On Friday, May 29, after 56 games played (just over a third of the way through the season), the Mets are 10 games under .500, 14.5 GB of the NL East and 7.5 GB of the final Wild Card spot.
They’ll begin another three-game series at Citi Field on Friday night when they host the Miami Marlins, who swept New York in Miami last week, but before the team takes the field, David Stearns met with the media to take stock of the Mets and their disappointing season.
“We have not had a good year so far, there’s no question,” Stearns said. “We’re not where we thought we would be. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. It’s not an insurmountable hole, but it is definitely a hole and we’re gonna have to play a lot better baseball to do what we want to do this year.”
After pointing out the obvious, Stearns attempted to pinpoint the problems affecting New York and, perhaps more importantly, explain why they’ve happened and continue to happen.
One of the biggest issues that has befallen the Mets this year – that is top of mind because of David Peterson’s failure on Tuesday to back up home plate on a double that resulted in a run, which drew the ire of SNY commentator Ron Darling on the telecast – is mental mistakes.
From the start of the season, whether it’s defenders not knowing how many outs there are, poor decisions on the basepaths or even an unsightly record on ABS challenges, New York has not played clean baseball this year.
After Peterson’s gaffe, one of many by the team this year, manager Carlos Mendoza was asked whether his coaching staff’s messaging to the players is being acknowledged and the skipper said he had no concerns in that department.
For his part, Stearns also offered a vote of confidence in Mendoza and the rest of the coaches.
“I think our coaching staff does a really good job,” he said. “Look, on the Petey [play] in particular, that’s a pretty heady player – he was frustrated – but that’s a pretty heady player who generally does a really good job with those types of things, so I wouldn’t put too much into that.”
A more obvious problem for the Mets has been their lack of offense, especially from players who were brought in over the offseason to add some thump to the lineup.
While injuries have limited some of those players and other stars on New York’s roster, what the Mets have produced at the plate all season is truly baffling. Even role players who have been given a chance to play every day and take that next step have failed to do so.
“We’ve clearly had some players that we thought and still think that are capable of taking that next step forward in their careers, and we haven’t quite seen that yet,” Stearns said. It doesn’t mean we won’t or they’re not capable of it, but we haven’t.”
One of the biggest disappointments offensively for New York has been Bo Bichette, who signed a three-year, $126 million contract over the offseason after a great career with the Toronto Blue Jays.
But in his first season with the Mets, Bichette has had a terrible showing, hitting .225 with a .590 OPS – well below his career averages – while batting near the top of the lineup all season. In fact, after New York signed Bichette (and to some extent Jorge Polanco), it envisioned him, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto to be one of the best top of the orders in baseball.
And while Bichette has struggled, Lindor and Polanco have both been injured for much of the season, leaving Soto as the only player atop the lineup who has come through consistently.
“That’s been one of the most frustrating parts of the season,” Stearns said. “We did believe that the top of our order would match any top of order in baseball and we haven’t had those players together and at various points when we’ve had elements of that group on the field, we haven’t gotten the production that we anticipated.
“So that has been frustrating, it’s been a challenge. We still believe that those are really good players and when we get them back at the top of the lineup, we’ll have a really good top of the lineup.”
Despite the results, though, Stearns still believes the Mets “have the talent to be a very good offensive team.” He is also encouraged by how the players continue to compete even after everything has gone wrong this season.
“I think the motivation and energy from these players remains very high,” Stearns said. “I understand there’s frustration everywhere, there’s exacerbation, we all get it, but our players are playing hard and they care and they compete and that’s a reflection on them and on our coaches.”
That energy and want-to out of the team is also part of the reason why Stearns isn’t ready to commit to any specific strategy at the trade deadline.
“We’re not there yet,” he said. “We’ve got time, so we’re not there yet.”
