Reese Kaplan -- A Transcontinental Stream of Thought on Mets Plans

So the Mets are proving that whether they play in the USA, Canada or England they are still nowhere near a solid ballclub and a good return on Steve Cohen's investment.  Granted, he was not aware that injuries to Kodai Senga, Edwin Diaz, Francisco Alvarez, Brooks Raley, Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Shintaro Fujinami, as well as prospects like Nate Lavender, Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert and Ronny Mauricio.  That's a lot of medical baggage that is more than merely making excuses that the club has not had the resources available as planned.

Of course, the corresponding problem is underperforming regular and healthy players like Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Brett Baty, Adrian Houser, Jose Quintana and most relief pitchers also did not deliver on what had been expected of them.  Starling Marte is offensively a plus but his defense seems to have disappeared.  Harrison Bader is hitting better than folks expected but he's not an All Star by any means.  Mark Vientos has been a brief shining light but he needs to demonstrate his strikeout issues and low batting average from the past won't overtake what appears to be a solid start for 2024.  J.D. Martinez is hitting below average by his elite standards but has not fallen so low that he would be turned down by other teams if he was offered up in trade.

Mack, myself and others have gone through the "Blow it up!" scenario of allowing the club a true rebuild after consecutive seasons of embarrassing performance.  Others are still clinging to the razor thin fallacy that they are only a handful of games out of a wildcard playoff spot and instead the team should be buyers rather than sellers.  

Between the injuries and second division metrics by most of the players the club is also working through rookie manager Carlos Mendoza's first extended role in charge of an entire team.  There have been numerous "Fire Mendoza!" posts all over the media and while it's understandable for a newly minted skipper to adjust to his responsibilities, it is indeed frustrating to see failure to motivate the players to put in even an average season of performance.

The real issue people are trying to accept is lack of change.  To be fair, new POBO and new manager Carlos Mendoza are far more flexible in making changes than we have seen with other front office and dugout personnel in the past. The termination of players like Jorge Lopez, Joey Wendle, Omar Narvaez and others suggest that they will offer up a reasonable period of time to let what's not working persist before admitting change is needed and then doing so.  

While these changes were welcome, some felt they were overdue.  Still, any change at all of most appealing after having witnessed the Wilpon, Alderson, Eppler, Collins, Callaway, Rojas and other managerial personnel who would trot out the same poor performers and simply shrug off the idea of improving the roster when it was necessary to do so.  Consequently, I am of the opinion that both Stearns and Mendoza are both works in progress for the Mets but there are signs that are positive despite the won/lost results on the diamond.  

What will be most interesting to see is how this dynamic duo (with owner Steve Cohen's endorsement) handle the July trade deadline and minor league promotions to complete the real transition year that was discussed extensively in the offseason.  No one knows if someone's hand will be on the blasting powder when it comes to do a radical rebuild or if there will be simple incremental changes like testing out a return of Brett Baty.  Most of the minor leaguers the team wants to see are either too low in the system or injured, so a huge influx of AAA talent and below is likely not going to happen.  However, depending on the return date for Kodai Senga you could see the return of Christian Scott (even more so if Quintana, Severino, Manaea and Houser wind up on the trading block).  

For now it continues to be a frustrating experience observing how the team is doing, but there are some small positive signs despite the slumps and injuries.