When I got up to the Mets in my MLB predictions for the 2019 season, I was trying to make sense of what had been a wild offseason for the team from Queens. They brought a new GM Brodie Van Wagen, who poses a similar offseason strategy to legendary GM Theo Epstein, which is " Be bold and stay bold", while also having a second year manger in Mickey Callaway who had shown promise in year one, as his team went 77-85, an improvement from a 70-92 season 2017.
Brodie started his offseason, by stunning the league, as he acquired superstar closer Edwin Diaz, and slugger Robinson Cano in a blockbuster trade with the Mariners who got the Mets leftovers, meaning guys who hadn't been so productive during their time with the team. The reason why I don't want to mention who they were, is because it's irrelevant in this case, and that it's also a story for another day.
If you are wondering why the Mets made this move, it's because they needed a closer, and a leader on offense, as both were glaring weaknesses in 2018, as the Mets lost most of their games due to lack of offense, or bullpen meltdowns at the very end. Now they had the best closer in baseball in Diaz , and a 7 time all star, who is known for his slugging in Cano.
However, Brodie wasn't done, because as every good GM knows, teams need good depth in order to survive injuries, slumps... and still be a force to be reckoned in the league. So Brodie went down, and acquired Wilson Ramos, JD Davis, Luis Avilan, Jed Lowrie, Adeiny Hecehveria ,and Rajai Davis, to all fill-in at their respective positions (C, 3B, PITCHER, 2B, SS, OF).
Now with those moves, the Mets had depth at every position, and seemed like a force to be reckoned with on paper, to along with an amazing pitching staff anchored by weighing CY Young award winner Jacob Degroom. which is why I picked them to go 90-72 in 2019.
However, 39 games into the season, the Mets are 19-20 with some obvious flaws.
1. PITCHING DEPTH: The Mets pitching depth, has been one of the main reasons, why this team is where they are right now.
8 of the Mets 20 losses so far this season (40% ) have come via the fact that the Mets pitchers weren’t able to hold it together, not named Degrom, Syndagard, Matz, Wheeler, or Jason Vargas.
In these games, the offense was doing everything the can to try and make the Mets winners and overcome a bad night by their starting pitcher. But it wouldn’t happen because of the Mets awful pitching depth.
2.INCONSISTENT BULLPEN: Everyone in this Mets bullpen besides Edwin Diaz ( Who himself has been charged two loses on the season) has been inconsistent for the Mets so far this season. Luckily, the Mets have a great offense that allows them to win these games that the Mets top relievers blow, but eventually it’s going to be too much over a long season and the Mets must get better relievers to back up Diaz now before it’s too late, as Robert Gselmen, Jeurys Familia, and others have been unable to consistently hold down the fort for the Mets.
3. BULLPEN MANAGEMENT: Part of the reason, the Mets have 20 losses , is because of the way Mets manger Mickey Callaway has managed his bullpen. The most controversial move of them all is only letting Edwin Diaz pitch one inning, when he is available to go at least two innings. Most of the time, his teams offense bails him out, but it has gotten to a point where these extra long games due to these decisions, have caught up to the Mets fan base and their pitching staff, as that’s one of the reasons why they are 19-20.
4. STARTING ROTATION (Mainly Jason Vargas) This one isn’t such a big concern because the Mets trio of Jacob Degrom, Noah Syndgard, and Zach Wheeler, and Steven Matz have all been great overall for the Mets so far this season,( Even though they have combined for 35% of the Mets losses, these Mets pitcher have been showing big improvements lately). But at the back end of the rotation is Jason Vargas, Who hasn’t been able to produce consistently for the Mets as he has a 5.92 ERA in 7 starts this season. The Mets need to do something about Vargas, and though they have considered skipping his turn in the rotation many times, they haven’t because of the lack pitching depth that is behind him. However, when you have a GM like Brodie Van Wagen, you know that he is watching the situation closely, which is why you should expect a trade deadline deal involving Jason Vargas this season.
5. All of those reasons were big, but the main reason why the Mets are under .500 in my opinion is because of TEAM CHEMISTRY. When you have lots of new players, it’s going to take time to get used to each other, which I think is one of the reasons why the Mets 6-2 start to the year was so surprising.
But lately, it has seemed to effect the Mets, as before this weekend their had seem to be a disconnect between the players , Callaway, and the management on how to mange this team, and keep them from another 6 month collapse. This led to frustration being showed on the field during the Mets west coast trip, where they went 1-5, dropping to 17-20, before coming home and taking two games from the lowly Marlins to improve their record to 19-20.
However, after a meeting on Friday with the management, Mickey Calaway seems to have jolted the Mets awake, as these last two games have been nothing short of spectacular, even though it’s the lowly Miami Marlins.
Also I think the two day break has helped the Mets mindset, as they go on a 14 game swing of facing sub .500 ball that continues on Tuesday in Washington aginst the Nationals. If you haven’t noticed already, off days in the MLB can really help team chemistry, because the guys can bond knowing they have no game that day. But in the Mets case, they every minute of these two off days to reset, bond and focus on the task ahead. Which is why, led by potential Rookie of the year award winner Pete Alonzo, I think you will be seeing a lot of Mets wins in the near future and just maybe ... even a little beyond that.
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