After the horrific game Saturday offered up by Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga, many people were ready to torch them both with weapons of destruction when the issue at hand was two-fold incompetence. Yes, the six runs given up to the Phillies were certainly a great concern that in parallel helped further derail the trade prospect status of both pitchers. That result is indeed undesirable and seemingly ensures both long term pitching contracts will be strangling the club in 2027 as well.
The other issue which is getting far less attention is the non-existent offense which is responsible for just as many losses by this club. In this game the Mets managed to whack a grand total of three hits, including two by free agent to be Tyrone Taylor. Has the front office even noticed? One horrific game does not underscore an entire season, but it is indicative of what has not been done after constructing a highly flawed roster.
Let’s go with the short list first. Juan Soto is indeed an All Star. Carson Benge has been hitting .289 after his atrocious April. Injury promotion rookie A.J. Ewing has shown ability with the bat, his legs and sometimes his glove. Francisco Alvarez (two home run game notwithstanding) has not done much with the long ball this year compared to his 25 HR season a few years back, but his batting average is up close to .260 which is most definitely progress.Those are the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, though it is the rest of the lineup representing (in Biblical analogy) conquest, war, famine and death.
Going forward the Mets need to identify who is truly part of the corps now and for the future. If you believe the much bandied about untouchable five — Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, Juan Soto, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing — it would seem that everyone else is available for the right price (or because someone finally is acknowledging what has not been working since Spring Training began.)
The last time the Mets did a major selloff for a barrel of allegedly top notch prospects it did not work out all that well for the team. Prospects are what they are — unproven hopefuls who may or may not ascend to major league competence. It is a gamble for sure but playing more of the Eric Wagaman and Jared Young types does not bode well for 2026 nor beyond.
I, for one, am fully behind a major housecleaning and an admission of accountability for what has not worked last year or this one. People are scared of the term “rebuild” but you can’t create a winning roster with only five good parts.
3 comments:
Lindor 3 hits Sunday. Holmes close. Had they even managed to be 5 games closer, there would be hope for a comeback. Too late.
Agree Reece. The biggest holes are in the offense and starting pitching. To be fair, it was reasonable to expect good offensive performance out of the left side of the infield and mediocre defense on balance from the infield. The Mets managed mediocre defense around the infield, but much worse offense. Most was poor FO decision making; some was bad luck (Lindor) and underperformance (Bichette). The interesting thing is that the outfield has been good offensively and defensively in spite of bad FO decision making. Recall as the season was to begin, Tauchman would have stayed on the club and Benge sent to AAA (though they might deny that would have been their decision, we know otherwise based on the general kinds of decisions they make); Robert was the CF and Ewing would not have gotten a call up had Robert not done what he always does, and Ewing not caught fire in the minors.
So the bright spots in the offense are the result of circumstances beyond the FO control in the OF and because of it (largely) in the infield.
That ugly game in the middle of a good series reminds us of how fragile this lineup is.
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