30 Teams in 30 Days 2018 12 New York Mets

While the Washington Nationals were widely favored to run away with their division in 2018, it's been the New York Mets leading the pack with a hot start over the season's first week and a half. While it is a minuscule sample size so far, this looks like a strong team overall: everyone knew the pitching staff was potentially dominating, health permitting, and if the offense can put it together, we might have a closer NL East race than expected.

All-Acquired Factor

It's strange to think of Jay Bruce as an All-Acquired player, given that he started the 2017 season with the Mets, after being acquired from the Reds at the 2016 Trade Deadline, and before being shipped to the Indians for their playoff push last year. Bruce came back on a 3-year free agent deal to serve as the regular right fielder and also possibly log some time at first base to alleviate the outfield logjam. The Mets gave another multi-year contract to a mid-tier free agent, in an offseason that didn't see a lot of those, agreeing to a 2-year deal with third baseman Todd Frazier. Bruce's former teammate in Cincinnati will take over at the hot corner for David Wright, as Mets ownership has seemingly resigned themselves to the fact that the former face of the franchise might not make a full recovery from the injuries that have plagued him for the last four years.

Prospect hounds were undoubtedly looking forward to Dominic Smith taking over as New York's first baseman, but he was deemed unready (and is now on the DL), leading GM Sandy Alderson to pick up veteran lefty Adrian Gonzalez from the scrap heap. For any Mets fans who see A-Gon's whopping $22mm salary in the above chart, don't panic: the majority of that sum is being paid by the Braves, who acquired his contract from the Dodgers this offseason; a contract that Gonzalez originally signed with the Red Sox way back in 2011. Remember that baseball is a business, and I've always thought of these types of swaps of onerous contracts as the equivalent of money laundering.

Fifth Starter

Well, technically the FIFTH starter is listed on the SI baseball preview in the person of lefty Jason Vargas, another free agent signee, although he started the season on the DL due to a broken finger on his non-pitching hand. The one who's missing, curiously enough, is the number THREE starter Steven Matz, who, at 329 overall, ranked comfortably above both Vargas and Matt Harvey, according to MLB.com. In another curious move, the Mets announced that Seth Lugo (up to 431) had won a spring camp battle against Robert Gsellman (463) to fill in for Vargas as the actual fifth starter, but both of them ended up starting the season in long relief roles, and it was Zack Wheeler (down to 572) who got the call on Wednesday.

Bullpen

Closer Jeurys Familia missed most of 2017 with a shoulder injury, prompting the Mets to pick up AJ Ramos in a midseason sneak peek of the Marlins' offseason fire sale. But with Familia back in action, Ramos (421) has been relegated to a setup role, which he was slated to share with yet another free agent acquisition, breakout reliever Anthony Swarzak (423), until the latter went on the DL with an oblique injury. Interestingly enough, neither Familia, nor Ramos, nor divisional All-Star lefty Jerry Blevins have allowed a run so far this season.

Center Field

The Mets are walking a thin line between two completely different outfield strategies. On the one hand, they have a preponderance for stockpiling as many corner outfielders as possible and hoping one of them sticks in center. But on the other hand, they employ one of the best defensive center fielders on the planet. Former Gold Glover Juan Lagares is listed in the SI baseball preview, and he did get the majority of reps in center for the season's first week-plus (in a platoon with Wyomingan Brandon Nimmo, whose rank rose to 549 between the start of Spring Training and Opening Day). But those with more intimate knowledge of New York's plans will know that those two were just keeping the seat warm for Michael Conforto, whose rank went up to 198 due to a faster-than-expected recovery from last year's shoulder injury, which officially happened before last weekend.

Fantasy Astrology Relevance

Noah Syndergaard's 2017 injury debacle is one of the most glaring and embarrassing examples of not just miscommunication between a player and the training staff, but also just a downright lack of authority. To recap, the Mets asked Syndergaard to undergo an MRI before his next scheduled start, the pitcher refused, citing the "I know my body better than anyone" rule, and then promptly went down for the season with a torn lat muscle. At least the lengthy absence from the playing field gave Thor the chance to have a cameo in Game of Thrones (even though I would say the Yankees more accurately represent the Lannisters than their crosstown rivals, despite the color scheme). If Syndergaard is back in form, he'll make the Virgo starting rotation a force to be reckoned with. The same is not true of Jacob deGrom and the Gemini rotation, but he's still the best pitcher on their staff. Yoenis Cespedes has shown flashes of brilliance, but he'll have to prove that he can stay healthy before he can join the likes of Bryce Harper and Mookie Betts in Libra's corner outfield picture.

Song

New York Groove - Ace Frehley version

There are many hundreds of songs about the city of New York, and even a couple of winners about the Mets themselves - fans of the show Mad Men will recall the 1962 classic "Meet the Mets" while NO ONE should recall the 2006 abomination "Our Team, Our Mets" (indeed, it's getting harder and harder to find this one on the interweb, as evidenced by the missing media in this Deadspin article). But since the Mets didn't come into existence until 1962, I wanted to pick a more modern song, and "New York Groove" fits the bill. This song was originally recorded by the band Hello in 1975, three years before it was a hit for Ace Frehley, but I picked the version by the former lead guitarist of Kiss because I think it has a smoother and more memorable chorus.

Colossus

The Mets often seem like they are a team that has it all together, until one setback comes along and unravels the whole enterprise. If you imagine the Mets as Colossus #9, then that proverbial setback can be compared to one of the geysers around its lair, which push the turtle-like Basaran up into the air, allowing Wander to shoot arrows at the weak spots on the underside of its feet, causing it to flip over onto its back. Because, honestly, is there an MLB organization more emblematic of a turtle on its back than the New York Mets?