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The New York Mets lost a fifth consecutive series and their fourth to a bad team, dropping two of three to the Cincinnati Reds. All facets of the team were once again off kilter, making the questions about this team grow ever louder. How can a $350 million payroll come to this? Even with the $100 million that’s not currently on the field, the Mets’ 26-man roster is still the most expensive in baseball by $30 million. It may just be the worst team money can buy right now.

The questions get louder and the discontent becomes ever more manifest. This was supposed to be a World Series contender. Now, they’re within throwing distance of the Washington Nationals. In fact, if they lose another series to the sub-.500 team over the weekend, the teams could be tied after Sunday’s game or worse.

3 Up

Álvarez Announcing His Arrival

Francisco Álvarez wasn’t supposed to be in the majors at this point. After all, he needed more seasoning behind the plate and more discipline in his hitting approach. The injury to Omar Narváez may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, though, as it announced the arrival of the rookie ahead of schedule.

Álvarez went 4-for-10 against the Reds, highlighted by his two solo home runs in the series opener. After just missing a homer on Sunday, Álvarez took advantage of the Great American Ballpark bandbox to stretch two of them out. He also had two hits in the finale, including a double. In the middle game, he worked out a seven-pitch walk with two outs after falling behind in the count, setting up Nimmo’s go-ahead RBI single in the top of the fourth inning.

Furthermore, Álvarez threw out his first baserunner after faking a throw to make sure the runner from third would not try to score. The Reds were trying to catch the kid unaware, but it didn’t work.

The development of the Mets’ prospects has taken a front seat over their aspirations to win in the early going. Álvarez has given them something to be hopeful for even if the season continues off the rails. When Narváez returns, it increasingly appears that Tomás Nido’s roster spot is jeopardized rather than Álvarez’s.

Verlander Verified

Justin Verlander‘s first start with the Mets was okay, but he showed a trend that he has followed throughout his career: he got stronger as the game went on. In his second start against the Reds, Verlander mapped out that blueprint again, scuffling in the first inning before finding his rhythm. His seven innings of one-run ball were desperately needed and showed that the Mets have one reliable starter, something they haven’t had all season. He also retired 18 of his final 19 batters, hitting 97 mph on the radar gun in the seventh.

Verlander gave the Mets a spark of hope in a stretch that has sorely lacked it.

Nimmo Finding His Stroke Again

Brandon Nimmo has had a rollercoaster of a season so far. He started ice-cold, then went red-hot, then went cold again. In the series’ final two games, he looked like he started to heat up again. Nimmo finished the series 4-for-12 with the aforementioned game-winning RBI in the second game. He went 3-for-5 total in that contest and followed it up with a 1-for-3 effort with a walk.

Besides all the Mets who are underperforming with the bat this season, the streakiness of several of their players has sometimes done them in. The Mets could use a more consistent Nimmo for the rest of the way, even if he never reaches the heights of a few weeks ago when he seemingly couldn’t make an out.

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3 Down

Can You Even Call It a Starting Rotation?

Once David Peterson was sent down to the minors, the Mets likely hoped they wouldn’t have to use him again for the foreseeable future. His pitching is a mess, as demonstrated by his rough initial outing at Syracuse. However, Max Scherzer‘s neck spasms forced the team to bring Peterson back to the majors. He showed again vs. Cincinnati why he doesn’t belong with the big-league club.

3 1/3 innings of seven-hit, four-run ball will not cut it, even for a team’s sixth or seventh starter. He dug the Mets into a 3-0 hole after two, one that they fell short of overcoming. Obviously, the team’s hitting needs to be better, but it’s hard to win when the pitching is like this consistently.

Kodai Senga did one worse than Peterson, giving up four runs in the first inning of the finale. That 4-0 hole basically killed the game for the Mets before it started, and they wound up getting shut out for a league-worst seventh time.

Calling this a starting rotation is generous at this point. Per Baseball Reference, the Mets are tied for the second-fewest quality starts in baseball with six, representing just 16% of their total starts. Ironically, the team is tied for 11th in losses saved (five), meaning starts in which the starting pitcher was in line for the loss upon his exit from the game but was bailed out by his team. Meanwhile, they have just two wins lost, in which the starting pitcher was in line for the win, but the team blew it.

The starters have only themselves to blame for most of their woes. The 2022 rotation could have had legitimate gripes against their offense at times, but pitchers can’t complain about below-average run support (4.0 per 27 outs through Wednesday’s game, ranked 21st in baseball) when they are 25th in innings pitched per start (4.9) and have a cumulative ERA of 5.38 (23rd) and WHIP of 1.51 (27th).

At this point, the only rotation going on is a cycle of starting pitchers spinning their wheels. If things do not improve, Jeremy Hefner may find himself on the hot seat for failing to find answers.

Canha Can’t

Mark Canha was 1-for-7 against the Reds and has failed to get started this season. His .217/.295/.357/.652 slash line is one of the reasons for the Mets’ offensive struggles this year. His on-base percentage, in particular, is killing a team that relies on getting on base to score runs.

Perhaps part of Canha’s struggles can be attributed to poor luck, as his BABIP is just .239. However, a player who combines not hitting the ball hard (19th percentile in hard-hit rate) and an above-average average launch angle (13.9) is making a lot of soft contact in the air, which means that his balls in play are highly likely to be caught. That is three degrees higher than last season, on average.

Moving Canha down in the lineup might seem to be a solution, but there are too many Mets hitters to move down. Benching him also seems like a good idea until you realize that Starling Marte (.217/.288/.275/.563) is doing even worse, and Luis Guillorme (.255/.349/.291/.640), who usually takes Canha’s place in the lineup when Jeff McNeil plays the outfield, is at his ceiling as a hitter right now.

Brett Baty went 0-for-9 in the series, but his two walks and several hard-hit balls still put him somewhat ahead of Canha and out of the 3 Down section. McNeil also went 1-for-13 and could have been featured in this section, as well.

Can’t Buy a Hit with RISP

Once again, the Mets struggled as a team with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-16 (.125). They left 25 men on base in the three games while scoring eight total runs. That ratio of runs scored to those left on the table explains part of the Mets’ funk. It’s not that they can’t get on base (they’re 13th in team OBP), but they rank 22nd in runs scored. That disparity can primarily be explained by their 22nd ranking in SLG, which forces them to string together singles and walks to score runs.

Heading into this season, power was the biggest deficiency in the Mets’ lineup. Although it’s not the only problem, having multiple players who can hit one out at any point can cover up many ills. The Mets have only one player like that, and although Alonso leads all of baseball in that category, he doesn’t come up to bat enough in any given game.