Reese Kaplan -- Ernest Hemingway Called It A Farewell to Arms

A lot of ink has been written about the Mets' inability to score runs.  They are ranked merely 14th in home runs despite monster efforts from Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and newcomer Francisco Alvarez.  The batting averages other than Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil are below the league average.  Stolen bases are seemingly a figment of a Mets fan's imagination.  All of these issues have undoubtedly combined to make it difficult for their pitchers to win games.

Pitchers...did he just say pitchers?

Oops...yup, it's time we looked directly at the arms without the benefit of rose colored glasses and it's been one fugly year.  First let's look at the starting pitchers and get the worst of the worst out of the way.

The dual-headed Cy Young Award scathing leaders are certainly on fire but more when it comes to giving up runs.  Max Scherzer had been on a poor streak before his recent couple of good outings, but overall you're still looking at a man with a Mets rookie campaign of a 2.29 ERA is more than a full run worse and that's after those last 2 gems.  His sticky fingered approach to the game kept him unavailable for a couple of passes as has his neck.

Then there's Justin Verlander who got a very late start to his Mets career and after tossing one genuine OMG brilliant game has been off the mark in a few others.  Overall he's a .500 pitcher at 2-2 with an ERA well north of 5.00!  That is NOT the kind of pitcher the Mets figured would make up for the loss of currently injured Texas Ranger Jacob deGrom, but he is what the Mets have in replacement.

I've written already about the need for Kodai Senga to shake off the "coming to America" blues and turn himself into a formidable third starter, but thus far the work is uneven at best.  The strike zone continues to elude the man and his overall ledger of 9 games started is 4-3 with a 3.94 ERA.  Yes, it's possible that that latter number could dip down by another half run or so as the season progresses, but for now it's not what Billy Eppler and company envisioned.

Recovered starter Carlos Carrasco has never truly been embraced by the fanbase, but when he's on his game he's as good as anyone.  Unfortunately those circumstances have been few and far between.  Through 5 starts he is 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA.  Ouch!  

Then there are "the others" who included David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Joey Lucchesi and yet-to-pitch Jose Quintana.  It's difficult to find anything positive to say here other than none have provided the support corps the Mets needed during their injury and suspension addled starting pitching.

As bad as the starters have been, you could make an argument that the relievers have been even worse.  David Robertson has been asked to step in to provide his Edwin Diaz impression during his own faux pas celebrating during the ever-so-important World Baseball Classic.  Right now through 20 game appearances he's sparkling with a 1.61 ERA.  Fantastic!

Unfortunately it's been a steady downhill past Robertson's age 38 season.  Toss 'em and turn 'em any way you'd like but the rest of the pen smells as if pigs have been in charge of it.  Pick a name, any name...it's not pretty.  

Let's start off with one surprising positive in the form of Jeff Brigham.  The unheralded reliever is pitching a bit above his weight with an ERA still below 3.50.  Free agent acquisition Brooks Raley when healthy enough to take the mound has been even better at 3.18.  Maybe on a generous day you could included recently implosive Drew Smith as well whose 3.93 rapidly grew but who has overall been better than that for most of the 2023 season.  

Then comes the rest -- Adam Ottavino, John Curtiss, Dominic Leone, Tommy Hunter, Stephen Nogosek and a passel of others tossing gasoline on the fire.  

So 54 games into a 162 game season, what steps can be taken to improve here?  While I was loud and proud of defending Buck Showalter as manager of the NY Mess, er, Mets, I'm beginning to question if that level of patience and generosity should be provided to pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.  

It is not a case of one or two starters or a small group of relievers inflating the bats of opposing teams.  It is very nearly everyone.  At what point does an ouster in this key role signify to rest of the team and league that the Mets are not going to be a bunch of batting practice hurlers and simply hope they score 6+ runs per game to compensate for the nearly 5 per game they're giving up?

Patience has already worn painfully thin...