Gary Cohen says these are the 1984 Mets; I think they're more like 1983.

The New York Post has some great quotes from Gary Cohen about his optimism for the 2012 New York Mets:

"“Mets fans always talk about ’84. They had gone through seven straight horrible seasons and then all of a sudden there was a great young infusion of talent — (broadcast partners) Ronnie (Darling) and Keith (Hernandez) were a part of that — and they won 90 games out of nowhere and that led up to the World Series a few years later. Those are the years the Mets fans tend to relish and what they are waiting for.”"

With all due respect to Mr. Cohen, this team actually reminds me more of 1983. That team had a veteran leader (Keith Hernandez) and a rising star (Darryl Strawberry) but it also had an aging former power hitter (George Foster). Most of the players making the buzz though were yet to be major leaguers: Ron Darling, Dwight Gooden, Sid Fernandez, Lenny Dykstra. And even Strawberry and Hernandez didn't join the team until May 6th and June 15th of that year, respectively.

This year's team has a veteran leader (David Wright), a couple of rising stars (Ike Davis and Lucas Duda), and an aging power hitter (Jason Bay). But most of the buzz is still on the farm (Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, Zack Wheeler, Jordany Valdespin, Kirk Neiuwenhuis, Matt den Dekkar, Jenrry Mejia.)

I hope Gary Cohen is right but it seems more likely that I will be.