What, Me Worry?

[Tamora]

Below is the slugging percentage for the Mets (team rankings.com), as mentioned with batting average above being poor, the worrying thing I noticed checking out some of these stats is we've recently being losing to most of these sides and are scheduled to play the monstrously good Rays and Guardians who are worrying below us. Is this another side like Detroit and Cincy that are going to use the Mets to get their bats hot?



I'm a little concerned this habit of losing may continue for another 2-3 weeks. How long can any semblance of morale be maintained within the clubhouse when expectations are so high?



There are bright spots like Baty, Alvarez, Sengas progression, Verlander and decent bull pen pitching with an unreasonably high workload. If they can string some wins together, win a series again I think they can still get it going. Yet the clock is running.



21 NY Mets 0.382

22 Minnesota 0.381

23 Chi Sox 0.381

24 Cincinnati 0.379

25 Miami 0.379

26 Seattle 0.373

27 Houston 0.367

28 Detroit 0.359

29 Washington 0.358

30 Cleveland 0.333

[Edgy MD]

Losing always effects morale. I don't know about expectations.

[kcmets]

=metsmarathon post_id=125209 time=1683917702 user_id=83]i'll panic come memorial day. or tomorrow. whichever feels more right.

[Lefty Specialist]

Not exactly sold on Senga yet.



They're going to burn out this bullpen at this rate of use. Pitchers have to go for more than 5 innings, something they haven't really been able to do yet.The hitting has been atrocious pretty much up and down the lineup, too. This all needs to get fixed soon or we'll be looking at The Worst Team Money Can Buy 2.0.

[MFS62]

Carrasco is scheduled to start his second rehab game today for Binghamton.



Later

[Centerfield]

Um. The Mets kinda suck.

[MFS62]

When you keep losing to bad teams, are you one of them?

Beginning to wonder.



Later

[kcmets]

Things could be worse, at least Atlanta cooled a bit or the Mets could

be like 13-14 games back instead of just the half dozen or so.



Maybe a home series against one of the best teams (right now) will be

just what the doctor ordered and that'll right the ship.



Or Verlander's arm could fall off tomorrow. Stay tuned...

[Edgy MD]

I worry about AI too.

[Lefty Specialist]

Sooooo.......sellers at the trade deadline?



This team is lifeless.

[Edgy MD]

Long time to make that decision, but I'm guessing no.

[ashie62]

Not sellers



Buyers Lance Lynn Giolito Wainwright and other SP's will likely be on the radar

[Edgy MD]

With the expanded post-season, the market at the deadline will largely be far less dramatic in coming years.

[Frayed Knot]

Sellers in terms of mid-range and shorter term players [Cahna, Marte, Escobar, various catchers] who could potentially be replaced by the likes of Vientos and/or Mauricio ... but that could happen win, lose, or draw.

[Edgy MD]

Cahna, Marte and Escobar are probably their three hottest hitters right now, but I'm pretty certain they'd take almost anything they could get for the first and third of those right now, deadline-shmeadline.



Maybe Pham is on the block also, but I'm not sure my attitude toward that guy is shared.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: Maybe Pham is on the block also, but I'm not sure my attitude toward that guy is shared.

(raising hand) I share it.

Later

[kcmets]

Still a game under .500.

[ashie62]

17 days later and even



This is about the time last season the Phillies made big changes and ran it to the series



Buck is not going anywhere but I don't sense much energy or urgency coming from the guy



LGM

[The Hot Corner]

This time really needs some shaking up. I am starting to think last season was a mirage, where everything gelled and fell into place (at least until late September). The loss of Diaz has been huge and has had a dominoe effect on the bullpen, but that alone can not account for the Mets lackluster performance. The offense just has not been sufficient (even with the addition of Alvarez and Baty) for the majority of the season.



The loss of Diaz completely changes the bullpen dynamic, but not much can be done about that right now. The offense really needs a boost. I would send Vientos back down and give Mauricio a shot. He could spell Lindor (who definitely could use a day or two off) as well as take some at bats at DH. I'm not sure there is an answer to the pitching other Max and Verlander both turning back the clock. Unfortunately, even that isn't likely to make enough difference. Senga needs more consistency (and he needs to stop walking so many hitters). Then there is the lack of quality innings from Megill and Peterson. They just haven't provided the rotation depth that is needed for a team to be successful. The failure of the starting rotation to reasonably go 6-7 innings has caused overworking of the bullpen, which lacks the depth to pitch 4 or more innings on a regular basis.

[kcmets]

Sweep the Braves, move on from there...

[metirish]

=kcmets post_id=127614 time=1685922447 user_id=53]
Sweep the Braves, move on from there...

[Fman99]

I prefer my Mets teams to be less toilety than this

[ashie62]

The Hot Corner wrote: This time really needs some shaking up. I am starting to think last season was a mirage, where everything gelled and fell into place (at least until late September). The loss of Diaz has been huge and has had a dominoe effect on the bullpen, but that alone can not account for the Mets lackluster performance. The offense just has not been sufficient (even with the addition of Alvarez and Baty) for the majority of the season. The loss of Diaz completely changes the bullpen dynamic, but not much can be done about that right now. The offense really needs a boost. I would send Vientos back down and give Mauricio a shot. He could spell Lindor (who definitely could use a day or two off) as well as take some at bats at DH. I'm not sure there is an answer to the pitching other Max and Verlander both turning back the clock. Unfortunately, even that isn't likely to make enough difference. Senga needs more consistency (and he needs to stop walking so many hitters). Then there is the lack of quality innings from Megill and Peterson. They just haven't provided the rotation depth that is needed for a team to be successful. The failure of the starting rotation to reasonably go 6-7 innings has caused overworking of the bullpen, which lacks the depth to pitch 4 or more innings on a regular basis.

All successful teams gel at some point and hopefully the Mets will before 2023 ends



They brought up three kids. Alvarez is a future all star. Baty is struggling, Vientos just got here so who knows



I would play Vientos everyday and find out once and for all if he is the goods or more a 4A type



Mauricio is learning 2b and probably needs more time in AAA



It seems easier to find available options to jump start an offense rather than a pitching staff, on an internal basis anyway



I don't see Canha Pham and Vogelbach all remaining Mets after the trade deadline.



I would be surprised if they didn't go for a top line SP rental or better. I am not thinking about Ohtani, yet



LGM

[MFS62]

I heard the Mets will start trying Mauricio out in the outfield. That might provide the flexibility to his skillset that he needs to be brought up.



Later

[ashie62]

Mauricio got hurt. He was "blocking" second on a steal attempt and he sprained his ankle. He walked off on his but who knows

[Edgy MD]

He walked off on his butt.

[DocTee]

This team is just not very good. With more than a third of the season down, they are closer to the division basement than to first place, and find themselves looking up at teams such as Pittsburgh and San Francisco. I keep waiting for them to go on a tear, but I'm not sure they have a "ten wins in twelve games" type of stretch in them.

[batmagadanleadoff]

This team is just not very good. With more than a third of the season down, they are closer to the division basement than to first place, and find themselves looking up at teams such as Pittsburgh and San Francisco. I keep waiting for them to go on a tear, but I'm not sure they have a "ten wins in twelve games" type of stretch in them.

Could've been even worse. Had the Mets signed both deGrom and Trevor Bauer, they probably wouldn't have either Scherzer or Verlander right now. They kinda got lucky there, in hindsight.

[metirish]

Looking like a team that will hover just about above .500 all season

[ashie62]

This team is just not very good. With more than a third of the season down, they are closer to the division basement than to first place, and find themselves looking up at teams such as Pittsburgh and San Francisco. I keep waiting for them to go on a tear, but I'm not sure they have a "ten wins in twelve games" type of stretch in them. Could've been even worse. Had the Mets signed both deGrom and Trevor Bauer, they probably wouldn't have either Scherzer or Verlander right now. They kinda got lucky there, in hindsight.

Good point, hard to see in the moment