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April 1, 2011
Dear Mets Fans:
With our 2011
opener tonight in Florida,
I want to make this pledge to Mets fans — our team will play the game
the right way.
We will always
hustle on the bases, run balls down in the outfield and never take
anything for granted, no matter the score of the game.
We had a great
Spring Training. From day one my message has been look ahead, not
backward, and not to worry about what the people outside the clubhouse
are saying. If we pitch and play defense like I know we can, we will
surprise a lot of people, a lot of people.
I stack our
lineup against anyone else's in the league. Getting Carlos Beltran back
and hitting cleanup is really big. The way Carlos handled his move to
right field was one of the classiest things I have ever seen. Angel
Pagan is coming off a great season. While we had a little setback this
week with Jason
Bay — who was
swinging the bat well — going on the Disabled List, he shouldn't be out
too long. We believe with the three of them on the field, we have one
of the top outfields in baseball.
Our infield is
anchored by the two All-Stars on the left side: David Wright at third
and Jose Reyes at short. I think David will add on to his numbers from
last year and Jose is ready to have a tremendous season. He is one of
the most dynamic players in the game. Ike Davis will continue to
develop at first base and Jose Thole is one of the fine young catchers
in the game. Brad Emaus, a Rule Five pick, got better and better as the
spring went on and won the second base job.
On the mound,
sure we are going to miss Johan Santana until he comes back, hopefully
in mid-year. But this spring, I think we established a solid rotation
with Mike Pelfrey, followed by R.A. Dickey and Jonathon Niese. Chris
Young and Chris Capuano proved that they are healthy and they really
strengthen us on the back end.
We remade our
bullpen and we think we have quality arms who throw strikes to get to
closer Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod has just had a fantastic spring and I
never have seen him throwing better. People like Bobby Parnell, D.J.
Carrasco, Taylor Buchholz, Blaine Boyer, Tim Byrdak and Pedro Beato,
another Rule V selection who is from Queens,
will give us a solid pen.
I believe we
have fortified our bench with the additions of Scott Hairston, Willie
Harris, Ronny Paulino (who will begin the year on the Disabled List),
and Chin-lung Hu along with Daniel Murphy.
It's been 12
years since I have started a season as a major league manager. I can't
tell you how proud I am to be leading the New York Mets and am very
excited about the season ahead.
Thanks for your
support and see you at Citi Field.
Sincerely,
Terry Collins
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