Tom Brennan: Bad Defense is a Silent Season Killer

EVERYONE LOVES STRONG DEFENSE 

Our exceptional Mack’s Mets writer, RVH, wrote on December 17 about Mets’ costly and bad defense.  Compelling…read it here:

https://macksmets.blogspot.com/2025/12/rvh-mets-didnt-lose-because-they-didnt.html

Bad defense can help a spiraling team cascade downward faster, no doubt.

I rank it, however, as the 3rd of 3 main disaster factors in 2025.

First, IMO, 2025 primarily was a pitching disaster over the last 97 games. Close to the worst ERA in baseball over that stretch.

Secondly, bad clutch hitting hurt them almost all season. Part of that, IMO, was due to guys (like Vientos) who shouldn’t be taking first strikes, because they sucked at 2 strikes.

Thirdly, weak defense, the silent assassin. Here is a prime example…The Phillies allowed 41 unearned runs, while the Mets allowed 71 unearned runs. And there is no category I am aware of called “earned runs that would have not happened if defense was better.” I am sure the Mets did poorly there, too. So, maybe a much better defensive team in 2026 would surrender 50 fewer runs based on superior D alone. 

Here is a Fangraphs.com table posted in the middle of 2025, when the Mets were seemingly playing well. It still shows a huge defensive liability, as they ranked 20th in a 30 team league.  That is not playoff-bound performance so it is not surprising that they stumbled and face-planted in the final month of the season.

Stearns is on to something.  He did an appropriate post-mortem analysis on the 2025 season and is doing what he needs to address this deficiency.  It is not easy, and he will feel the wrath of the fan base if his movements do not work.

Iron Hands Chuck Hiller need not send David a job application.