Reese Kaplan -- The Rougher Start Than Was Anticipated

While many folks are pushing the panic button and declaring the Mets a second rate team after just more than a week of play, it is clear that there are issues here to be addressed if the Mets are indeed going to compete to finish at or near the top of the division.

The first one obviously is health.  

Going into the season the front office had scripted a fairly convincing lineup, pitching rotation and bullpen.  With All Star caliber players like Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte it sure seemed that 5/9 of that lineup was indeed solid.  Then came the next wave which includes Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar, Omar Narvaez and the DH of the day there were clearly some vulnerabilities.

The starting rotation of Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, Kodai Senga and Carlos Carrasco was as good as any in baseball.  When you start off with two multiple Cy Young Award winners, follow it up with a proven lefty, then add in a newcomer with a decade of ghost fork experience dominating in Japan, and finally the return of the on-again/off-again quality of Carrasco.

The bullpen started off with All-World Edwin Diaz, followed up by stellar David Robertson, returning free agent Adam Ottavino, newcomer Brooks Raley, and returning young veteran Drew Smith.  The remainder of the bullpen was a hodge podge of folks out of options like Stephen Nogosek, then experienced veterans Tommy Hunter and John Curtiss.  Overall it looked like a highly capable supporting staff.

Ah, but then the old baseball ambulance arrived with multiple beds which took Edwin Diaz, Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, Tommy Hunter and Omar Narvaez away for extended periods of time. Throw in minor leaguer Bryce Montes de Oca as well. Then there were the day-to-day nicks and strains that rendered Starling Marte and others in need of days off, too.  

The next issue was competence.  It's highly difficult to draw any legitimate conclusions after ten days or so into the season but right now the club's leading hitter to take the field against the Padres on Monday night was a .286-hitting Daniel Vogelbach.  Read that sentence again.  The much maligned big man was the only one hitting at over major league minimum.  

Now, to be fair, some of the other hitters have had quality at bats, notably including Pete Alonso and Starling Marte.  Even newcomer Tommy Pham had one big game at the plate.  

In the rotation Max Scherzer is needing some time to adjust to the new pitch clock rules but after two rough starts he started to look a bit more like his Cooperstown bound self in the Padres start.  David Peterson and Tylor Megill have been necessary spot starters to cover for the injured regulars.  Kodai Senga has looked pretty good in his first few appearances.  Carrasco has been more bad than good.

The bullpen has had its ups and downs.  Losing a few pitchers already forced some unexpected names onto the major league roster but again it's too soon to capitulate and call it a failure.  While Diaz is expected to miss the entire year, Tommy Hunter was not a primary contributor and his innings could likely be covered by others.  

For now it's a matter of some players healing, others getting hot and the rest playing as they have for most of their major league careers.  If most of that happens, then the club should be in contention for the 2023 season.  In the interim, you can bet Billy Eppler and his team of scouts are working the phones, the videos and the metrics sheets to figure out who might be available to help should moves need to be made.