In April, Neil Walker hit .307/.337/.625 with nine homers and 19 RBI.  From there, it has gotten progressively worse.  Here are his monthly splits in the subsequent months:

• May .250/.333/.420 with four homers and six RBI
• June .214/.292/.274 with one homer and seven RBI
• July .155/.254/.259 with two homers and eight RBI

From May 1st on, Walker is hitting .213/.298/.326 with seven homers and 21 RBI.  It has dropped his .307/.337/.625 hot April to .239/.308/.409 this season with six doubles, 16 homers, and 40 RBI.  Overall, he has a 91 OPS+ and a 95 wRC+.  Walker’s season stats aren’t good, and they’re even worse when you consider he has progressively gotten worse each month of the season.  Each and every game he is on the field, he is out there hurting the team.

The only solace for the Mets is they gave up Jon Niese to get him.  Niese has had an even worse year than Walker.  In his 18 starts, Niese was 7-6 with a 5.13 ERA and a 1.574 WHIP.  Like Walker, he wasn’t getting any better as the year progressed.  Niese put up a horrific June that saw him go 1-4 with a 6.21 ERA and a 1.710 WHIP.  Those numbers would be even worse had he not had a terrific outing against the Mets on June 7th that saw him pick up the win after pitching seven scoreless innings while allowing four hits and two walks while striking out two.  Take that game out of the equation, and Niese would’ve been 0-4 with a 7.86 ERA and a 1.937 WHIP.  These numbers were so ugly that the Pirates were all but forced to demote Niese to the bullpen where he has pitched effectively in his three appearances.

Like the Pirates, the Mets need to admit the trade was a mistake from their end and demote Walker.  He needs to be put on the bench because he’s hurting the team on a day-in and day-out basis.  In his stead, the Mets could go with a Wilmer Flores–Kelly Johnson platoon at second base.  Since May 29th, Flores is hitting .283/.338/.534 with nine homers and 25 RBI in 44 games.  On the season, he is hitting .316/.371/.667 with six homers and 13 RBI in 29 games against a lefty.  Since coming to the Mets, Johnson has been hitting .317/.394/.524 with three homers and five RBI in the 31 games he has played since re-joining the Mets.  Both Flores and Johnson have earned playing time, and they have both produced from May to the present.

Right now, the Mets are a half game back of the second Wild Card, and they are five games out in the division.  The Mets were exploring the possibility of trading a good, young, cost-controlled catcher in Travis d’Arnaud to acquire Jonathan Lucroy in the hopes of improving their offense.  It appears the Mets are now out on Lucroy, and they are going to need to make offensive improvements elsewhere.  For now, it appears the biggest improvement they can make is removing Walker from the lineup in place of two players that are hitting.

For the past two days, it appears that is Terry Collins approach as he has sat Walker in favor of Johnson against Marlins starter Jose Urena, and he was going to sit against Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez before the rainout. This is a precipitous drop from where Walker was when the Mets obtained him in the offseason and a freefall from where Walker was in April.

Considering how poorly Walker and Niese have fared away from the teams that drafted them, maybe the Pirates and Mets should get together and undo that trade.