3 UP
1. Young Offensive Core
The best part of the Mets is their young core which keeps growing. Front and center so far this year has been Pete Alonso, who has set Mets just about every Mets rookie record there is in the first half of the season. He won the Home Run Derby, and he delivered a two RBI single in the All Star Game. Overall, he has been much better than anyone could have imagined.
Jeff McNeil entered the season without a set position, and he has emerged as a player who has been a more than capable defender at four positions. He has been doing this while leading the National League in hitting.
Michael Conforto has built upon his strong finish to last season with a strong first half where he has a 124 wRC+ and has played a good right field before being pressed back into duty in center.
Dominic Smith has re-emerged as a top young talent in this organization. So far this year, Smith is hitting .304/.389/.551, and he actually has a 1 DRS in left field in limited duty. With his improved physique and play in the outfield, you do wonder if he could be there on a long term basis.
All of these players are under 30 and still under team control. Despite everything that has happened, the Mets still have a good cost offensive controlled core that should be the envy of many Major League teams. Even if your 2019 hopes have been completely dashed, there is still reason to be optimistic for the future.
2. DeGrom Still An Ace
Aside from a small blip when he was sick and injured, Jacob deGrom has been the same pitcher he was last year. He began the year not allowing a run in his first two starts. Since May 1, he has a 2.79 ERA with a 1.000 WHIP and a 10.2 K/9.
Currently, he’s at a career best 11.3 K/9, and his 5.52 K/BB is the second best in his career. Opposing batters are hitting just .229/.278/.381 off of him. The end result was his being named an All-Star for the third time in his career, and in that game he had another dominating performance needing just seven pitches to get through the third inning.
The All Star Game just highlighted what we already know about deGrom. He is the best of the best. Fortunately, he has a contract extension under his belt and will likely be a Met for his entire career.
3. Honoring The Past
When Citi Field opened Mets fans bemoaned how much team history had not been honored. The narratives about the team not caring about its past or its best players proved true when they removed Dwight Gooden’s signature off a wall.
Nine years later it seems like the Mets have finally gotten things right. Citi Field’s new address is 41 Seaver Way, and there are plans to finally build a Tom Seaver statue. This came on the same weekend the Mets held a beautiful ceremony honoring the 1969 Mets.
Over the course of the season, Jay Horowitz has interviewed former players on his podcast, and we have seen former players visit Citi Field to meet fans and sign autographs.
It took longer than we all wanted, but the Mets are finally embracing their past. This is a good thing we should all celebrate.
3 DOWN
1. Brodie Wasn’t The Answer
Brodie Van Wagenen’s first offseason and first half of a season has been worse than anyone could have imagined. His acquisitions have combined for a -0-6 bWAR. That includes Robinson Cano (-0.9) and Edwin Diaz (-0.4). Making that trade worse was Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn rising on top 100 prospect rankings and Jay Bruce and Anthony Swarzak getting traded in division and helping the Mets competition beat them.
The Mets have also had a number of PR disasters. There was Mickey Callaway‘s and Jason Vargas‘ altercation with Tim Healey of Newsday with Vargas still not having apologized. Soon after was the revelation Van Wagenen has been directing Callaway to make decisions during games. When reporters have sought access to speak with him about issues, they have been rebuffed on a number of occasions. As we know, when you attempt to ignore the media, they only ramp up the pressure making things all the more difficult.
Van Wagenen also threw a chair during a meeting with coaches.
Long gone is the bravado of declaring the Mets the team to beat and challenging the division to “Come get us.” Unfortunately, everyone but the Marlins have come to get a Mets team 10 games under .500 with the second worst record in the National League.
2. Same Problems
The two biggest issues the Mets needed to address were the bullpen and the defense. Last year, the Mets 4.96 bullpen ERA was the third worst in baseball. Their -77 DRS was the second worst in the National League and the fourth worst in baseball.
The Mets 5.63 bullpen ERA is even worse than last year, and it is still the third worst in the game. This is the result of Diaz not performing anywhere near like the reliever he was with the Mariners, and Jeurys Familia not even being a shell of his self. The issues run much deeper than that with much of the Mets purported pitching depth faltering. To put things in perspective, among relievers who have made at least three relief appearances, Paul Sewald‘s 3.86 ERA is the second best in the bullpen.
The Mets -68 DRS is the worst in the majors. In analyzing why the defense has been so poor, you don’t even know where to being. There is Mark Simon‘s article in The Athletic which outlined how the Mets shifting has actually cost them runs this season making them one of the worst four teams in the majors in shifting.
There are players playing out of position with both J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith playing left field. Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto have been patrolling center. On top of that, Amed Rosario is the worst defender in the majors with a -16 DRS. When you dig deeper, you see the Mets and the Orioles are the only two teams with multiple players in the bottom 15 in DRS.
The problems are really multilayered with even Juan Lagares struggling in the field. When you can’t even count on Lagares to play well defensively, you know things are bad.
One other note on the same old problems is the way the Mets mismanage injuries. The team had Nimmo playing with a bulging disc in his neck knowing it had not healed. The team also unnecessarily rushed Travis d’Arnaud back from a rehab assignment leading to his poor play and eventual release.
3. The Baseball
Dr. Meredith Wills of The Athletic explained how the baseball changed to have “lower seams, smoother leather, greater spherical symmetry.” According to her analysis, this has led to a more aerodynamic ball, which has attributed to the home run surge.
Justin Verlander has opined this was all intentional in an attempt to produce more home runs. He’s hardly alone in that belief. There is some credibility to his statements when you consider Major League Baseball owns Rawlings thereby giving them the ability to direct changes like this.
In terms of the Mets, it has affected their ability to pitch. Syndergaard specifically has described the ball as feeling like a cue ball, and it has made it difficult for him to throw his slider. Overall, we see much of the Mets pitching staff move away from their once vaunted sliders and now focus on four seamers and curves.
In a way, the Mets were snakebitten. They built a team on pitching and a pitching staff with the slider potentially being their greatest strength. With the new ball, that strength became their weakness, and now who knows where the Mets or the baseball go from here.
