Best Mets ABC Roster

[milladrive]

My freind Joe and I were passing some time on an airplane this weekend, so we thought it'd be kinda cool to come up with a Mets roster based on alphabetic letters. Since the Mets have never had a "Q" player, and MLB has never had an "X" player, we're relegated to a 24-man roster (which, as many of us know, is not unheard of).

This is all, of course, up for discussion. Naturally, a few minor decisions were made to balance things out, but it really wasn't all that difficult overall. Personally, I think we did okay.

Anyway, here's what we came up with... (...with some help from our fellow BBFers)


A. Edgardo Alfonzo (BR)
B. Carlos Beltrán (BS)
C. Gary Carter (BR)
D. Len Dykstra (BL)
E. Kevin Elster (BR)
F. Sid Fernandez (TL)
G. Dwight Gooden (TR)
H. Keith Hernandez (BL)
I. Jason Isringhausen (TR)
J. Cleon Jones (BR)
K. Jerry Koosman (TL)
L. Al Leiter (TL)
M. Tug McGraw (TL)
N. Randy Neimann (TL)
O. Jesse Orosco (TL)
P. Mike Piazza (BR)
-
R. José Reyes (BS)
S. Tom Seaver (TR)
T. Ron Taylor (TR)
U. Del Unser (BL)
V. Robin Ventura (BL)
W. David Wright (BR)
-
Y. Joel Youngblood (BR)
Z. Todd Zeile (BR)


Ultimate Lineup:

1. Reyes (SS)
2. Alfonzo (2B)
3. Hernandez (1B)
4. Piazza (C)
5. Wright (3B)
6. Beltrán (CF)
7. Jones (LF)
8. Unser (RF) / Youngblood (against lefties)
9. pitcher

Rotation:

1. Seaver (R)
2. Koosman (L)
3. Gooden (R)
4. Fernandez (L)
5. Leiter (L)

Bench (alphabetically):

Carter (R)
Dykstra (L)
Elster (R)
Ventura (L)
Youngblood (R)
Zeile (R)

Bullpen (alphabetically):

Isringhausen (R)
McGraw (L)
Neimann (R)
Orosco (L)
Taylor (R)

[NJMetfan4life]

I would put Al Lieter above LoDuca for "L".

[milladrive]

I would put Al Lieter above LoDuca for "L".

Good input.

But then, wouldn't that give us six starters and no backup catcher? Just a thought.

[NJMetfan4life]

You could change Cone to Carter, that would upgrade catcher and be around the same for pitcher.

[milladrive]

You could change Cone to Carter, that would upgrade catcher and be around the same for pitcher.

Interesting you say that, because we did consider it. But truly, would any of us sacrifice Cone for Leiter?

[NJMetfan4life]

Another lefty? That's the only 1 for 1 reason I can think of.

[milladrive]

But then, Seaver was a righty. Should we do away with him to make room for Strawberry?

I do admit, though, when comparing Cone's performance with the Mets against Leiter's performance with the Mets, you do have a decent case. Leiter wasn't no-brainer better, but there's definitely room for further consideration (especially given the replacement "C" up for grabs).

I think this deserves further thought. Feel free to discuss it more here, but I'll also have a mano a mano with Joe.

[Joe Rigatoni]

You could change Cone to Carter, that would upgrade catcher and be around the same for pitcher.

I have to say that NJMetfan4life is right due to although Cone was a better pitcher than Leiter he wasn't drastically a better pitcher.
And I have to say that Carter was drastically better than LoDuca at catcher so he is right about that.

Since we did this Mets ABC roster without the benefit of being able to look things up since we were on a plane I am proud to say picking the Cone-LoDuca combination
over the Leiter-Carter combination may be our only flaw but other than that I feel you can't pick the team any better.

Having said that if you put a gun to my head and said I had to make one other change besides picking the Leiter-Carter combination over the Cone-LoDuca combination.
I would have to say that although this would upgrade our offense but weaken our starting defense I would have to say that for the letter V my pick would be Robin
Ventura over Ellis Valentine and start Del Unser in right field and have Robin Ventura be the backup third baseman to David Wright.

If we did that I would have the starting lineup against right handed pitchers to be the following:
Reyes ss Alfonzo 2b Hernandez 1b Piazza c Beltran cf Wright 3b Unser rf Jones lf then the pitcher.
If we did that against a right handed pitcher our batters would literally be batting in order left,right,left,right,left,right,left,right,then the pitcher.

Although I also have to admit that the starting lineup against left handed pitchers would be weaker with the left handed hitting Unser playing over the right handed
hitting Valentine.And as I said the defense would be weaker as well but if you are committed to starting Unser over Valentine the starting lineup against left handed
pitchers would be the following:
Reyes ss Alfonzo 2b Hernandez 1b Piazza c Beltran cf Wright 3b Jones lf Unser rf then the pitcher.

Plus,another advantage would be on the bench you would have Lenny Dykstra and Robin Ventura as left handed hitters instead of Lenny Dykstra and Del Unser as
left handed hitters.Plus,you would have better defense with Robin Ventura backing up third base instead of Todd Zeile who would still be on the team as a Z and would
also backup at first base as well.But then again with David Wright starting at third base this could be a moot point because barring injury Ventura would never get into
the game at third base and may only see playing time as a left handed pinch hitter.And if you prefer defense over offense against right handed pitchers then forget this
change altogether and just chalk it up as just a thought and open to discussion.

[Paulypal]

Strawberry over Valentine in your ultimate Met lineup. Just my opinion.

[milladrive]

Good work, Joe. And some good points.

I've changed Valentine (despite his awesome arm) to Unser in right. Youngblood can platoon with him there against lefties.

I've also changed Cone to Leiter and replace Lo Duca with Carter. Thanx much for helping to further consider this, NJM.

Strawberry over Valentine in your ultimate Met lineup. Just my opinion.

That would mean ridding the team of Seaver. Hello?

[milladrive]

The only minor issue I've noticed with the change is that we have one less lefty on the bench. But frankly, I'll take Carter on the bench and willingly sacrifice the lefty.

Too bad the Mets never had a Q player. He may not have been the best batter in the world, but Jamie Quirk was lefty batter and could play literally all eight player positions.

[NJMetfan4life]

The only minor issue I've noticed with the change is that we have one less lefty on the bench. But frankly, I'll take Carter on the bench and willingly sacrifice the lefty.

Too bad the Mets never had a Q player. He may not have been the best batter in the world, but Jamie Quirk was lefty batter and could play literally all eight player positions.

"Q" can be Jimmy Qualls, as the most hated opposition player.

[Joe Rigatoni]

The only minor issue I've noticed with the change is that we have one less lefty on the bench. But frankly, I'll take Carter on the bench and willingly sacrifice the lefty.

Too bad the Mets never had a Q player. He may not have been the best batter in the world, but Jamie Quirk was lefty batter and could play literally all eight player positions.

Actually,we don't have one less lefty on the bench.By adding Robin Ventura as the V instead of Ellis Valentine we now have two lefties off the bench in Lenny Dykstra and
Robin Ventura when Del Unser starts in right field as opposed to having Dykstra and Unser being the two lefties off the bench when Valentine starts in right field.So we got
that second lefty on the bench back in Ventura.

I like the idea of platooning Joel Youngblood in right field against lefties and Del Unser in right field against righties.
So I figured this would be the lineup against left handed pitching:
Reyes ss Alfonzo 2b Hernandez 1b Piazza c Beltran cf Wright 3b Jones lf Youngblood rf p

Also,Youngblood can play all eight player positions as well.Infact,on our team if second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo got hurt or had to leave the game for some reason then
Youngblood would come into the game to play second base as he's the No.2 second baseman on our depth chart and Unser would play right field if Youngblood was at second
base.So we do have a player in Youngblood who can play all eight player positions if necessary.

[Paulypal]

Good work, Joe. And some good points.

I've changed Valentine (despite his awesome arm) to Unser in right. Youngblood can platoon with him there against lefties.

I've also changed Cone to Leiter and replace Lo Duca with Carter. Thanx much for helping to further consider this, NJM.



That would mean ridding the team of Seaver. Hello?

OOOOPSIE...I didnt get the jist...got it now.

[milladrive]

Actually,we don't have one less lefty on the bench.By adding Robin Ventura as the V instead of Ellis Valentine we now have two lefties off the bench in Lenny Dykstra and
Robin Ventura when Del Unser starts in right field as opposed to having Dykstra and Unser being the two lefties off the bench when Valentine starts in right field.So we got
that second lefty on the bench back in Ventura.

I like the idea of platooning Joel Youngblood in right field against lefties and Del Unser in right field against righties.
So I figured this would be the lineup against left handed pitching:
Reyes ss Alfonzo 2b Hernandez 1b Piazza c Beltran cf Wright 3b Jones lf Youngblood rf p

Also,Youngblood can play all eight player positions as well.Infact,on our team if second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo got hurt or had to leave the game for some reason then
Youngblood would come into the game to play second base as he's the No.2 second baseman on our depth chart and Unser would play right field if Youngblood was at second
base.So we do have a player in Youngblood who can play all eight player positions if necessary.

Great words! And stupid me forgot that while Ventura threw righthanded, he batted lefty. Nice catch, sir.

The roster's been properly updated.

EDIT: Still wish we had one more lefty in the pen. Not really much to work with, though. Any ideas are welcome. Although, if we're okay with what we have now, I'll definitely go with the consensus.

[Joe Rigatoni]

Great words! And stupid me forgot that while Ventura threw righthanded, he batted lefty. Nice catch, sir.

The roster's been properly updated.

EDIT: Still wish we had one more lefty in the pen. Not really much to work with, though. Any ideas are welcome. Although, if we're okay with what we have now, I'll definitely go with the consensus.

Well,we already have three lefties in the pen as it is in Tug McGraw,Jesse Orosco,and Randy Niemann.Plus,we have more lefties than righties in the pen as it is in the three
lefties we have in the pen I just mentioned to go with the two righties we have in the pen in Jason Isringhausen and Ron Taylor.Plus,most teams in baseball would kill to have
their two top lefties out of the pen to be the quality of McGraw and Orosco so you can't do much better than that.I feel the team we now have you can't pick the team any
better.

[VIBaseball]

Besides, with those starters, you don't need the ridiculous 12-man modern day bullpen. Fernandez and Leiter tended to be more 6- to 7-inning guys, but that's still not too taxing.

Let's not forget that the '86 Mets used nine pitchers for the most part.

[milladrive]

Well,we already have three lefties in the pen as it is in Tug McGraw,Jesse Orosco,and Randy Niemann.Plus,we have more lefties than righties in the pen as it is in the three
lefties we have in the pen I just mentioned to go with the two righties we have in the pen in Jason Isringhausen and Ron Taylor.Plus,most teams in baseball would kill to have
their two top lefties out of the pen to be the quality of McGraw and Orosco so you can't do much better than that.I feel the team we now have you can't pick the team any
better.

I have no idea what I've been smokin' lately! What on earth gave me the idea Tug was a righty?!? ...I'm such a maroon.

The roster's been properly corrected.

Besides, with those starters, you don't need the ridiculous 12-man modern day bullpen. Fernandez and Leiter tended to be more 6- to 7-inning guys, but that's still not too taxing.

Let's not forget that the '86 Mets used nine pitchers for the most part.

I wholeheartedly agree. Besides, I've never been a LaRussa fan. I give him full blame for starting this nonsense. Wonder how long it'll be until he's carrying 16 pitchers on his roster. lol

[milladrive]

Oddly enough, K through O are lefthanded pitchers. Is that enough for a few extra KO's?

[Joe Rigatoni]

Also,oddly enough,on our Mets 24 man ABC roster,believe it or not,there are only two players on our team that wear the same uniform number.
Lenny Dykstra and Robin Ventura both wear No.4.The other 22 players have their own separate number.That's amazing to me that considering
all the different eras we would only have one duplicate.I should note had we went with our original roster before we made the changes that had
we went with David Cone,Paul LoDuca,and Ellis Valentine instead of Gary Carter,Al Leiter,and Robin Ventura we would of had three duplicate uniform
numbers instead of one.Even with that it's still not a lot considering the different eras but I am happy to say that's a moot point because with the
changes we made we have a better team and the fact that there's only one duplicate number is a bonus.Like I said,I feel the team we now have you
can't pick the team any better.

[VIBaseball]

I've never been a LaRussa fan. I give him full blame for starting this nonsense.

I think it started with him too. Earl Weaver liked specialization too...but what he liked more were starters who could go deep into a game and a deep bench.
What a concept: a bench. These days it's four or five guys.

[milladrive]

What a concept: a bench. These days it's four or five guys.

Sad, ain't it?

Also,oddly enough,on our Mets 24 man ABC roster,believe it or not,there are only two players on our team that wear the same uniform number.

Lenny Dykstra and Robin Ventura both wear No.4.The other 22 players have their own separate number.That's amazing to me that considering all the different eras we would only have one duplicate.I should note had we went with our original roster before we made the changes that had we went with David Cone,Paul LoDuca,and Ellis Valentine instead of Gary Carter,Al Leiter,and Robin Ventura we would of had three duplicate uniform numbers instead of one.Even with that it's still not a lot considering the different eras but I am happy to say that's a moot point because with the changes we made we have a better team and the fact that there's only one duplicate number is a bonus.Like I said,I feel the team we now have you can't pick the team any better.

Wow! I mean, when we think about all the different eras these players are from, and the fact that this an A-to-Z roster, having only one number duplicated is an absolutely astounding conincidence! Simply amazin'.

Btw, I'm glad at least one of us was thinking of depth. ...although, after a few good tweaks, things just happened to fall right into place.

[milladrive]

Bump.

This was just too much fun to let it bury itself so soon.