The New York Mets Are Building Towards A New AGE In Flushing

In 1969, the Mets pitching staff average age was 25.8 years old.  The average age of the 1973 staff was 27.2 years old.  That era produced one World Series championship, and two National League flags.

The average age of the 1986 Mets pitching staff was 25.5 years old.  The average pitcher’s age of the 1988 team, in similar follow-up fashion like the 1973 team, was only slightly older at 26.6 years of age.  That era produced one World Series championship, and two N.L. East flags.

The pitching staff’s average age of the 1999 team that took the Braves to game six of the NLCS was 32.7 years old – and by the way, thank you Kenny Rogers.  The 2000 National League champs average pitcher’s age was 31.0 even.  This era produced one National League flag, and gets credit for winning two Wild Cards.  This marked the first time the Mets reached the playoffs in consecutive seasons.  But alas, no world series trophy and no division flags.

In 2006, the average age of the Mets pitching staff was 32.2 years old.  The door is all but closed on that era, with but one N.L. East flag to show.  The same exact trend applies to the positional players.  That encompasses the seven seasons in which the Mets participated in the post-season.

Combined, the average age of the entire 1969 team was 25.8 years old.  The average of the entire 1986 team was 26.7 years old.  The 1999 team is the oldest Mets team to participate in post-season play.  They averaged 31.4 years of age.  As a team, the 2000 team averaged 30.7 years of age.  The 2006 team averaged 31.2 years.  You get the picture.  We are playing an over/under game here.  A basic observation says, the younger the Mets are, the more successful they will trend; skill levels willing, that is.  Additionally, having most of your core players in their mid-twenties seems to be the magic number.

The Mets I.D. cards read like this:

STARTING ROTATION:

*Jon Niese – 26 yrs.

*Dillon Gee – 26 yrs.

*Matt Harvey – 23 yrs.

*Zach Wheeler – 22 yrs.

Jeremy Hefner – 26 yrs.

Collin McHugh – 25 yrs.

Shawn Marcum is 31 years old and Johan Santana will be 34 years old next month.  They do not project in the Mets plans beyond the 2014 season.

BULLPEN:

*Bobby Parnell – 28 yrs.

*Josh Edgin – 26 yrs.

*Jenrry Mejia – 23 yrs.

*Jeurys Familia – 23 yrs.

Then there’s the over thirty club – Brandon Lyon-33, LaTroy Hawkins-40, Frank Francisco-33, Pedro Feliciano-33, Greg Burke-30, Scott Atchison-35.

CATCHER:

*Travis d’Arnaud – 24 yrs.

FIRST BASE:

*Ike Davis – 25 yrs.

SECOND BASE:

*Daniel Murphy – 27 yrs.

SHORTSTOP:

*Ruben Tejada – 23 yrs.

THIRD BASE:

*David Wright – 30 yrs.

OUTFIELD:

*Lucas Duda – 27 yrs.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 25 yrs.

Collin Cowgill – 26 yrs.

Jordany Valdespin – 25 yrs.

POTENTIAL BENCH:

*Mike Baxter – 28 yrs.

Justin Turner – 28 yrs.

Brandon Hicks – 27 yrs.

The thirty players listed above average 27.7 years of age.  The bullpen’s over thirty squad led by LaTroy Hawkins raised this group’s collective age a bit.  Otherwise, the Mets are indeed younger since the last time they participated in the post-season.  Of the thirty players mentioned above, I denoted half; fifteen players; with a star.  If this were a fantasy style protected list, those are the fifteen players I would retain for the 2014 season.  And I really beat myself up over who number fifteen would be.  If you’re wondering, it was Lucas Duda.

The collective age of my protected list is 25.4 years of age.  Being twenty-five years old is right in line with 1969, and the 1986 championship teams.  None of this is to suggest the Mets are winning a championship this season or next.  But it is what we’re working towards.  This was all just another way of saying I like what Sandy Alderson is doing, and how he is going about it.

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