The injuries. The underperformance. The lack of any real conviction or commitment to succeed from this organization. The at-times baffling soundbites we get from this team…
All of it has left their players — the only ones who seem to put forth maximum effort when it comes to the betterment of the New York Mets — in a less-than-desirable position; covering for their bosses.
“Come get us,” said first-time general manager Brodie Van Wagenen as the Mets were getting ready to embark on what was sold to the fans as a new era of sorts. No pressure, guys.
A sharper analytical focus, a renewed dedication to situational hitting, and major-league ready reinforcements at the Triple-A level were supposed to shore up the litany of internal deficiencies this organization’s dealt with over the last 15-odd years.
What’s transpired is a seemingly never-ending stream of disappointment. Van Wagenen’s bold “win now and win later” rallying cry has transformed to him proclaiming “this is right where we want to be” as the Mets meander below .500 and rapidly fade from contention in the NL East.
Outfielder Michael Conforto spoke to the media on Tuesday regarding the Mets’ underwhelming season thus far, and — unlike some suits within the organization — was willing to be held fully accountable for this team’s shortcomings.
“You look around the room and see all the talent we have. That’s the biggest thing for me. I see a group that should be winning a lot more games than we are,” Conforto said (video via Justin Toscano of The Record). “I think it’s frustrating for us to go out there and underperform and not execute, and not play the brand of baseball we set out to play.”
“At the end of the day, we just gotta look in the mirror and say, ‘We’re not doing our job’. We have the talent in here, we just have to execute and we just have to get the job done.”
Between guys like Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz, and the Mets’ offense — whose 102 wRC+ and .321 wOBA rank fifth and eighth in the NL, respectively — behind powerhouse rookie Pete Alonso, the aforementioned Conforto, the perpetually-hitting Jeff McNeil, as well as Wilson Ramos and Robinson Cano (maybe?), there are wins to be had, folks.
Depth guys like Dominic Smith, Adeiny Hechavarria, and J.D. Davis have given the Mets’ bench a viable array of options for Callaway to draw from. Even Jason Vargas, deemed as cooked by most entering the season, has contributed significantly. There’s still life here.
If the Mets’ bullpen could get their house in order, maybe this team can climb out of the doldrums. Their 5.38 ERA as a group ranks only ahead of the Washington Nationals in terms of NL bullpens. Let’s hope Tuesday’s relief corps shakeup has some positive effects before things spiral too far out of control.
Improved performance out of the ‘pen and overcoming potentially devastating injuries to Noah Syndergaard and Brandon Nimmo are the first steps to this team getting back in the race. A series win here and a hot stretch there — combined with the Braves slowing down at some point (hopefully) — couldn’t hurt either.
But if the losses continue to mount, things are only going to continue to get uglier in Flushing. We’ve seen it happen before.
