The agony (if you’re a Jets fan) and ecstasy (if you’re a Giants fan) of the football season is now behind us. With the Giants Superbowl victory on Sunday and parade yesterday the NFL news cycle is now complete. We can now start thinking about baseball.

I’m not one to analyze rosters through the offseason (barring a major trade or signing) but with spring training less than two weeks away I took a look at what we’ll be seeing when pitchers and catchers report. Unfortunately I saw much the same that was there last season. But there are some potential bright spots:

1. Johan Santana ^[2] is likely to get very much attention during spring training as he returns from a season off due to surgery. Everyone will be watching him like a hawk. Can he return to dominance? Or will he be a shell of his former self?
2. Outside of Santana I’m not very enthused by the rotation. As much as I may like R.A. Dickey ^[3] if he’s your best known quantity (being that Santana is an unknown quantity right now) going into the season there’s a problem.
3. Who will play second base? The rest of the infield is set with Ike Davis ^[4], Ruben Tejada ^[5] and David Wright ^[6] but there are a few candidates for second base. Daniel Murphy ^[7] is a fan favorite for his bat but doesn’t have a position. He played plenty of second base in the minors and has worked out there over the offseason but will his defense be good enough to win the position? Or will Justin Turner ^[8] claim the spot? Turner impressed last year and would seem poised to grow if given the chance to play regularly. Considering these players bat from opposite sides of the plate there’s a chance we’ll see some kind of modified platoon here.
4. I don’t see how anyone can be satisfied with the outfield. Jason Bay ^[9] has been less than spectacular (I’m trying to be positive) since joining the Mets. One can only hope that modifications to the outfield wall at CitiField will help him.
   In Center Andres Torres ^[10] is hardly the answer. He may be better defensively than what we saw there last year but how can your lead off hitter be a guy who has never hit above .270?
   Lucas Duda ^[11] may be the one bright spot in the group. A fan favorite last season showed some promise in 2011 with decent average and power. He could grow as a regular starter.

Share this:

• Email ^[12]
• Print ^[13]
• Facebook ^[14]
• Twitter ^[15]
• Google +1 ^[16]