All-In Mets Throw Four-A Pitchers

In the offseason, the Mets traded over five prospects. Why? They were all-in.

The Mets opted to forego a year of control over Pete Alonso by having him start the year on the Opening Day roster. Why? The Mets we’re all-in.

The Mets opted to go with just four MLB caliber starting pitchers in their organization because that’s apparently being all-in as well.

Well, after Jacob deGrom lands on the IL, the Mets were left with Chris Flexen a day after Jason Vargas gave the Mets just four innings.

On the bright side Flexen was throwing 96 MPH. On the downside was everything else.

Flexen got through the first unscathed, but the wheels would come off starting with a Wilson Ramos passed ball allowing Jose Martinez to score. During that at-bat, Miles Mikolas would deliver with a two RBI single giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

That was it. Game over.

Mikolas was cruising, and one pitcher after another couldn’t get out of their own way. Here are their disappointing but not unexpected final lines:

  • Chris Flexen 4.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 0 K
  • Luis Avilan 1.1 IP, H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 2 K
  • Jacob Rhame 1.1 IP, H, R, ER, 2 BB, 0 K
  • Paul Sewald 1.0 IP, H, R, ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Mets didn’t do anything offensively until the seventh when Amed Rosario tripled home Jeff McNeil. By that time, it was 9-1 in a game the Mets would lose 10-2.

Against a team the Mets are likely going to fight for a Wild Card spot, the Mets threw Flexen, Avilan, Rhame, and Sewald. They did it because they came into the season with no depth, and by mid-April, it’s already become an issue.

We also the Mets play continued shoddy defense. We also saw their offense begin to regress to the mean meaning it wasn’t there this time to bail out the pitching or defense.

Other fun notes include the Mets opting not to have deGrom undergo an MRI despite him having an elbow injury significant enough to put him on the IL. Alonso was hit on the hand with x-rays fortunately being negative.

Mostly, the Mets have been outscored by 17 runs this year, and they’ve allowed over 10 runs five times. It’s still early, but we’re starting to see very real problems with this team, and the way Van Wagenen built it, you legitimately have to ask how fixable they are.

Game Notes: McNeil beat Moises Alou‘s club record by recording his 100th hit in 291 at-bats. Brandon Nimmo returned after missing a couple of games with a neck issue.