3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Hit New Season Low In Baltimore

Life hasn’t been easy for the New York Mets post Trade Deadline. After being swept by the Kansas City Royals – who emerged out of nowhere to become one of the hottest teams in baseball – the Amazins’ were dealt exactly the same fate by the Baltimore Orioles.

Since Ownership and the front office took the decision to pull the trigger on a dramatic pivot at the Deadline, the Mets have lost six straight. It marked the first time since 2017 that this franchise went winless on a road trip of six or more games. They are also now a season-worst 11 games under .500 – the most games they’ve plunged beneath the .500 mark since July 2019. That should tell you exactly how desperately bad things have got for this team.

Running out what looks like a Triple-A lineup nearly every game, coupled with the fact the red-hot Cubs are next up on the schedule, the picture looks set to remain pretty bleak for the Mets for the rest of the way in 2023. At least. So, you will have to excuse us if we’re reaching when it comes to our positives section. There aren’t a lot of good things to say when it comes to the state of the New York mets right now.

3 Up

Quintana The Stud

There isn’t a whole lot to get excited about the current incarnation of the Mets. That applies to the starting rotation too. With Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander gone, Carlos Carrasco clearly well into the back nine of his career and the back end of this starting staff up in the air, this rotation is an absolute hot mess right now. Be thankful for José Quintana, then. The veteran has come exactly as advertised through his first four starts for the Mets, and he was money on Sunday too.

Quintana allowed two earned runs on six hits while walking two and striking out six in six very solid innings of work. Poor defense, including another error from Mark Vientos at third, didn’t help Quintana’s cause, nor did an impotent offense. The lefty has allowed just 12 runs in roughly 25 innings through his first four starts as a Met. That’s pretty, pretty, pretty good to quote the great Larry David.

Bodies Coming Back

You couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed when the Mets announced their lineup on Sunday. You had DJ Stewart batting cleanup, Rafael Ortega in the outfield and Omar Narváez hitting fifth. If you are serious about winning baseball games, which the Mets probably aren’t at this point, that’s not the lineup you put out.

However, the good news is that some actual established MLB bodies are on their way back. Brandon Nimmo started two of three games in Baltimore, then pinch-hit against the Orioles on Sunday. Starling Marte also returned to the lineup over the weekend, although his disaster of a season continued as he went a combined 0-for-8 at the plate. Regardless, if this team is going to steady the ship even a little bit the rest of the way, then having proven commodities in the lineup will go a long way to helping that cause.

Accountability

Okay, we told you we would be reaching in this section. On Saturday night, as the Mets were getting beat up in an embarrassing 10-3 loss to the O’s, Owners Steve and Alex Cohen sent out a passionate letter, or maybe a mea culpa more to the point, to Mets Ticket holders. In it, the Cohens effectively apologized for how the 2023 season flew off the rails. They then doubled down on their promise to construct a competitive roster in 2024. It was a long but detailed and impassioned explanation of the thinking behind the change in philosophy this year.

And you have to give the Cohen’s credit for that. Look, you can still be angry at how this season has transpired. You can be bummed that the 2023 Mets will go down as one of the biggest busts in recent memory. You can also even be a little dubious about whether or not the slew of high-end prospects this team loaded up with at the Trade Deadline will actually translate to future success in the Major Leagues.

With all that said, though, at least ownership isn’t hiding away from the mess they’ve helped to create. A lot of other owners would be hunkering down right now (Jim Dolan, anyone). Instead, Steve Cohen in particular has got in front of this and is holding himself, and his staff, accountable. That has to count for something.

3 Down

Hard To Watch

Let’s lead off this section with this; you aren’t having a whole lot of fun as a Mets fan right now. Having to watch DJ Stewart bat cleanup, coupled with seeing Rafael Ortega in the outfield most days, isn’t conducive to a good viewing experience. Nor is witnessing Omar Narváez hitting fifth, or Mark Vientos committing a slew of errors at the hot corner in big spots. These past six games have been one mammoth melting pot of pain and suffering for Mets fans. I’d also like to bet that a fair chunk of the fanbase wanted to throw themselves into a boiling vat of soup in the wake of a humiliating weekend in Baltimore. It is unwatchable baseball at this point, but the worse is probably still to come.

Buckle up, Mets fans, the race to have one of the worst records in all of baseball in 2023 is very much on.

Couldn’t Hit A Beach Ball

I feel the above heading was apt given the dumpster fire that is the Mets’ offense. Wow, the bats stink right now and it wasn’t pretty in Baltimore. Far from it. While this offense somehow managed to put together 11 hits through the first two games against the Orioles, they reached new lows on Sunday. The bats vanished, recording just four meager hits with no runs and just one lousy extra-base hit. It wasted another stellar start from José Quintana. This stumbling offense has now failed to score more than three runs for a fifth consecutive game. Of all of their myriad of problems right now, the Mets’ inability to hit and score runs is perhaps the most glaring.

Rotation Of Nightmares

While Steve Cohen has made it known that the Mets won’t be shopping at Macy’s this coming Winter, it has become clear that a considerable amount of resources will need to be poured into the rotation. Outside of José Quintana and Kodai Senga, there is a slew of serious question marks hovering around this staff heading into 2024. That was proven yet again on Saturday night as Tylor Megill, back in the rotation, laid a Godzilla-sized egg on the mound. He allowed five earned runs on nine hits, including a pair of home runs, and was pulled before the completion of the fifth inning.

Yes, Megill’s stuff was good as his fastball peaked at 98.8 mph, but that just elicited greater contact from the O’s. With both Megill and David Peterson largely failing to deliver when given the opportunity, it is becoming apparent that a hell of a lot of work is going to be needed in order to perform much-needed plastic surgery on this rotation heading into 2024.