Reese Kaplan -- The Slumping Mets Blame Has Many Causes

As bad as the June Swoon was for the Mets organization, the long overdue July trades of prospects for thus far unproductive rentals and now the Awful August makes you wonder how exactly the Mets recover, if possible, to avoid having the season end when September draws to a close.

First of all, what happened?  Flip a coin between slumps and injuries but we’ll start with the health of projected starting players first.  On the pitching side you had Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Paul Blackburn, Griffin Canning, A.J. Minter, Danny Young, Dedniel Nunez, Tylor Megill and a variety of others sink the off-season plan into the dust. 

On the offensive side of the ledger you had the early season injury to the “new” Harrison Bader, Jose Siri.  The former Tampa center fielder was thought to introduce both home run power and base running speed to an otherwise offensive black hole from 2024.  While many were unsure that this choice was a terrific one, it still impacted how the team put lineups together for most of the season.  Jesse Winker has been more absent than present due to injury as well.  Other players missed time with various ailments but the pitching injuries were significantly more devastating.

Then let’s consider the performance of players tasked with helping the Mets to win games.  This time around we will start with offense (or “noffense” as it should be called).  The infielders other than Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor were simply providing nothing.  Pick a youngster, any youngster, and you will get the same lack of productivity from Acuna, Baty, Mauricio and Vientos.  Outfielder Tyrone Taylor has been pretty much non existent with his bat and catcher Francisco Alvarez was demoted to Syracuse to see if he could recover from his 2025 offensive funk.  Even regulars from whom you had lofty expectations like Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and until recently Starling Marte were not delivering what any metrics would suggest.

The rotation of spare starting pitchers, a multitude of relievers and the seemingly daily lineup changes have done nothing to help correct the course.  While some of the younger players can be excused for not having had the well of major league experience to withstand the motivational and execution issues that resulted, it is not quite so understandable for the veterans.  Francisco Lindor has hit home runs but his batting average is the worst of his career.  Ditto Nimmo.  McNeil is not looking anything like a former NL batting champion. 

Now is coaching an issue here?  That is a connective thread for the offensive woes since all of the players rely on Jeremy Barnes and Eric Chavez to guide them through their struggles but not delivering on any level at all.  If not for Pete Alonso’s RBI bat it is highly questionable if the Mets would be in single digit distance of the NL East pennant.

With the pitchers now mostly healthy except the ones who have had surgery, it is less clear what has gone completely off the rails.  Pick a starter other than David Peterson and most have recently had struggles.  The same applies to the relief corps as well.  Now Jeremy Hefner has done a great deal to transform some previously questionable pitchers into dominant ones, but that transition has not happened this year.

There are already rumblings that Carlos Mendoza is in over his head.  Given the number of years of experience he has had at the helm (less than two) there is some validity, but it’s a large part of his job to motivate his players to execute effectively. 

The other blame to place here is less direct but squarely on the head of David Stearns who did nothing to improve the roster except the waiver wire until the last few days of July.  There he did acquire some reputable relievers but his one contribution to the offense was to bring in a sub .230 hitter to play center field.  It would seem that waiting for the AA and AAA players eventually prepare themselves to contribute at the major league level was a good long term approach but does nothing to improve things in 2025. 

So there is a multitude of blame on health, slumps and ineffective coaching.  Whether or not the manager gets the ax when he’s not the one swinging the bat nor pitching form the mound is not truly fair.  Still, David Stearns can’t fire himself for his lack of attentiveness to the numbers since the season began. 

A story appeared recently asking if the Mets are destined not to make the playoffs.  That’s a scary but increasingly relevant question.