Mr. Vaccaro, I Beg To Differ...

Earlier today, John posted (no pun intended) a recap of Mike Vaccaro's column from today's NY Post, which purports to list the most talented Mets' of all time. We're talking talent here, and that means not simply stats but pure, natural ability. He listed, in order:

1- Beltran

2- Strawberry

3- Seaver

4- Gooden

5- Reyes

6- Ryan

7- Piazza

8- Jones

9- Wright

10- Hernandez

To rate Carlos Beltran ahead of Seaver is astounding! On top of that, Strawberry had the most pure talent of any hitter the Mets' have ever had, including Beltran, whom I would list third behind Seaver and Strawberry. The fact is, Seaver is one of the five or six best pitchers of the last century. No one else on Vaccaro's list can come close to that status, including Nolan Ryan, a personal favorite of mine. Amos Otis, Rusty Staub and Ken Singleton all had at least as much, if not more, talent then Cleon Jones. I think I'd rank their talent as follows (and to be fair to Mr. Vaccaro, whose talents we respect greatly, we made our list a "Top 15" as, in our opinion, limiting it to 10 was too little.)

15-Otis

14-Koosman

13-Singleton

12-Jones

11-Staub

10-Hernandez

9- Carter

8- Wright

7- Reyes

6- Piazza

5- Ryan

4- Gooden

3- Beltran

2- Strawberry

1-Seaver

What's your opinion? Let us know!!! Send us your "Top 10 (or 15) Most Talented Mets!" We'll publish a sampling of your opinions later this week- but you have to let us know what you think so we can make this happen!!