Mike's Mets - Big Changes Ahead After Another Disappointing Season

 

By Mike Steffanos

As I write this post, the New York Mets are in the process of dropping the final game of the season. It's a fitting end for the disappointing club to go out on a losing streak with their offense once again shut down. In fairness, the Mets have found their way to some victories this week — long, long past the time when those wins would have been of any real consequence, of course. I always miss baseball when the season comes to an end. It's the only sport that I still follow with more than passing interest. The close of the regular season also marks the end of whatever tattered shreds of summer remain. Even as the earth continues to get hotter, I still miss the long days and bright sunshine of summer throughout the New England winter.

Don't get me wrong. October is actually a pretty fine month in these parts. The weather is still decent enough, with the lower humidity and the peak of fall foliage compensating for the noticeably earlier sunsets. Fall is my second favorite season; I just strongly dislike what's coming next. Also, my birthday is in October — although the thrill of that event wore off many, many years ago.

Maybe I would like October more if the Mets didn't usually head to their respective homes right at the beginning of the month. Sure enough, the Mets players will again be dispersing to various points of the compass after Sunday's game. Lingering behind will be big questions about who's coming back and who will manage the 2022 Mets. We don't even know who will be heading the baseball operations, even if we're pretty darned sure that it won't be Sandy Alderson and Zack Scott.

If that isn't enough uncertainty for you, add in the question of when baseball will be back, thanks to the expiring CBA between MLB and the players. It expires on December 1. Given what transpired between the two parties last season, only the most stubbornly optimistic observers believe a new agreement will be in place by that time. Most of us worry that contract negotiations will drag into next spring and beyond. Opening Day is set for Thursday, March 31, 2022, but the danger of that day being delayed — perhaps significantly — is quite real. I sincerely hope that MLB and the union don't take us down that road.

Whenever the New York Mets retake the field for a regular-season game, I probably won't be quite as optimistic as I was back in March. Back then, I thought the Mets had an excellent shot at being a playoff team. At the very least, I expected them to contend until the end of the season and be the bridge from the previous Mets era to a brighter future ahead. They obviously fell far short of achieving that. Instead, they wound up with a losing record for the 10th time in their last 13 seasons.

I honestly believed that the Mets had a solid core of offensive players when this season began. Now, even looking past whether the club will choose to retain Michael Conforto, there are legitimate questions about the core of players beyond their underperformance this season. On MLB.com, Anthony DiComo offered a quote from Sandy Alderson that the team's core was "eroding."

While Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo still look like valuable contributors to a future contender, I can't say the same about Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith. J.D. Davis was better than those two but missed a lot of time with injuries and didn't provide the level of power he would need to offset his defensive liabilities. Of course, lingering hand problems could explain the reduced power, but this was Davis' chance to prove himself capable of being a regular, and it didn't happen. It's conceivable that any of the three could be gone by next year. Even if they're not, they'll have to re-earn playing time.

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