Are the Mets Just Bad

[The Hot Corner]

There are too many players (Lindor, McNeil, & Nimmo) significantly underperforming their expected norms at the plate. Then with Alvarez hurt, the Mets are forced to play Nido/Narvaez, who offer no real offensive threat. Alonso is a streaky power hitter that is not likely to hit much better than .250, but too many of his home runs (8 of 10) are solo shots. Baty I expect could develop into a decent hitter with some pop, but the team needs him to start figuring it out. Vientos and Baty may provide a decent platoon at third base, though I do worry about Vientos' defense. Bader, Martinez and Marte are providing about what I expected offensively.

The pitches need to stop walking so many batters. They are proving the old adage "walks kill" on an almost nightly basis. Overall, the bullpen has been pretty solid, but greatly overworked due to the starters seldom pitching deep into games.

Overall, not a promising start to the season. Getting Alvarez and Senga should help, but I doubt it will be enough to make the Mets much more than a .500 team. The underperforming veterans need to collectively start hitting or this will continue to be a very long and frustrating season.

[MFS62]

A good summary of the situation.
Later

[ashie62]

I saw something about Cohen deleting a tweet regarding the trade deadline

Wish I had more but I dont

[Lefty Specialist]

Something about them being sellers at the deadline. They play the Marlins this weekend which should be a pretty good barometer of how bad the Mets are.

[metirish]

I saw something about Cohen deleting a tweet regarding the trade deadline

Wish I had more but I dont

That story is posted on the NL East vote post

[Edgy MD]

My feelings about their offensive approach are too tedious to repeat — and I'd sure like to see alteration there — but I'm certain that they have plenty of good baseball ahead.

[Lefty Specialist]

Are the Mets just bad?

Yes.

[DocTee]

As I posted elsewhere, they have scored one run or fewer in 25% of this year's games. That is....not good.

[Lefty Specialist]

And when they score 9 runs.......they give up 10.

[Frayed Knot]

As I posted elsewhere, they have scored one run or fewer in 25% of this year's games. That is....not good.

No, but neither is it wildly bad. The average number of games scoring 0 or 1 runs to date is 8.3 per team.
Eight others are as high or higher than the Mets 11; lowest number is 3 (PHI), highest is 15 (BOS)
That they're just a hair below ML avg in RS/G [Mets = 4.27 RS/G vs 4.32 Lg Avg] despite the above avg
number of games with 0 or 1 suggests a higher offensive fluctuation than it does ineptitude.

Run prevention, right now, is the bigger problem as they sit 1/3 RA/G worse than average [4.64 vs 4.32],
all them walks being a primary cause. Their run differential is at -17 so we just about deserve the record
we have (the pythag formula calculates we should be one game better than we are: 21-24 instead of 20-25)

[metirish]

Yes

[Edgy MD]

I think we're soon going to be seeing the last of of Tyrone Taylor and Adrian Houser.

If it were 1986 and Davey Johnson was making the calls, I think we'd be seeing him trying Mark Vientos in left, in right, at short, and at first, in addition to third, in order to get his bat in the lineup without necessarily having to take a job from somebody else.

It's the same strategy that allowed Bobby Valentine to get Butch Huskey to the plate 500 times in 1997.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Oh, Houser is doomed. I'm less certain about Taylor.

[Edgy MD]

Taylor isn't really playing his way off the team the way that Houser sadly is, but he's not been useful enough to justify his bad fit on the roster. He's capable of helping on offense and defense but he's not doing either right now. He misplayed a ball off the wall today that was one of five different small things that could have been today's difference-maker.

I'm less certain about him too, but this team seemed like it was built to evaluate and make changes on the fly.

[Centerfield]

I haven’t been following the rotation enough but I can’t understand why it was necessary to start Houser when we’ve recently added Scott and Megill to the rotation and haven’t lost any starters. I get load management. But Houser is a walking L.

It’s depressing to be worse than the five games below .500 mark we were at to start the season. At this point the only hope for our offense is that Vientos keeps it up and we get some other help from the farm.

For the guys that we have, this is what they are.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I haven’t been following the rotation enough but I can’t understand why it was necessary to start Houser when we’ve recently added Scott and Megill to the rotation and haven’t lost any starters.

I was wondering the same thing.

[Edgy MD]

Sometimes, when a guy is playing poorly and teetering on the edge of a roster, he gets inserted into the lineup as perhaps a last chance to show what he can do. It's seemingly what they did with Joey Wendle. The opportunity he gets feels counterintuitive to watch, certainly, but it can help quicken a team's decision, or showcase what the player may or may not have to any potential trading partners.

[ashie62]

I am watching the seasons that Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuma and Jett Williams are having with anticipation for the future

You could add to this talent pool by moving someone and there are plenty of candidates to trade

Opening up playing time for Vientos would be a good thing

I don't know if the Mets are genuinely good or bad at this time. I might have a better answer shortly before the trade deadline

[whippoorwill]

Or maybe they are all just slumping at the same time and someday all come out bats a'blazin'

Is anybody hitting line drives? That's usually a good sign

[Edgy MD]

I think Omar Narváez is also on borrowed time.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Who would replace him, at least until Alvarez returns?

[MFS62]

I think Omar Narváez is also on borrowed time.

I don't see anyone ready in the organization, unless they want to force feed Parada.
Alvarez just got the stitches removed this week and is still weeks away from rejoining the team.
They may have to bite the bullet with Narváez until Francisco returns.
What would you do?
Later

[Edgy MD]

I'm not advocating. I'm just guessing. But they can certainly look outside the organization.

[Edgy MD]

And as I type, Tyrone Taylor pinch-hits for Narváez in the ninth against a righthander — about as decisive a demonstration of Mendez' respect as we can look for.

[Lefty Specialist]

Parada's the safety net if Alvarez fails. They're not going to rush him up before he's ready. And if Alvarez thrives, he's the first baseman in a post-Alonso world.

Oh, and the Mets are just bad. I'd like to know 'the plan', like we always used to ask of Sandy Alderson back in the day. 'Cuz it's not really working out so far.