The Mets Are Broken: But Can They Be Fixed?
I was all over the Mets this offseason–predicting a Francisco Lindor MVP, gifting them the best starting rotation in baseball, and giving them out as my NL champs on multiple occasions–so yes, I thought the Mets would be great this year.
Little did I know, they would be full-on broken come mid-May. At the time of this story, the Mets are 18-20 and are in fourth in the NL East. They’ve only won three of their last ten games, and their opponents in those games have been subpar to say the least. They dropped two to the Reds, two to the Rockies, and were swept by the Tigers in their last three series.
Yikes.
They’ve got some real dead bats in the lineup–Mark Canha (hitting .216), Starling Marte (hitting .216), and Eduardo Escobar (hitting .159) are all almost automatic outs at this point. To match their dead hitters, they’ve got some dead pitchers, too. The Tylor Megill/David Peterson experiment seems to be over, Max Scherzer has been struggling since his sticky-stuff debacle, and Justin Verlander, who’s only started two games this season, is becoming a perennial injury risk.
Their bullpen has some shining stars, sure. David Robertson has been great, Drew Smith is solid, and…wait…that’s it. Stephen Nogosek is posting a 4.85 ERA and Tommy Hunter has him one-upped with a 7.11 ERA. John Curtiss and Brooks Raley are on the IL, so maybe there’s some hope in the Mets’ pen’s future–but will it be enough to fix the broken Mets?
I don’t think so.
So, how can the Mets get out of this funk? Let’s take a look.
How To Fix The Mets
First, let’s take a look at their hitting.
The Mets made some great moves already by calling up Fransisco Alvarez and Brett Baty. I love when teams insert young bats into slumping lineups to try and light a spark. While Alvarez and Baty got off to slow starts, they have recently begun to see the ball better and have become integral parts of the Mets lineup.
While two prospect call ups before June is a lot, I really don’t think it’s enough. Mark Vientos, the eighth prospect in the Mets farm system, has been RAKING in triple-A so far this season, hitting 11 home runs in 119 at bats, collecting 32 RBIs while maintaining an average of .353.
Let’s bring him up.
Vientos is naturally a third baseman, which is being occupied by Brett Baty, but has time at first base and shortstop as well. So, maybe it’s time to cut ties with Daniel Vogelbach (sorry Mom, I know he’s your favorite player) and slot Vientos in at DH.
While we do that, we might as well call up Ronny Mauricio as well, who is the sixth prospect in the Mets’ system. Mauricio, a natural shortstop, can easily transition to second base, and then you can slot McNeil into left field. That will cut Mark Canha out of the lineup, and all of a sudden you have a great second baseman who has power, contact, AND speed.
What else could you need?
Sure, calling up a bunch of prospects is a very risky play, but when you’re as broken as the Mets are, you’ve gotta go out on a few limbs.
But now that the batting is solved, let’s take a look at the pitching.
This one is simple: you NEED Max Scherzer to lock in. He’s starting to show signs of age which is expected–but slowing down the aging process just a bit will benefit the Mets greatly. Having him as your staple ace can help figure out the rest of the rotation, which, besides Kodai Senga and a healthy Verlander, is tough. Get Megill and Peterson out there–I don’t want to see them starting a game again. You want to transition them to the bullpen? Sure. I love it. But they’ve had enough chances to start a few games, so it’s time to move on.
So now what?
Let’s strike a deal.
There are a ton of pitchers out there on struggling teams that would be great fits on the Mets. For example:
- Kyle Freeland, COL
- Lucas Giolito, CHW
- Eduardo Rodriguez, DET
- Cal Quantrill, CLE
- Marco Gonzalez, SEA
- Wade Miley, MIL
While none of those names are necessarily sexy, they’re solid starters that will get the job done when your Aces are resting.
Mets Odds
According to Draftkings Sportsbook, the Mets have the eighth best odds to win the World Series, currently sitting at +1600. They’re the fourth most likely team to win the NL at +800, and are the second most likely team to win the NL East at +600.
If the Mets take a page out of my book, then maybe those odds will drop.
Only time will tell.
