A friend of mine offered me a challenge on a recent long car ride:

Make the best team you can out of ex-Mets.

As frustrating as the 2008 Mets have been, it seemed interesting, so I started jotting down some ex-Mets in my head and organizing them. I insisted, though, on a couple of ground rules:

1. I would not include players that had been traded for one another (so, we can’t have Ruben Gotay and Jeff Keppinger, or Mike Cameron and Xavier Nady).
2. I can place a player in any role where they fit, not where they played for the Mets.

But perhaps most importantly, this is simply a fun exercise; I don’t intend to criticize management for making a different team than the one I submit for your consideration. I think that the current Mets are better than this incarnation of them.

Lineup (2008 PECOTA in parenthesis):

1. Jeff Keppinger - 2B (.305/.363/.417)
2. Xavier Nady - RF/1B (.281/.337/.466)
3. Jason Bay - LF/RF (.266/.364/.485)
4. Mike Jacobs - 1B (.261/.327/.473)
5. Ty Wigginton - 3B (.274/.341/.472)
6. Lastings Milledge - CF (.290/.359/.480)
7. Jesus Flores - C (.259/.321/.450)
8. Melvin Mora - SS (.259/.327/.400)

Bench

Cliff Floyd (LF)
Carlos Gomez (OF)
Kaz Matsui (IF)
Doug Mientkiewicz (1B)
Paul Lo Duca (C)

Having a player like Xavier Nady gives you great flexibility. Against tough lefties, you have the opportunity to give either Cliff Floyd or Mike Jacobs the day off. Likewise, Nady can be protected from difficult righties by having a guy like Floyd on the bench.

It’s hard to imagine that Lastings Milledge is still just 23 years old, particularly considering how long we’ve been talking about him as Mets fans. I’m confident that his current .258/.322/.375 line will improve. Mike Jacobs, on the other hand, finds walking to be quite difficult. In fact, he’s hit more homers this year than times he’s drawn walks. His .238/.273/.534 line is incredibly boom-or-bust. Honestly, I’m not happy with that in my lineup, but it’s tough to complain. With a young Carlos Gomez on my bench, I could always slide Nady over to first and stick Gomez and Milledge in my outfield.

Both Jason Bay and Xavier Nady have far outpaced their forecasts, which is one of the reasons why the Pirates are hovering around .500. Both players bring something to the table with the Ex-Mets, though, and Bay is definitely the best hitter the Mets have traded in recent memory. (Tough to blame them, of course.)

Otherwise, the Ex-Mets are lacking one star shortstop from having a pretty impressive group. Melvin Mora is a shortstop in name only at this point in his career. Keppinger doesn’t have the range to play short if the two middle infielders were swapped, and Wigginton and Jacobs are not exactly defensive anchors, either. This team would not make groundball pitchers happy, that’s for sure.

The bench, though, has some interesting talent. Paul Lo Duca’s grit and toughness fit in perfectly on the bench here, right behind a budding star like Flores. Cliff Floyd brings some punch to the bench, when healthy. As a reserve infielder, Kaz Matsui actually has some value; he’s a pretty good contact hitter who can get a few extra base hits. Mientkiewicz is a perfect late inning replacement for Jacobs. Gomez, of course, has limitless talent. I might throw him in Triple-A for some seasoning while picking up a scrap-heap type former Met (Chip Ambres, for instance) for the bench.

Pitching

1. Scott Kazmir
2. Brian Bannister
3. Tom Glavine
4. Kevin Mulvey
5. Braden Looper

Surprisingly, the rotation is pretty weak, maybe one arm short of adequate. Kazmir is ace-caliber, but he does present something of an injury risk. The sabermetric community’s affinity for Brian Bannister aside, he still could face charges of being a “one-year wonder,” though his current FIP of 4.12 mitigates some of my concerns. Really, it’s the back-three that poses problems. At 42 years old, Tom Glavine struggles to go six innings, and his results are barely hovering over replacement level. Braden Looper has been worse; he’s simply unable to post a serviceable strikeout rate (35 in 74 innings is abysmal), and his 4.86 ERA validates that.

I picked Mulvey over Humber because Humber has simply not gotten it done in Triple-A-Rochester. He’s giving up tons of flyballs and not compensating for them with strikeouts (0.77 groundball-to-flyball ratio, 39 strikeouts in 60.1 innings). He would get utterly rocked in the majors pitching like that. Mulvey, on the other hand, has posted a better strikeout rate and fewer walks at the same level. Neither at this point could be a good number three starter.

One other interesting option is former Met farmhand Gaby Hernandez, who has put up some impressive numbers in Triple-A-Albuquerque:

  IP   H   R  HR  BB   K   G/F   ERA
44.0  52  30   9  12  40  0.89  5.32

These numbers are pretty bad, but Albuquerque is hell for pitchers (120 park factor last year), and there are good signs. The control is good, and he has a bunch of strikeouts. He also has a low-90s fastball and a great curve, and I imagine that the defense behind him is sub-par, what with the .326 BABIP. We might as well throw him into the mix for a spot, too.

Bullpen

Heath Bell (CL)
Dan Wheeler
Matt Lindstrom
Billy Traber
Chad Bradford
Jason Isringhausen
Royce Ring

The 30-year old Heath Bell would slide in as my closer. I think that he peaked last year (and the Pads overworked him with 93.2 high leverage innings), but he could probably be a good closer for a few years. He’s been solid so far, but he’s giving up a bunch more flyballs and striking out fewer guys.

Another 30-year old, Dan Wheeler was with the Mets in 2003 and 2004 and acquitted himself reasonably well then. He’s become better in time with Houston and Tampa Bay and would be a good addition to most middle relief corps.

Really, looking over the top three guys in this bullpen is quite upsetting. Matt Lindstrom would be another excellent addition to the pen, with his high-90s fastball. I would venture to say that Bell/Wheeler/Lindstrom is as good as Wagner/Feliciano/Sanchez, even accounting for Wagner’s early-season dominance.

Traber, Bradford, and Ring all fit the mold of “limited middle relievers.” (Traber goes all the way back to the Alomar deal, actually.) Izzy is a reclamation project, at this point; he’s had some problems this year, but he’s worth taking a flyer on in low-leverage innings. The 35-year old is only 8 saves away from 300.

I would argue that this team is definitely less talented than the current Mets. But this team would be low-budget and would win some games, probably between 75 and 80. Add some money to the fold, maybe bring in one more starter and a good defensive shortstop…