Say It Isn’t so, Mets!

If I have to sum up the Mets’ season so far in one word, it has to be “F.” The Mets set the record with the highest payroll in MLB history this offseason, so everyone was expecting them to play like the Avengers because their payroll ($344,875,664) is higher than the GDP of the Czech Republic.

But no, not only are they below .500 by a few games, they’re blowing significant leads and can’t hold on to a game to save themselves. And the worst part is the Miami Marlins are ahead of them in the NL East, not wallowing in last place like they usually do. 

It seems as though the Mets should be tearing the cover off of the ball with the massive payroll they have, but that’s obviously not the case, as offense remains their biggest struggle.

Pete Alonso leads the league in home runs, except now he’s injured for a couple of weeks, and rookie Mark Vientos has to fill in, out of position, and he can’t find himself at the plate. Francisco Lindor cannot hit anything right now; he has the most at-bats on the team, with the lowest batting average among qualified players (3.1 plate appearances per team game). He leads the team in strikeouts, but Buck Showalter can’t take him out of the lineup because he’s getting paid so much, so it would be a waste of money.

The two stars of the team this season, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo, have played great, but two guys can’t carry a team to being good (just look at Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout on the Angels).

I’ve also been very impressed with Starling Marte, who, after starting out terribly, has been great. He has the second-most stolen bases in the NL and hitting well. But the problem which has persisted for as long as I can remember is hitting in clutch situations, and the Mets just cannot do it, their rallies are built on walks and hit-by-pitches. I can’t even suggest a solution because nothing seems to work. 

The Mets' pitching, a great strong suit of years past, has not been great. The Mets signed Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander for about $40 million apiece, and they both have a 4.40 ERA so far this season, not great at all. The Mets’ potential NL Rookie of the Year Kodai Senga has been playing alright, getting a lot of outs, primarily through strikeouts but he’s been walking a TON of hitters, some days allowing more walks than hits. But, I’ll take what I can get from him.

The rest of the starters cannot be trusted at all, Tylor Megill, David Peterson, and Carlos Carrasco will either throw a very average game or completely blow the game wide open in the third inning. Even if one of the starters was to throw an above-average game, the bullpen would then lose it.

I find it funny how only two relievers can be trusted consistently: David Robertson and Brooks Raley. The only pitchers you’ll find on the whole team with a sub-2.80 ERA. Robertson has been elite in the closer role and I’ve been impressed with Raley as the Mets have struggled to find a solid lefty reliever for the longest time. It is really difficult for Buck not to blow a game in the later innings when John Curtiss, Jeff Brigham, and Dominic Leone are three relievers that need to be trusted to get quality outs (potentially against the heart of teams’ orders). Adam Ottavino and Drew Smith have been really solid compared to the rest of the bullpen, but they have their occasional moments where they will go a couple of outings in a row giving up a few runs. It’s almost like I say this in every single blog I write about the Mets, but especially now: they have to shell out for a reliever before the trade deadline because if by some miracle they make the playoffs, they are going to get embarrassed after some random reliever blows a five-run lead in the eighth inning. 

I’m not sure increasing the payroll to half a billion will help the Mets, and it might even hurt them. But here’s an idea: blow the team up and start fresh! Maybe in 200 years Mets fans will be celebrating a World Series, instead of 300.