The next lineup were are going to look at is the New York Mets. The Mets have had an extremely rough offseason. They lost their best player in Jose Reyes, they haven’t signed any major free agents, and their ownership is in flux.

That’s the bad news. The good news is there won’t be any lines at Shake Shack at Citi Field this summer. There’s always a silver lining kids. There’s always a silver lining.

Wright will lead a Reyes-less Met offense in 2012

1. Andres Torres, CF

2. Daniel Murphy, 2B

3. David Wright, 3B

4. Ike Davis, 1B

5. Jason Bay, LF

6. Lucas Duda, RF

7. Josh Thole, C

8. Ruben Tejada, SS

The Mets’ offense finished 14th in baseball in 2011 with a 24.0 WAR, but that was with Reyes having a career year and Carlos Beltran having a great comeback year. Now those two are gone and many are wondering how the Mets are going to score runs in 2012.

It’s a valid question and while there will be plenty of nights were the Mets struggle to score runs, this offense won’t be too far off from last year’s performance. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1. The Mets moved the fences in at Citi Field. I didn’t agree with this move, but that’s what the Mets organization has decided to. The left center and right center field walls have been moved in around 20 feet each, so that should help the likes of Wright and Davis.

2. While the Mets lost Reyes and Beltran, they will get Davis back in 2012, Wright who was limited to just 102 games in 2011 is healthy, and Murphy will be returning as well. Those three missed a combined 238 games in 2011.

Out of those three, the Mets have to be excited to be getting Davis back the most. Davis is one of the few young hitters the Mets have that has the potential to be a star. In just 149 PA’s in 2011, Davis hit .302/.383/.543 with seven HR’s and a .391 wOBA. A healthy Davis in 2012 should replace Beltran in the middle of the Mets’ lineup.

3. Not only will the Mets be getting a healthy Davis, Murphy, and Wright to start the 2012 season, but they will get to see what Duda can do over the course of an entire season. In just 347 PA’s in 2011, Duda posted a .292/.370/.482 slash line with 10 HR’s and 21 doubles.

Considering that Duda put up some pretty solid numbers throughout his minor league career, his partial 2011 season shouldn’t be thought of as a fluke. Duda will be the starting right fielder for the Mets in 2012 and if he can stay healthy and play in over 140 games, a 25 HR and .850 OPS season isn’t out of the question.

As I said earlier, the loss of Reyes hurts, but they should get better performances out of enough players to offset the loss of him. Expect the Mets’ offense to be towards the back end of the the middle of the pack in Major League Baseball.

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By The Baseball Index