Reese Kaplan -- Finding the Delusional Good Mets News

We’ve all heard the cliches like, “It’s always darkest before the dawn” and “Optimists see the donut, not the hole.”  Right now optimists are getting as hard to find as a good price on gasoline.  Still there remain some pink eyeglass wearing types who are willing to look past the 11 game losing streak as the club begins its home series against the Twins and try to reassure everyone that all is a temporary slump and that good things are coming to Citifield’s ballplaying employees. 

Hmmn...

So let’s try to put some optimism into the cerebellum for a little while and see if there is indeed room for positive thinking in this cesspool of pessimism.  There have to be some good things on the horizon, right?  Right?  RIGHT?

Well, there is the recovery of slugger Juan Soto.  After a somewhat slow start to his Mets career he rallied in both home run power and baserunning speed to make himself into a middle-of-the-order major threat to any opposing teams the Mets face.  The injury this year could not have happened at a worse time as the club was already struggling without his contributions but it removed the major offensive cog from a suspect scoring machine.  Word has filtered out that he’s returning to the lineup during this homestand though no one is committing to which date or against which team. Still, knowing that Soto’s bat is within a reasonable interval from happening is surely an overdue cause for celebration.

Similarly, reliever AJ Minter has been performing in games during his rehabilitation and estimates range from late April until early May for a return to a big league uniform.  Given the highly uneven pitching the club has received both from starters and relievers it is a most welcome message that the $11 million per year year man is soon to be on his way back to wearing orange and blue. 

On the current roster there are opportunities arising due to injuries to various ballplayers.  It is at this time players like MJ Melendez, Tyrone Taylor, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Tommy Pham are all getting more playing time than anyone anticipated during Spring Training in Port St. Lucie.  Right now the only offensive players with available options are Ronny Mauricio and Carson Benge.  Consequently you live with who you’ve got or you need to get busy in the mid year trade market. 

Furthermore on the positive front are the slow starts from nearly every hitter in the lineup.  Obviously Bo Bichette if healthy is a far better hitter than he’s shown.  Francisco Lindor has been a notoriously slow starter and given his injury healing time that prevented him from playing in Spring Training, it’s likely a doubly whammy thus far for 2026 but his career suggests the tide will eventually turn.  Luis Robert is still a great unknown between his one stellar year and the injury plagued ones that have followed that were quite poor.  Carson Benge has recently started landing a few of his batted balls, but it takes awhile to advance from a sub-.100 average into respectability.  Marcus Semien has shown a few flashes but he’s like Robert in that you don’t know what to expect.  Then there’s the ailing Jorge Polanco who has problems with his Achilles bursitis and now also a wrist injury that’s landed him on the IL.  On paper he’s a good hitter but he’s also a bit of a poster child for missing time due to injuries.  Francisco Alvarez has been better than expected.

For now we won’t focus on the players not providing good value.  The list is long and already well known.  The pessimist post will be forthcoming in the near future.