I have tried to avoid writing this post about the New York Mets because I felt that eventually they would turn this season around but, it doesn’t look like they even know how to do that. The offense is horrible, the pitching is even worse and there seems to be no leadership on a team that won 101 games in 2022. As of May 11, 2023, the Mets are 18-20 and losers of seven of their last 10 games and falling hard down the standings.
There is no secret to how much the Mets spent in the offseason to build up their team to possibly win a World Series Title in 2023, but as good as they look on paper, they look horrible on the field. What is going on?
I honestly do not have an answer as I am sure not many other people do as well. The Mets are my team, and this is the worse I have seen in a long time. It’s like they are still emotionally spent from when Edwin Diaz went down with the season ending injury in the World Baseball Classic and have not gotten over it. The injury bug has been a major issue also to the rest of the pitching staff, and the crazy part is that is where most of Steve Cohen’s money was spent.
First Carlos Carrasco has three horrible starts then goes on the DL with right elbow inflammation on April 18th and was just sent to rehab in Binghamton on May 9th. Elieser Hernandez, who was traded to the Mets by the Miami Marlins in the off season, has not thrown in 2023 as he has been out since he was placed on the DL on March 30th with a right shoulder strain. Jose Quintana, who signed a free agent contract with the Mets in the off season, was placed on the DL on March 30th with a left rib fracture and on April 11th, his status was changed from 15 to 60 days.
Justin Verlander, who just returned from his sting on the DL, and has made two starts since, and looks to be in the right form, as he threw seven innings, of two hit baseball, allowing just one run, two walks and struck out seven, to earn his first win as a Met on Tuesday. Max Scherzer has shown some signs of dominance, except for his last outing on May 3rd, where he threw, 3.1 innings, allowing eight hits, six runs, two home runs, a walk and struck out three batters. Scherzer was expected to start on May 9th, but was scratched due to neck spasms.
As for offense and probably the best signing in the off season was Brandon Nimmo, as he is the only player on the team that is hitting above .300. He had a hot April, batting .341 and so far in May, he is at .273, but has hit safely in 8 of his last 11 games and still getting on base more than most of the other players.
Cohen decided to not make many changes with the offense, with the idea that if they hit like they did in 2022, it would be a great 2023 season. Well other then some spurts here and there, the offense has not been on the same page long enough to win ball games. Can’t deny that Pete Alonso is having one his better power output seasons, as he has 13 home runs as of May 11th and in 2022, he finished the month of May with 12 total on the season. Francisco Lindor, Mark Canha, Jeff McNeil and Starling Marte are struggling, which is hurting the team to remain consistent.
The Mets did decide to bring up rookies Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez and so far they have both played decent baseball, but not enough to say they can carry the team. There were some reports earlier in the week that the Mets would promote their other two star studded prospects in Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos, but even if they do, can the Mets guarantee them consistent playing time? And if they do, who sits? Are the Mets ready to hand over the team to their top rookies and sit the regulars? I highly doubt it.
It is an absolute joy to watch Ronny Mauricio play baseball.
His FOURTH double of the week already!
And he hit it 112 MPH off the bat 😳 pic.twitter.com/Xfc5RQ4vdI
— Syracuse Mets (@SyracuseMets) May 11, 2023
The most recent and interesting signing for the Mets was bringing in catcher Gary Sanchez, who New York signed to a minor league contract on May 9th. With catchers Omar Narvaez and Tomas Nido, both on the DL for an indefinite amount of time, maybe Sanchez will bring the veteran leadership to Alvarez, but is he the right person for that job as well?
I do believe that now is the time to start playing winning baseball and not keep dropping series’ after series’ to mediocre teams.
Over the past several weeks, the Mets split the series with the San Francisco Giants in April, they went into Washington and lost two of three to the Nationals, went to Atlanta, lost two of three to the Braves, were swept by the Detroit Tigers, lost two of three to the Colorado Rockies, and lost two of three to the Cincinnati Reds. In a time when most Mets fans believed that the past several weeks were probably the best opportunity to get on track, The Mets unfortunately squandered the opportunity.
What’s next?
Well Steven Cohen will not allow the Mets to continue down this road, without making some changes to spark the team, and the hope is that, this team can turn it around before that happens. But the writing is on the wall that something has to give.
Its true, it is not all on the offensive side as teams can’t always avoid the injury bug, but it all comes down to age and a win now mentality. Cohen would do an injustice to the fans if he allowed this to go on for a full summer, and not do something. Maybe a minor shake up, maybe sit the stars and bring up the rookie studs and give them a crack at turning this thing around. But either way, the pitching has to be better and they have to step up.
What happened to Diaz was just unreal to fathom, but that can not define the Mets season because on paper they are better than they are playing now. They just have to find that spark and ride the wave.
Us Mets fans hope its that easy.
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