On Wednesday, Baseball Prospectus released their annual PECOTA projections. The New York Mets were projected by PECOTA to finish 82-80, which puts them second in the NL East and just one game back of the Padres for the second NL Wild Card spot. Last year, the Mets finished 79-83, and we’re tied with the Braves for second in the NL East. They were nine games back of the Pirates and Giants for a Wild Card spot, so this is an improvement, right?
The PECOTA prediction apparently didn’t sit well with Mets pitcher Dillon Gee, who responded to a tweet about the projection from ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin.
@AdamRubinESPN and NYC was expected to get hammered with an Armageddon blizzard. Sometimes people get it wrong!!!
— Dillon Gee (@DillonGee35) January 29, 2015
What throws me off about Gee’s tweet is this – did he think PECOTA was being too optimistic for the Mets in 2015, or too pessimistic? The projections give New York an additional three wins from a year ago despite an offseason that has seen them add Michael Cuddyer and no one else.
So…does Gee think the Mets are suddenly going to become contenders with the same core that lost 83 games from a year ago, or does he think the Mets are going to get even worse?