If the Mets were to make the playoffs at this stage of the season, it would be a miracle like that of the team from 50 years prior. Four games back with 13 left would be quite an obstacle to overcome.
It’s been a fun year with meaningful summer baseball. But that wasn’t how it was supposed to go down.
After being tabbed as the new general manager and trading in his agent status for a front office role, Brodie Van Wagenen preached a winning culture and being “relentless in the pursuit of greatness.”
So what happened?
Van Wagenen’s first deal was to mortgage the future in outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic and pitching prospect in exchange for a package of veteran Robinson Cano and closer Edwin Diaz.
A blockbuster move for sure, and had the Mets complemented that with some other high profile signings, you could argue that they did their best to go “all in.” But they didn’t.
After that trade, they added catcher Wilson Ramos, infielder Jed Lowrie, former Met Jeurys Familia, reliever Justin Wilson and added J.D. Davis and Keon Broxton via trades. Deals with decent upside, sure. But far from marquee signings.
Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil made the team out of Spring Training and led the charge offensively out of the gates, but an unfinished bullpen served the Mets a plethora of losses.
Then they continued to sink. Before the All-Star break, the Mets were 11 games under .500 and destined for another lost season.
Brodie Van Wagenen’s challenge for the other teams in the East to “come and get [the Mets]” turned into “they came and got us.”
Miraculously, the Mets went on a tear and got back in the race. It was a second opportunity to bring in some pieces to round out the roster.
They made a big trade to get Marcus Stroman from the Blue Jays, but didn’t do anything else at the trade deadline besides trade Jason Vargas to the Phillies for a bag of baseballs…erm…Austin Bossart.
Sure, they brought in Joe Panik and Brad Brach after the fact, but the point is, if the Mets were going to trade away all these prospects this year, and especially make a play for Stroman midseason, they should have done all they could to go for it.
They didn’t.
The Mets have been a resilient team. There’s no doubt about that. They have a lot of talent, which you can’t argue either. However, when you have an incomplete bullpen that you did very little to improve (see Donnie Hart, Brooks Pounders, Wilmer Font) and a bench that was anemic for months (Adeiny Hechavarria, Aaron Altherr, Carlos Gomez, Ruben Tejada), it’s extremely difficult to compete.
If the Mets are able to somehow finagle a playoff spot, they’d be deserving. But it would also be unfair to not mention that the front office half assed the year and didn’t set the team up for long term success while also selling off the farm system.
