Dwight Gooden thinks Mets can contend for World Series in 2016
Listen to any baseball fan who watched Dwight Gooden pitch for the New York Mets as a 19-year-old in 1984 and you will hear stories about the electric fastball that propelled him into stardom, allowing him to win the National League Rookie of the Year award, Cy Young Award and World Series in his first three seasons in the majors.
As Gooden dominated on the mound alongside David Cone, the two formed a one-two punch and a buzz around baseball that the Mets have been trying to replicate ever since.
In the late 1990s, they believed Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson, dubbed “Generation K,” would return the Amazin’s to glory. And while “Generation K” never lived up to expectations, there is that same hope now as Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and newly crowned Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom look to enter 2015 healthy.
Gooden cannot help but notice certain similarities between his Mets teams and the current one.
“First off congratulations to [Jacob deGrom], he earned the award and had a phenomenal season,” Gooden told Yahoo Sports following his appearance at a Black Friday memorabilia sale at Steiner Sports in New York.
“The Mets have some great arms and hopefully there is some parallel [to our teams in the ’80s]. I think next year you will see some big strides from the Mets, possibly making the postseason, and then the following year, on the 30th anniversary of the 1986 team, that’s the year the Mets should win [the World Series]. That’s how I feel. I think they are definitely on the right track.”
But as the team has experienced firsthand with Harvey, pitching talent in this era of baseball is anything but automatic. With seemingly every promising young arm needing to undergo Tommy John surgery and a stronger emphasis on pitch counts and innings limits, the game has certainly changed.
The team is already considering ‘a soft number’ for Harvey in 2015, despite the 25-year-old missing the entire 2014 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Gooden, who threw 744.2 innings in his first three seasons with the Mets, does not believe there is any measurable benefit to limiting a pitcher’s workload in order to prevent injury.
“I think it slows down development,” Gooden said. “There’s a big difference between throwing 100 pitches in four innings and 100 pitches in eight innings, or when you’re getting out of jams with men on second and third or when it’s just always ground balls.
“I think when they came out with ‘The Joba Rules’ they ruined that kid’s career, he was never the same after that. If you’re a pitcher unfortunately all you need to do is throw one pitch and you can blow out your arm, whether it’s in a game or working out at home, that’s just how it is.”
Nearly fifteen years removed from his last game, Gooden, who turned 50 earlier this month, can now look back and truly appreciate his career accomplishments.
“I think I appreciated it then, but I really appreciate it more now,” Gooden said.
“There are times when you’re talking about it with other people that you don’t feel rushed anymore. What I mean by that is when you’re a player, everything is fast, you shake hands fast, talk fast, sign autographs fast because you have to go out and do your work.
“Now you take your time, take pictures, hear the fans tell you where they were at a certain time when certain events took place. It’s always good to share memories with the fans and understand the joy you brought to their homes or how everything stopped on the day you were pitching.”
And if Gooden’s predictions for the Mets come true, everything in New York will stop once again, 30 years later.
