Welcome to the new reality of the 2023 New York Mets.
After selling off a slew of key pieces at the Trade Deadline, the new-look Mets gave their fans a gloomy taste of what could follow over the coming months and indeed, throughout the 2024 season. They were swept by the lowly Kansas City Royals, a team who have already piled up 75 losses this year. It was far from pretty, and more dark days are likely on the horizon for the foreseeable future for this team.
3 Up
Alonso Settling Into A Groove
It couldn’t have been easy to have been Pete Alonso this past week. With speculation raging that the Mets were willing to listen to offers on their slugging first baseman, coupled with gossip that he could be dealt in the offseason, you couldn’t have blamed Alonso for not being focused. However, the masher was able to block out the noise and instead continued to show signs that he was turning a corner. After being named the National League Player of the Week following a strong finish to July, Alonso blasted his 32nd homer of the year in the opening game of the series in Kansas. He also had two RBIs in that game and picked up two more hits on Thursday after going 0-for-4 on Wednesday. Now hitting .298 with five home runs and 15 RBIs over his previous 15 games, Alonso will look to finish a frustrating 2023 on an absolute tear, no matter what his future may look like.
Lindor The Leader
You can probably say with conviction now that Steve Cohen’s best business as owner so far was trading for and extending Francisco Lindor to a long-term deal. Despite a down first year in Queens, the silky shortstop has been a consistent big-time producer both at the plate and in the field for the Mets. Plus, Lindor has morphed into a leader in that clubhouse, and that has been proven over the past week. With the franchise rapidly pivoting and changing direction significantly, leading to far bigger questions about the future, Lindor has made a real effort to come out and say all the right things. He’s made it crystal clear that this franchise is committed to winning long-term and that he wants to be a part of that, and he also spoke about wanting to help the younger players know what it takes to compete in the wake of being swept by the Royals. Having one of your faces of the franchise come out and publicly be a constant source of positivity after such a mammoth upheaval is certainly a good sign for the Mets.
Mets Earning Praise
We’re a few days removed from the Trade Deadline, and there’s still a lot to unpack from what the Mets did. Ultimately, it’s okay to be angry that the front office punted on this season and maybe next, but it’s also okay to give them credit for making the best of a bad situation. General manager Billy Eppler, while he has to be held accountable for ultimately constructing a flawed roster, managed to dramatically replenish and bolster the farm system overnight. And Eppler and the Mets are earning universal praise throughout MLB for the moves they made, with scouts and evaluators impressed by the amount of high-end talent they could stockpile. So, while it may be tough to accept where this team is right now, there is at least some comfort to be taken because a boatload of smart baseball people believes the Mets immensely helped their future outlook.
Buck Showalter and Carlos Carrasco. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
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The New Reality
Familiar with the saying, ‘It will get worse before it gets better?’ That can be applied to the Mets right now. For at least the rest of the 2023 season, if not next year, too, there will be some pretty dark days to overcome. We had a brief taste of that in this series, with the Mets being swept by a Royals team with the second-worst record in Major League Baseball. The stumbling offense avoided a second straight shutout in the series finale, but they have now scored two runs or fewer on 40 occasions this season. Yeah, that is not great. While the future may look brighter than it did before in terms of a restocked farm system, there are going to be some pretty large growing pains to navigate before Mets fans can get excited about their team again.
Is The End Near?
It might be time to accept that Carlos Carrasco isn’t an effective starter in Major League Baseball anymore. The veteran is enduring a nightmare season for the ages, and it didn’t get any better in Kansas City. Carrasco allowed six runs on eight hits across six innings. He also didn’t record a single strikeout in a start since August 10, 2021, against the Nationals. The 36-year-old has allowed 21 runs across 15.1 innings in four starts for a 12.33 ERA since the All-Star Break. That is just brutal.
Show Me Something
The biggest priority for the Mets down the stretch will be assessing what talent they have in-house, particularly among their prospects. The front office already knows they have their franchise catcher in Francisco Álvarez, but the future is very murky regarding third base. Brett Baty has shown flashes of talent at the hot corner and at the plate, but he’s been way too inconsistent, and he’s been mired in an all-time slump for a while now. Baty went hitless against the Royals, striking out five times, and he’s now hitting just .185 with 34 strikeouts over his last 30 games. These next few months are going to be absolutely instrumental in terms of Baty proving that he can stick long-term in the bigs. We might be edging closer to make-or-break territory here.
