Reese Kaplan -- When Your Offense is McNeil and...?

All of the sudden the once-potent Mets offense is suffering from what I like to term JdG Syndrome named after Jacob deGrom.  He used to be patient zero and it seemed only to afflict him personally, but apparently he’s a carrier and it’s now spread to the other members of the staff as well.  Of course, it doesn’t help when they pitch like many of them have which makes digging themselves out of even a 2 run deficit the baseball equivalent of scaling Kilimanjaro.

Pete Alonso who was named Rookie of the Month for April has not found May to be nearly as kind to him.  He ended the month of April batting .292 and in the early going since the page flipped to May he’s seen his average drop 21 points in a big hurry with a .174 May batting average with a solo home run the only run he’s produced.  Many have said he’s starting to resemble Dave Kingman at the plate with a swing-for-it-all approach that is not how he was handling himself earlier.  Obviously he’s young with not that many minor league games under his belt and even fewer major league contests.  He’ll likely break out of the slump, though his capable backup at 1B has been sent to Syracuse so benching him for more than a day or so is not likely in the cards unless they want to use J.D. Davis or Todd Frazier there.

Speaking of Frazier – and we must – why is he here?  Wait, of course – because he earns $9 million in another Sandy Alderson contract fiasco.  That much is clear.  What’s NOT clear, however, is WHY IS HE STARTING?  To be fair, against the rookie pitching sensation Chris Paddack he managed just one of the Mets paltry 4 hits (one by deGrom and two by the only guy who apparently hasn’t forgotten how to hit, Jeff McNeil).  The Daily News used to carry a stat line in deference to Dave Kingman called “Players Not Hitting Their Weight” which, given Kingman’s size and propensity for hovering around the Mendoza line, was a frequent resident on that list.  Todd Frazier could gain 60 points in his batting average and STILL achieve that dubious distinction.  Does BVW think that the more people see Frazier stinking up the joint, the MORE likely it will be that someone will want him in trade? 

Many people were happy to see the quick start Robinson Cano had in spring training and were willing to look past the obvious long term cost, age and PED situation and recognize that the discounted price in acquiring him was ticket necessary to obtain shutdown reliever Edwin Diaz at minimum wage.  Cano was inserted into a run-producing slot in the lineup and has not wavered from there despite thus far only delivering a “meh!” .240/3/11.  That’s not what they were hoping to get and some are whispering that he’s over the hill or in need of whatever was in his PED to bring him back to the HoF level.  Methinks those folks are a bit premature considering the level at which he played upon his suspension return last year.  However, there’s no two ways to slice it – he’s simply not getting it done. 

Even Wilson Ramos who started off like a house afire has cooled considerably and now is plodding along to the tune of .236/1/18.  Sadly, the chunky Ramos is not hitting his weight either.

The elephant in the room, however, is fan favorite Brandon Nimmo.  He seemingly came from out of nowhere in 2018 when he hit 17 HRs and delivered a stellar .404 OBP due to his penchant for drawing walks.  This year he’s nearly 100 points down in the OBP column and he’s looking UP at the Mendoza line.  He’s too young to have lost it already and we saw long slumps even during his fine 2018 campaign.  However, they keep trotting him out day after day, hoping he will magically get fixed.  The problem is that the alternatives are even worse.  Keon Broxton is nearly 40 points BELOW Nimmo and Juan Lagares isn’t exactly earning his bloated paycheck with a .203 AVG either. 

While the club has partially out of necessity and partially out of incompetence shown no hesitation to start up the relief pitcher merry-go-round, nothing has been done in terms of the offensive side of the ledger except to bring in no-hit Tomas Nido to replace superior hitting Travis d’Arnaud, no-hit Adeiny Hechavarria to somehow replace .333 hitting Dom Smith and no-hit Todd Frazier to replace Luis Guillorme.  Do you see a futile pattern here? 

Now, to be fair, the folks down in AAA aren’t exactly long term replacements.  Rajai Davis is doing pretty well, but at age 38 is at best a reserve.  Carlos Gomez is a little bit younger but he hasn’t been terribly productive in awhile.  Tim Tebow is proving that as a hitter he’s a better quarterback (and that’s not saying much). 

It almost seems as if the plan is to get Jed Lowrie here, then go take a nap until Yoenis Cespedes is back.  Why does that seem very familiar…doing nothing when action is needed.  It’s giving me a déjà vu feeling hearkening back to 2017 and 2018…and we know how those seasons ended.