the Mets culture change, the fact is folks want to see it more than speculate about it.  The 1986 World Championship was 36 years ago.  The tattooing by the Yankees in 2000 was 22 years ago.  The Kansas City Royals losing effort in 2015 was 7 years ago.  The fans have been more than patient.