Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
There’s just something about this team, isn’t there? We’ve all noticed it and we’re sure you do to. But how is this team different? There’s so many different answers, which is why I posed this question to our team here at MMO.
It feels like there are so many things that separate this years Mets team from years past. It’s only June (let’s see if this squad can reverse the dreaded ‘June swoon’ we’ve unfortunately become accustomed to) but their overall resiliency, passion, and enjoyment for each other’s success has been a joy to watch so far. Even with the array of injuries the Mets have endured so far, there has not been any sense of real panic or disarray which certainly feels different compared to similar scenarios in seasons past. I can’t say if it’s because of new ownership, management, the good start to the season, or it’s just a great mix of guys in the clubhouse, but this years Mets definitely feel different… in some awesome ways.
This team is different because of the adversity that has made it stronger. Every team has injuries, but the 2021 Mets have taken that to new levels. Through it all, they’ve stuck together and have had each others’ backs. Even when they had an internal quarrel (McNeil/Lindor), rather than being divisive, it further solidified them as a unit. They have that “Band of Brothers” mentality. We saw some of this in the back half of 2019, but that was born more of winning that seemed to come from nowhere. This year’s edition of the Mets has gelled around a series of bad breaks, and their camaraderie has translated into wins. And it’s great to see.
As soon as Steve Cohen bought the Mets, the team became different. It’s not just the removal of the Wilpon black cloud that hung over the franchise for so many years, it’s the fundamental willingness to build a major league caliber roster.
Heading into the year I loved what the team had available off the bench. Luis Guillorme, Jonathan Villar, Kevin Pillar, Albert Almora Jr. and Tomas Nido are versatile, experienced and capable. They’ve almost all showed that on some way or another already this season, but it goes beyond that.
In the past, when the injury bug has inevitably sunk its teeth into the Mets, there weren’t many feasible options as replacements. In 2021, not only have the first wave of backups been stellar — who knows where the team would be without the -illars — but the backups’ backups have as well.
Guys like Jose Peraza, Brandon Drury and Mason Williams — journeymen veterans — have made a huge difference for this team. They don’t have to plug in guys that have no business in the majors. They did pull from their prospect pool in Johneshwy Fargas and Khalil Lee, and obviously the team’s hand was forced in those cases before they would’ve liked, but they’re both legit prospects that got a taste of the bigs and — while often overmatched at the plate — made a positive impact with their athleticism.
Not every move has been perfect; Cameron Maybin didn’t pan out in Queens, but that’s fine, it happens. He was still a guy that has had success at this level. That kind of miss could’ve hamstrung the Mets of the past, instead, they took another swing and brought in Billy McKinney via trade. He’s been an integral piece since his arrival.
The amount of injuries the Mets have faced this year would easily sink a lot of teams — it certainly would’ve capsized most Met squads over the Wilpon era. But this regime, and it’s willingness to accumulate bona fide big league talent, has made all the difference.
This team is different because they are longer being dragged down by the anchor that was Jeff Wilpon. The full effects of the Wilpon to Cohen change of power will be felt for years to come, but the early results have invigorated this franchise.
The Mets had the reputation of being a team that players did not want to come play for, because their reputation under the Wilpon’s was so bad around the league. This offseason, players like James McCann, Trevor May and Marcus Stroman all talked about how they were excited to play for Cohen and his exuberance helped their free agent decisions to play for the Mets.
Cohen has also empowered the baseball people in the organization to be the one’s making the baseball decisions, trusting his front office rather than undermining them like Wilpon did in the past. Finally, we have seen the full financial impact of Cohen not only with the team payroll, but the use of analytics and technology which has given them a much better chance to win within the margins.
The Mets went from having one of the worst team defenses to one of the best in one offseason, which says just as much about their philosophy as it does about the influx of talent. New York is shifting more than most teams in baseball and are in turn amongst the leaders in Defensive Runs Saved. That change can be tied directly to Cohen’s embrace of analytics and technology, which were ignored by the previous regime. Bottom line, the Mets are being run properly for the first time in a long time. Hopefully the suffering is a thing of the past for Mets fans.
Steve Cohen purchasing the Mets of course has a big impact on how this team is different. Being owned by a Mets fan, who deeply cares about this time from more than just a monetary standpoint, is huge. Plus, him being on Twitter, accessible publicly to the fans and to the players is also huge and an important precedent that he has set.
This team though seems to genuinely like each other (for the most part, at least). They want to win, together. Injuries happened, pretty big ones too, and the entire bench mob stepped up and got the job done. One other prime example of this cohesiveness is the looney tunes claim on Twitter that Jacob deGrom was cheating, which Tomas Nido first quote tweeting calling out as false, CCing his teammate James McCann who backed this up and so on and so forth with Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker, Trevor May, Kevin Pillar, and Jordan Yamamoto all chiming in and calling the original tweeter out. Is this something we’ve seen before? I don’t think so, but I love this teamwork, both on and off the field.
