Nearly 40 percent of the season is in the books, and the Mets (9-14) sit in last place in the National League East.
The pain for fans was only exasperated Sunday when former Met hurler Zach Wheeler tossed seven quality innings to defeat his old team 6-2 as the Philadelphia Phillies completed a three-game sweep at Citizen’s Bank Park of the lowly, struggling Metropolitans. What makes matters worse the Mets were a dismal 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position over the final two games of the series, and left nine men on base.
Sure there were moments during the series like home runs by Dom Smith and Robby Cano on Friday, but as has been the case all year, those moments have been fleeting.
The facts are the Mets haven’t been good at all this year. Pete Alonso has been pressing, hitting .214 on the year --- a shell of his Rookie of the Year self. Wilson Ramos, Brandon Nimmo and Amed Rosario have all struggled at the plate, while J.D. Davis has struggled defensively.
The pitching has been equally dismal. While Jacob deGrom has been solid in four starts, the rest of the staff hasn’t lived up to snuff. Rick Porcello has been inconsistent, reflected in his 5.79 ERA. Steven Matz has been awful; and Michael Wacha is hurt, and when he was healthy, he was ineffective.
The bullpen? Don’t even get started.
With the 2020 season seemingly spiraling out of control it is becoming painfully obvious that this season is a mandate of General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen. For a team that is on the precipice of a sale to new ownership, the events of the 2020 season are not going to bode well for Van Wagenen, and perhaps the Mets coaching staff to keep their jobs beyond this season.
The opt out of Yoenis Cespedes, a former client of Van Wagenen’s, seemed to catch the franchise by total surprise when he failed to notify the team about his decision until he was long gone from the team hotel in Atlanta.
That opt out was quickly followed by the stunning decision by Marcus Stroman, who decided against playing in 2020 citing the Coronavirus. Stroman had been nursing a calf injury, but his decision was surprising considering he spent a great amount of time preparing for the season down in Florida at the Mets facility.
If anything the opt outs of both Cespedes and Stroman were more about money and playing time. Cespedes was apparently unhappy with his lack of playing time and the inability to earn incentives in his contract.
Stroman’s power play appeared to have more to do with preserving his value on the open market in 2021 when he is a free agent. Why play for a bad baseball team and hurt one’s value, right?
The opt outs made the Mets look bad; there is no other way to slice it. Add the poor play of the baseball team, particularly by the pitching staff, and one has to wonder how much credence Van Wagenen has left in building a baseball team.
Van Wagnen struck out on allowing Wheeler to walk to Philly; struck out on one-year deals with Wacha and Porcello; rolled the dice by giving the pitching coach duties to a rather inexperienced Jeremy Hefner, and let us not forget the whopper of them all with the trade of Jared Kelenic to Seattle for Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano.
As we all know Diaz is no longer viewed as the closer of this baseball team.
As we sit on August 17 with the Mets on their way to Miami to play the first place Marlins, they are a mess, a team playing far below expectations. Even with a 60-game season there will be no excuse when new ownership presumably comes into power later this year. If the 2020 Mets season ends in abject mediocrity, a major house cleaning is definitely in order.
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