June crept up on us… well, crept up on me. In what should have been last week’s roundtable (but then I got distracted by asking everyone what position the Mets need to update in the interim), we take a look at what surprised us the month from the Mets during the month of May.
After following this team since my childhood in the late 90s, there’s few things that could surprise me with the Mets. Winning – especially given the circumstances – is one of them.
After losing 17 major league players in May, the Mets somehow managed to coincidentally win 17 games, losing nine. They had win streaks of seven and five games throughout the month, they pitched and fielded at an elite level, guys with numbers in the 60s, 70s and 80s made contributions. Honestly, whatever happens this season, the month of May could stamp itself in Met history books.
Or it could be forgotten as a distant memory to the most diehard fans. Either way, it was pretty fun. Major league players are coming back and June has tended to be the Mets’ Achilles heel.
There are bigger stories to come, bigger goals to reach. In some ways it’s probably pretty sad that a team managing to win more games than it loses is the most surprising development in a given month. But it’s still the Mets; and hey, what a pleasant surprise it was.
Resiliency – The Mets suffered injury after injury in the month of May but still somehow found a way to go 17-9. Strong play by multiple role players and the overall performance from the pitching staff played key roles, but I don’t think Luis Rojas gets enough credit.
In today’s baseball, managers have such a small window to make their mark on the team –lots of decision like lineups/pitching usage are made by FO– but the one way they can is holding a clubhouse together and getting the most of of their guys.
In May, the Mets battled loads of injuries and Rojas also had to deal with setbacks/poor performance when it came to the pitching staff. Rojas managed to juggle all of this to not only keep the Mets afloat, but put them in first place.
I’m not trying to overplay the importance of the manager –it’s mostly on the players regardless of win/loss– but Luis Rojas did a fine drop of making sure the Mets continued being competitive despite putting out what looked like traveling Spring Training rosters for a portion of May.
Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
This has been going on longer than just the month of May, but I’m still pleasantly surprised at how the bullpen has performed.
The Mets’ bullpen has underwhelmed rather consistently in recent years, and most of it has been because there weren’t many relievers for the manager to actually depend on in high-leverage situations. It wasn’t a coincidence that Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman were constantly among the league leaders in relief innings pitched — nobody else was deemed trustworthy.
That’s far from the case this year, though. Heading into Thursday’s action, the Mets have nine relievers with a positive fWAR, and their bullpen fWAR of 3.0 is the best in baseball (despite throwing the second-fewest innings). May was especially challenging because of all the injuries. Including openers, nine different Mets hurlers started a game last month. Jacob deGrom and Taijuan Walker both missed time, and there were a number of occasions where the relievers had to do the heavy lifting in victories.
They’ve been up to the task. It seems like their roles are well defined and the workload has been spread out reasonably well, which is a little easier to do when pitchers show an ability to get the job done.
The biggest surprise of May is that the Mets finished the month in first place. The team was essentially unrecognizable due to injuries, yet they persevered and remained in first place. Sure, they had their rough patches, such as being swept in Tampa Bay. But the “Bench Mob” and the “Replace Mets” were able to hold down the fort. As the month drew to a close. Jacob deGrom and Taijuan Walker returned from the injury list, hopefully the beginning of a trend of key players rejoining the team. Seventeen players on the injured list (many of them starters) somehow equalled first place. I’m not sure how that math works, but I like it.
Guys… Kevin Pillar got decked in the face and we all know what the aftermath of that looked like — a completely bruised Pillar who made sure fans knew he was “fine” after the game despite suffering multiple nasal fractures. What?! If that wasn’t hardcore enough, he returned to the lineup just two weeks after the fact.
Another thing that must be mentioned is the “Bench Mob” — that Pillar is part of — that has entirely stepped up during a reign of non-stop injuries. They’ve helped carry this team throughout the month. Tomas Nido, Jonathan Villar, Jose Peraza, Mason Williams, and of course Kevin Pillar are guys contributing and being talked about. Most Mets fans likely didn’t even think much of them prior to the month of May.
