Don't Look Now, but the 2013 Mets Might Be Good

Matt Harvey pitched his first Major League baseball game for the Mets tonight in Arizona, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out 11 in 5.1 innings of work. He was also 2-2 with a double at the plate, and since he had at least one chance in the field and didn't make any errors has a 1.000 fielding percentage. Obviously the main point is the 0.00 ERA and the 18.6 K/9 rate, and the real main point is just that his stuff looked amazing and he didn't appear remotely fazed by finding himself in the Majors. His 11 strikeouts in a Major League debut are tied for 7th-most in baseball history, and the most since the 14 from Stephen Strasburg. Perhaps you've heard of him? Anyway, Josh Edgin, another Mets rookie from the 2010 draft class, then came on in relief and pitched a perfect 5 outs of baseball.

All of this has me thinking that the 2013 New York Mets might be a pretty good baseball team. Hopefully Johan Santana will be able to pitch a full-ish season of Johan-ish baseball, with an extra year removed from his surgery. R.A. Dickey, at this point, is just reliably good, his recent slump notwithstanding. Jon Niese appears to be getting better and better. Harvey really looks like the real deal, although I'll admit it's a bit too soon to bank on that. And having options of people like Dillon Gee and Jenrry Mejia for your fifth starter's spot isn't bad. I continue to believe in Bobby Parnell as a high-quality relief pitcher, if not really someone who can be a closer (which I'm still not sold on!). Edgin looks fantastic. The infield of Wright/Tejada/Murphy/Davis should still be intact and, as none is particularly old, still getting better. (Although it's rumored the Mets are shopping Murphy; perhaps he might be replaced by Jordany Valdespin, who's been electric in his brief stint with the Mets so far.) Maybe we're not talking 1986 Mets good, not yet anyway, but it feels like it's shaping up to be a team that has a real chance of contending for the postseason from the beginning of the season. And what with the 2012 team's recent 1-and-12 skid seeming to put the ice on that team's chances of contending, I think it's time to start getting excited about next year. Because next year looks exciting.