The NLCS matchup between the Cubs and Mets fell flat, as New York steamrolled their fellow upstarts. Chicago, though, did just fine in the clubs’ regular season tilts (they swept New York in seven games) and had the better regular season record (by exactly those seven wins). While the Mets are focused now on the World Series, it’s back to the future all over again for the Cubbies.
It’s hardly novel to observe that these two clubs are both loaded with young, somewhat opposed talent bases, with the Cubs having more on the position player side and the Mets carrying a better stable of pitching. Quite apart from the head-to-head results, then, it seems interesting to consider which organization has the better outlook after both put up huge seasons.
Each club has some significant players who’ll be controlled for two more seasons, barring extensions — Jake Arrieta and Lucas Duda come to mind — as well as some notable near-MLB prospects — such as Billy McKinney and Brandon Nimmo. But perhaps the most telling comparison, for near and long-term outlook, is of the players who have already reached the majors and are under control for three or more seasons beyond 2015. Here’s a list of some notable names to consider:
Cubs: Jon Lester, Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo, Jorge Soler, Hector Rondon, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Carl Edwards, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, Arismendy Alcantara
Mets: David Wright, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Travis d’Arnaud, Jeurys Familia, Wilmer Flores, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Dilson Herrera, Michael Conforto
So, which organizational arrangement would you prefer moving forward?
I’m an elated Mets fan today and I’d have to say the Cubs. Other than Arrieta they have their entire core set for the next 4-5 years. Mets are going to lose their number 3 and 4 hitters as soon as the World Series ends and no one knows what we’re going to get out of David Wright the next few years.
I never thought at any point that signing Cespedes is a realistic possibility, but I’m confident that Conforto can come close to that kind of production. But I didn’t think Dilson Herrera was an excuse to replace Murph even before this insane postseason and I think its going to come back to haunt the Mets in a major way if (and when :\) they dont resign him.
as much as the tabloids are saying there’s no change in murph, i wonder if Sandy is thinking something…. Sandy sees Murph as “a fundamentally different hitter” now than hew as earlier this year. Yes, i’m keeping my hopes up, but I doubt it’s as much of a slam dunk no as the tabloids are making it out to be.
Cubs without question….with the volatility of pitching due to Tommy john the cubs core hitters are a much safer bet to perform. Cubs add a solid 3rd pitcher and the hitters mature another year they will be a very dangerous team for years to come
Cubs all the way. Their core of young bats is absolutely incredible and they also have the money to add the necessary pieces as they go along. The Mets have an amazing young pitching staff but otherwise they are on a heater and catching lightning in a bottle. They are on the verge of having another anemic offense next season. If they don’t retain some players on their current roster they will go back to being slightly above average as they were before the Cespedes trade. I think that the Cubs are on the verge of becoming a powerhouse and I might even go as far as saying that they are a dynasty in the making.
If payrolls were equal I’d vote Mets. They’re not, so I voted Cubs. The Cubs are much more likely to be able to fill holes with their wallet than the Mets.
As of now, it has to be the Mets. Young arms will always be more coveted than young bats. With Syndergaard, Matz, Harvey, and deGrom all 27 or younger, not to mention Zach Wheeler coming off TJ, they have a rotation that can take them into the future. Yes, they will have a hard time keeping them all on long-term deals, but that’s when they need to look at what the Rays did with Price or the Royals did with Greinke. if they can’t re-sign them, they can use them to re-load with more young talent.
Cubs by a million miles. They have an almost-full 1-9 for extremely cheap, like, Soler is going to hold down RF from 2016-2020 for a mere $21.25M when he might be putting up single seasons every year of that deal of that value. Only holes are C and CF. Its insane. This wasn’t the Cubs year, but the fact they could, if they wanted to, sign Price and Greinke long term, wouldn’t hurt them in the slightest due to all the position players being so far away from arby. The Cubs are going to be so scary for the next decade. As a non-Cubs fan, yikes.
The Mets on the other hand, have two big contracts to the declining Granderson and Wright and might not get all of their big 4 SPs gelling this way in October or having a 2-3 WAR guy like Murphy turn into Babe Ruth ever again. Its their time for sure, but the odds of them pulling a season like this again, in conjunction with the Nats falling off so bad and the Pirates/Cards/Dodgers being better all season but not in October, more than likely won’t happen again. This is the Mets window and they’re right in the drivers seat to really put KC or TOR’s feet to the fire next week.
Mets (and yes, a mets fan)….
what we saw. Pitching wins championships.
As much as i hate the ownership, the Madoff settlement should be over in a couple of years. at that point, I am CAUTIOUSLY optimistic that they will open up their wallet. I could see more back-loaded deals coming up in the next couple of years. Lock in the rotation. Even if Harvey leaves, the rotation is so strong, i have no worries.
Syndergaard is the only non-tj pitcher left…everyone else has had the surgery done, so not really worried about a re-occurrence.
there’s some good offensive talent coming up in the minors. Granted, none of the schwarber/Bryant calliber, but well positioned and timed with FA of existing guys. Herrera at 2b. Smith at 1b. Nimmo in RF. there’s actual timing that could work out. Figure out CF and SS, with a good bench that can fill in at 3b. I’m not THAT worried about our lineup. plus you still have an excess of pitching AND catching that you could use to fill in other gaps outside of free agency.
I said Mets because I think the NL Central is the tougher division.
Mets rotation is 5 deep, injuries to pitchers are inevitable but a lost season to an arm is much less devastating when everyone slots up without much drop off.
For the Mets, their pitching isn’t hypothetical; it’s already there, and it’s good enough not only to put up significant regular-season wins but carry you through the short series format of the playoffs. And yeah, they could get injured but I can’t project that kind of thing out. All Sandy and ownership really needs to understand is to see how much better the club was when they brought in a couple of bats. I don’t expect them to play in the Cespedes pool but if they can bring in an upgrade or two there’s no reason they can’t be contenders again. The major negatives going forward is their ownership/payroll situation, and the fact that they’re going to lose a couple of big pieces.
The Cubs’ prospects, as good as many were this year, still feel like projects. Bryant was amazing overall, but he has a home-road split that’s alarming and led the majors in K’s. Who knows what to expect from Baez at this point? Soler’s power was nowhere near what was expected and he is a problem defensively in right, plus the narrative for his entire time in the organization of being injured too much came true yet again. Schwarber’s bat is impressive but he has no clear position and there’s still a question about his ability to hit breaking pitches consistently. Russell’s defense alone is enough to punch a major-league meal ticket, yet his .242/.307/.389 was nothing close to his minor league line of .301/.377/.520. Edwards looks like he might just be a reliever at this point. And as far as Alcantara, well, I’m not projecting a guy with a negative OPS in the majors to be part of anything until he shows me something. In other words, there’s tons of potential but also risk.
So, I would say I feel like the Cubs have more potential, but it all depends on how fast the prospects continue to develop and how near- or far-term we’re talking in our evaluations.
Taking payrolls into account the Cubs are the obvious choice. They can go out and spend money to improve their team and keep the core intact. Whereas the Mets can’t really do that. They will probably lose Cespedes this offseason and possibly Murphy.
it’s a wash. I have a feeling we are going to see a healthy rivalry develop between these two teams. This won’t be the last time we see them face off in the playoffs. I believe the Mets will sign Cespedes as he is the bat they’ve been needing for some time. Not only is he a great ball player but from a business standpoint he’s a great fan draw. IF the Mets choose to let Murph go they will no doubt move Flores to second base. Whether you agree or not that’s just my opinion. I could be totally wrong.
I vote Cubs but I don’t have any delusions of the top 5 MVP candidates all coming out of their lineup every year for 10 years, which means I won’t get hired as a TBS broadcaster any time soon.
Only problem that I see with the Cubs young hitters is their “Adam Dunn” mentality, as it showed in the NLCS. Which is great when you face 2nd tier pitching yet very exposed when facing top shelf pitching. In a perfect world it would be nice to have both young elite pitchers & hitters, yet it is harder to develop a team with the potential of #1 or #2 starters 1-5.
With that being said I would have to go with the Mets.
The Cubs have the tough to fill positions filled. They have third base, three deep at shortstop and two left handed power hitters. Rounding out the starting rotation should not be that tough given this year’s free agent market. Their only other need is a CF who can get on base assuming Fowler leaves.
I think it is pretty clearly the Cubs. It’s just too hard to count on multiple arms to stay healthy. In fact, if you look at the Mets this year, you are seeing a team that is just now having all of its elite arms healthy and pitching well at the same time. It happened to coincide with a playoff run but I’m not optimistic that it will happen again and that doesn’t even account for the Mets lack of impact bats (although I really like Conforto) beyond 2015.
The Cubs, on the other hand, have a more predictable future with so many high-value bats. Not only are the bats more likely to stay healthy, there is a relative dearth of power in MLB right now and the Cubs have a ton of it. This will both give them an advantage in games and enable them to have high-value trade prospects should they need them.
Also, the Cubs have deep pockets and are capable of supplementing this talent with free agent signings, both of MLB talent and international free agents.
I love Bryant and Rizzo but I will take the big market team with 3 aces.
Met’s look to have 3 real aces DeGrom, Harvey, Syndergard) and 2 other that could plausibly also be ( Matz and Wheeler) or equivalent to any other teams #2 . It;s very difficult for a team to face aces every night, especially when you have to run out a #4 or #5 starter to match them (which is exactly what happened to the Cubs in games 3 &4).