Paul Articulates - Jekyll or Hyde?

What should we make of this very streaky team?  After an 0-5 start the team sprinted to a 12-3 record over their next fifteen games.  The next eleven games brought four wins, seven defeats.  The two-game rain-shortened sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals this week followed a disastrous 0-3 trip to Tampa.  This Mets team has been up and down all year and their 18-18 record does little to define this team other than to say that they are “middle of the pack”.

Their .241 team batting average is 13th out of 30 clubs.  The team ERA of 3.72 seems good, but it is only 12th out of 30 clubs and the 5.18 innings per start is concerning.  Jose Quintana, the opening day starter has looked great and awful in consecutive starts.  At the plate, Pete Alonso and Brett Baty have both gone through stretches of great and not-so-great.  

So what is going on with this team?  Are they a good team having some tough luck or a bad team having some good fortune?  I think the answer lies in the quality of play, and unfortunately that is not a good answer.  For some reason, this team makes a lot of mistakes – more than usual.  Their defense is not good by any measure.  Team DRS is dead last.  Team fielding efficiency is in the bottom half.  The pitching staff as a whole can’t hold runners on, and as a result the opposing teams are stealing bases with astounding success.

I think that the roster on paper is pretty solid.  There are not a lot of marquee names on the list of starting pitchers, but other than Adrian Houser, the rotation should keep the team competitive.  The lineup has plenty of players who have hit well during their careers and other than the hole created by Francisco Alvarez’ injury every position player is capable of delivering.  They just aren’t.  Alonso and McNeil are in extended slumps, and Lindor seems to be out of his two-month slump.  Defensively, I thought they had a very capable infield and a very strong outfield.

Is this team just “trying to find itself” under new leadership both in the front office and the manager/bench coach?  That is possible but the players on the field have to execute when they are out there.  Often when a team is struggling to find an identity, there are frequent changes in lineups and positioning, but this season Mendoza has kept a fairly consistent lineup.

I am perplexed and somewhat concerned that if the uneven play continues, it creates a very bad environment for the young players to learn how to win.  Remember that this was supposed to be a season of growth where the team would be “competitive” but was relying more on the players of the future than an A-list of free agent superstars.

With the Braves and Phillies coming to town and the NL East portion of the schedule in front of us, there is very little time to get things together.