The New York Mets are on pace for one of their most embarrassing seasons ever.
Here is a list of five things Mets fans can blame for their misery in 2023:
Reason #1: Pitcher Injuries
This is reason number one because its effects trickle down into reasons two and three.
Edwin Diaz was the first doomsday domino to fall. “We’ll be fine,” Mets fans reassured themselves, “We got D-Rob, he can hold down the closer role for a year!” But you can’t replace the Trumpets, and the ripple effect of losing Diaz is felt throughout the bullpen. Robertson has been solid, but imagine how much better the Mets bullpen would be with him and Otto setting up Diaz.
Then Verlander goes down. “No big deal, Megill stepped up for deGrom last season, he’ll do it again!” Wrong. No more CYlor, he let us down big time and has been optioned to AAA.
Then there’s Scherzer, who was already showing signs of breaking physically late last season when it mattered most. I don’t think he has even hit the IL this season, but he is constantly having starts pushed back, pulling himself early, telling reporters he is pitching through pain, etc. At this point, Max Scherzer’s $43 million arm is held together by bubblegum and popsicle sticks.
Oh yeah, and then there’s Jose Quintana, who was signed in the offseason but has yet to throw a pitch.
Reason #2: Physical Decline
All of the players in the above image were either solid or elite last season. You could get away with calling some of these guys solid in 2023 I guess, but none of them are elite or even “great.” Most of them suck this year, if we’re being honest.
Escobar, Marte, and Canha are all 34. Verlander and Scherzer are 40 and 38, respectively.
This is where the “it’s the same roster as 2022” argument takes a big hit. The Mets had the oldest roster in all of MLB in 2022.
So, if any team with ‘the same roster as last year’ was due for a performance decline in 2023, it was the New York Mets. In 2023, they have the 3rd oldest hitters and by far the oldest pitchers.
Reason #3: The Bullpen
Again, it all started and ended with the Edwin Diaz injury during his World Baseball Classic celebration. Last season, the Mets had the 10th best bullpen ERA in all of MLB. So far in 2023, they have the 10th worst bullpen ERA in all of MLB (source). That’s all you need to know about the Mets bullpen year-over-year.
Reason #4: Underperforming Stars
Jeff McNeil bad.
Reason #5: Poor Management
Senile Buck Showalter and Silly Billy Eppler are two incompetent buffoons, and it seems they are butting heads and compounding their professional incompetency to unprecedented levels.
The Mets have an unhealthy mix of aging veterans who want to be starters (and who Buck favors), and young (but still developing) stars who have nothing left to prove in the minor leagues. Rookies feel enough pressure as it is making the leap to the Big Leagues, but Mets rookies Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, and Mark Vientos have to deal with Buck Showlater, who wants them to go cold and sets them up for failure so he will have an excuse to start his precious veterans.
Look at the Reds and all of their young stars lighting the league on fire. You think Elly De La Cruz is worried about being sent down to the minor leagues if he goes on an 0-10 cold stretch?
It was so unfair, and probably developmentally stunting, to call Mark Vientos up while he was red hot in AAA, only to give him scattered MLB playing time — never even as much as a week straight of starting — before sending him back down to AAA a couple months later in favor of keeping Mark Canha and Daniel Vogelbach. Vientos hit a huge home run in his first game at the MLB level this season, that alone should have earned him a month of starting daily. But Buck loves his vets.
Alvarez practically had to hit .700 to convince Buck to move him out of the 9 hole. Baty goes cold and suddenly Escobar and even Canha are getting starts at 3rd. The kids must feel like they are fighting for their career in every single at bat they take.
This all likely makes for a very unhealthy clubhouse dynamic, where it’s hard for the guys to get along because they are busy competing with each other and feeling betrayed by their Manager.
What needs to happen?
Fire Buck. Fire Billy. Fire Hefner. Fire Hugh Quattlebaum. Acquire Shohei Ohtani somehow and dump all our deadweight oldsters to make room for the top free agents this offseason.
Next season we’re bringing in David Stearns as President of Baseball Ops. He will clean up the front office. Mr. Stearns, if you are reading this, here is a list of managerial candidates to consider after you fire Buck:
- Carlos Beltran
- Terry Collins
- Joey Cora
- Frank the Tank
Just a handful of options, there may be other solid candidates I am not considering.