Musings
Pop Quiz: Why did the 2026 New York Mets falter? While people want to blame things like losing Pete Alonso, the truth is the 2026 Mets faltered due to injuries.
Francisco Lindor’s injury was devastating, especially with no real Plan B available at the position. Juan Soto’s keg injuries hurt the lineup. Clay Holmes broken leg killed the rotation.
There are more, but that’s the point. There’s only so many injuries a team can sustain before faltering. However faltering one year doesn’t necessitate faltering the next.
Right off the bat, the Mets rotation looks to be in good shape. Here are the promising young arms set to pitch in 2027:
That’s 3/5 of the rotation figured out. The renaissance of Sean Manaea puts them in better shape, and they can always look to bring back Holmes are sign another veteran.
Their outfield from left to right will be Soto – A.J. Ewing – Carson Benge. That’s an all under 30 outfield with speed and power. It’s a very impressive group.
At catcher, the Mets have Francisco Álvarez and Luis Torrens. Alvarez seems to finally becoming the power bat behind the plate he’s always promised to be. Torrens is a great defensive back-up with a bit of a clutch gene.
The infield is a bit of a problem. They’re at least secured on the left side with Lindor and Bo Bichette, who will likely opt in for the rest of his contract.
We know Brett Baty is not part of a solution. Marcus Semien probably isn’t either. Now, if the Mets pick up Luis Robert Jr’s option, Ewing could slide to second. Let’s see how he finishes the season before we go here.
The Mark Vientos and Jorge Polanco injuries leave 1B and DH unsettled. Long story short, the Mets need to rebuild the first side of the infield. Hopefully, one of them takes off giving us some peace of mind heading into next year.
The Mets are having open tryouts for the 2027 bullpen. We also know David Stearns has been adept at building bullpens making this a little less of a concern.
All told, the Mets are very good in most spots. There is a good foundation here with money to spend. Rather than be doom and gloom, Mets fans should focus on the very good pieces here.
The Mets can now see who can be a part of the 2027 team and beyond. They have the means to address their deficiencies. They will contend in 2027.
Until August 3, the New York Mets are in a somewhat precarious spot. They need to be showcasing their potentially movable players while making sure their young stars stay in the lineup.
Short of a needed day off, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have to play. Benge is the right fielder and should never play another position.
As for Ewing, it’s complicated a bit. He’s looked like the center fielder of the future. He has elite speed and can cover a lot of ground.
The problem is when he’s in center Luis Robert Jr. won’t be. Right now, Robert needs to be in center to showcase him for the trade deadline. It’s better to move him now than lose him for nothing when they will have to decline his $20 million team option.
Fortunately, Ewing is versatile. He can play second base. There’s a problem there because the Mets also need to try to showcase Marcus Semien.
Look odds are no one wants Semien and his horrendous contract. Semien isn’t hitting or playing defense. However, if he gets hot, maybe, just maybe, the Mets can get someone to take him.
It’s a delicate balancing act, but the Mets absolutely have to have Ewing in the lineup everyday. They have to do that while simultaneously getting as much playing time for Robert and Semien as possible.
It’s a near impossible situation.
That situation is complicated by the Mets insistence on playing Brett Baty and Jared Young.
Baty has a career 84 wRC+. He has a 75 wRC+ this season. He’s a poor fielder with a poor arm. Looking at his stats, he looks like a non-tender candidate, not a lineup mainstay.
But, he never comes out of the lineup. It’s at the point where he played right field in place of Benge. Baty would misplay a routine fly ball. As a result, Christian Scott couldn’t escape the jam and would eventually lose the game.
Being fair, Baty is 26. It’s possible a team could overvalue Baty’s 2025 outlier season and try to trade for him. If that’s a reason to keep playing him, fine. It’s justified.
Just keep him at first because it’s not like anyone is blocking him there.
The Mets are enamored with Jared Young at first. He plays there everyday. It’s completely bizarre.
Young is 31. He has a career 107 wRC+. He’s a platoon bat. He’s been solid at first with a 2 OAA with zero recorded scoops.
It’s fine having Young on the roster. He serves a purpose. He’s a platoon bat with some pop. He just can’t play right now. Playing him is completely and utterly pointless. Worse yet, it’s detrimental.
Benge and Ewing have to play everyday. The Mets need to hope Robert and Semien get hot and attract someone to at least take the contract. Hopefully, the Mets get lucky, and someone takes Baty.
No one is chasing down Young. Even if they’re interested, the Mets are not getting any value for him. Playing him more works counter to the Mets objectives.
Playing Young before August 3 is malpractice. It leads to Benge in left and Baty in right. It’s dumb and counterproductive. It needs to end now.
The 2026 New York Mets season is one of the most soul crushing for fans. Fans seemed willing to believe despite being skeptical of the offseason, we all seemed ready to believe after the offense knocked Paul Skenes out in the first inning on Opening Day.
Since then, Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, and Luis Robert Jr. suffered major injuries. Juan Soto would also be hurt for a stretch.
The pitching has completely fallen apart. Unless you’re named Luke Weaver, you’re worse than you were last year. Really, everything is worse than it was last year.
It’s so bad Carlos Mendoza was fired. Worse yet, rather than watch, Keith Hernandez would rather talk about how his family line is dying than this Mets team.
Just about the only good thing about this Mets season has been Carson Benge and AJ Ewing That’s it. Well, that, and we haven’t really had to watch.
The New York Knicks captivated us with their first championship since 1973. It was an epic run we will be talking about for years to come.
Discussions for the 1973 parallels for this Mets season will have to wait for another day. Whatever the case, we have 13 years until the Mets hit the Knicks 53 year title drought, and 14 to match the New York Rangers 54 year drought.
After the Knicks run, we got the World Cup. The USMNT captivated the country until their disappointing exit against Belgium. Still, soccer has captivated this country in a way we never believed soccer could.
The World Cup Final is July 19. The All Star Break is upcoming, and when the World Cup ends, we will be one series into the second half of the season.
That means all the attention can then be shifted to the Mets.
Yes, we all watch every game. We’ve had the Mets game on in another screen during the Knicks and World Cup. Mets fans love this team even when they don’t deserve it.
However, we have been able to mentally get away. Instead of focusing on the Mets pitching, we got to watch Jalen Brunson. Instead of focusing on how the Baby Mets have regressed, we got to fall in love with Folarin Balogun.
Very soon, that’s all away. The Mets will be out complete unfettered focus. We check back in with our full attention ahead of the Mets being one of the few sellers at the trade deadline.
The distractions were very much needed this year much like in 1994, the last time the US hosted the World Cup. However, no Mets fan wants to want a distraction.
We need this team to be run well and be competitive in an era where nearly half the league makes the postseason. This season should have been better, and the Mets should have been ready to take the mantle from the Knicks and/or the USMNT.
This as depressing a Mets season as you can have. It’s about to get worse because we will have nothing else until the NFL season begins.
It is unfair to say New York Mets fans who had given up faith were overreacting. The start of the season could not have gone worse, and it was on the heels of another late season collapse.
Mets fans who don’t believe now are not overreacting. This team is in last place with a 17-25 record. The Atlanta Braves have the best record in baseball, and the Philadelphia Phillies have righted the ship after elevating Don Mattingly to manager.
Still, the Mets are in a good spot right now. They are playing better baseball, and even with the Francisco Álvarez torn meniscus, things are calming down. We can say that after Juan Soto’s x-rays came back negative.
On the pitching front, the Mets have the third best FIP in baseball and second in the National League. They’re fourth in K/9 and eighth in ERA.
They’re doing well from a pitching perspective, and we see there is still some upside from the current staff. You win with pitching, and the Mets are pitching well.
We’re seeing some bats come alive. Mark Vientos has been better, and we’re starting to see some red on his Baseball Savant page. Carson Benge has figured out Major League hitting. A.J. Ewing looks like a big threat out there.
Bo Bichette snapped a long 0-fer streak. We’re heading to the time of the year both he and the rest of this team take off. With health luck from Soto, the Mets offense is about to put together a big stretch.
Really, this team is in a position where they can get to .500 or better by the All-Star Break. After that, Francisco Lindor and Alvarez come back as the Mets will be primed to make some damage.
Remember, no more west coast trips. They will have 35 games against teams currently under .500. They will get six cracks at the Braves. This is a schedule you can see a 2016 or 2024 type run emerging.
The 2026 season started worse than we could’ve imagined. At times, the Mets appeared snakebit. One player returns and another leaves.
And yet, despite that, the young players are energizing the team. They’re pitching very well. The bats are coming around with great players coming back. The schedule is set up for success.
The Mets are fine and will be competing for the postseason this year.
We all know the negotiation between Pete Alonso and the New York Mets after the 2024 season was tense. Steve Cohen spoke out about it and called it worse than the Juan Soto discussions.
We were all prepared for Alonso to leave a year before he did. Alonso came back because he wasn’t getting comparable offers, and Cohen left the door ajar:
I’m being brutally honest. I don’t like the negotiations. I don’t like what’s been presented to us. Listen, maybe that changes. Certainly, I’ll always stay flexible. If it stays this way, I think we’ll have to get used to the fact that we may have to go forward with the existing players that we have.
Well, learning what we know now, Cohen might’ve been sugarcoating things a bit. Jon Heyman of the New York Post gave Alonso’s side of the story. During the interview-person negotiation, Alonso dropped this gem:
When my career is being evaluated for the Hall of Fame years from now, you’ll still be fiddling with your [fucking] formulas.
Look, at first blush, Alonso got the better of that exchange. Certainly, we can all buy that narrative given the fact Alonso was re-signed.
Truth is, Alonso’s comments were a hilarious failure to prove his point.
Look at it again, Alonso asserts when his career is over, David Stearns will still be working. Seriously, why else would Stearns be fiddling with his formulas?
In essence, Alonso is saying he’s a great player, but Stearns will continue to be a GM/POBO for well over 20 years. Only the true great front office executives last that long.
If Stearns lasts that long, his methodology has to be correct. Ipso facto, Stearns is correct in his evaluation of Alonso and similar players.
Those “formulas” are part of why Stearns was successful with the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s why he’s with the Mets now. It’s why Stearns will be with the Mets for years to come just like Alonso conceded.
Sick burn there, Pete.
New York Mets fans patience with Brett Baty and Mark Vientos has understandably run out. For some reason, most of the vitriol is directed towards Vientos, and bafflingly the Mets are more invested in Baty.
For a good chunk of the season, we’ve seen some form of a Baty/Vientos platoon. That means more Baty, which can only mean the Mets want to be bad.
For their careers, Vientos has a 98 wRC+ against right-handed pitching. Baty has a 93. Vientos is better against right-handed pitching, and yet, the Mets force Baty’s weaker bat into the lineup.
We’ve seen Vientos have a 27 home run season followed by a GREAT postseason. Baty literally only has one good 24 game stretch.
We can conjure a scenario where Vientos can be that 27 home run guy again. That goes double when you consider he’s historically taken off around Memorial Day (minor league track record).
There’s nothing to suggest Baty is anything more than a back of the bench utility guy. He’s a less fun version of Joe McEwing, who will be never have anything like McEwing’s inexplicable success against Randy Johnson.
We can’t make this about defense either. They’re not third basemen anymore. Baty was far better at third, but Vientos is much better than Baty.
There is literally no justification for playing Baty. He’s the guy who at the end of his career he won’t be a “has been,” he will be a “never was.”
At least with Vientos, there’s something. We’ve seen success, and we’ve seen him come through in the biggest moments. Again, Baty has one good 24 game stretch.
Looking more at Vientos, he struggled at each promotion in the minors. He adjusted, dominated, and repeated. This is a guy who has had real struggles, and he has a history of figuring it out . . . when given the opportunity.
Baty doesn’t. It’s not who he is.
Consider this, Baty is literally only 28 days older than Vientos. Both were drafted out of high school, but Baty was drafted two years after Vientos.
As a result, while Vientos was trying to figure it out against players 2-3 years older in the Sally League, Baty was dominating high schoolers 2-3 years younger than him. Somehow, the Mets constantly go away from the player who fought to go with Baty.
Vientos has had Major League success. He’s shown the ability to make adjustments and thrive. Baty’s never done that.
Let’s stop lying to ourselves. Play Vientos. Sit Baty.
Not since the days when Jeff Wilpon played doctor has the New York Mets medical and training teams need to come under closer scrutiny. In the first month of the season, the Mets have been an absolute mess.
Francisco Lindor had hamate bone surgery, and then he suffered a calf injury that is going to cost him the rest of the first half. Perhaps more.
Juan Soto had a calf injury that cost him two weeks. Now that he has returned, he is relegated to DH as he has a forearm strain.
Jorge Polanco landed on the IL with wrist and Achilles issues. The calf and potential Achilles issues seems to be a theme with the early season Mets problems.
Kodai Senga has been terrible to star the year. While Mets fans assumed the worst about Senga, the truth is he had spinal inflammation requiring an epidural shot.
While not on the IL (yet?), Luis Robert Jr. is dealing with lower back tightness. That makes two Mets players dealing with back issues.
Last season, we saw Frankie Montas, Tylor Megill, A.J. Minter, and Dedniel Nunez undergo Tommy John surgery. It is here we need to note the Mets used a record breaking 46 pitchers in 2025.
There was the freak injury to Griffin Canning. Again, there is something strange going on with the Mets and ACLs.
Sean Manaea needed to have surgery last year to clear loose bodies in his elbow. Manaea has not returned to form after the surgery.
Last season, we saw Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez attempt to play through lingering injuries while failing. We forgot Nick Madrigal ever existed because he was injured in spring training in 2025, and he never returned.
Backs, ACLS, and UCLs.
The Mets seem to be dealing with a lot of these injuries over the past two years. They’re dealing with it as David Stearns has revamped all parts of the organization including the medical and training staffs.
That doesn’t mean Stearns or the people he put in charge are at fault. Look at Polanco. He’s always injured. However, Soto and Lindor have always been healthy, and they’re fighting through it this year.
Maybe it is the Drive Line influence. Maybe it isn’t. It could be something as simple as bad luck. For example, Jose Siri’s career was forever changed after fouling a ball off his shin.
The Mets are dealing with a number of injury issues. While we’re focusing on the team losing games, the bigger issue is how are the Mets at the point where MJ Melendez is thrust into action or Ronny Mauricio is back at short because the Mets are just that injured. ‘
Hopefully, this is a bad year plus stretch with the Mets. Chances are it is not just bad luck, and the Mets need to find out what is going wrong in the organization that these types of injuries keep happening.
The Boston Red Sox have been massively disappointing to start the season, and as a result, World Series winning manager Alex Cora was fired. He was replaced by Chad Tracy.
The Philadelphia Phillies have been massively disappointing to start the season, and as a result, pennant winning manager Rob Thomson was fired. He was replaced by Don Mattingly, who happens to be the father of the GM.
The New York Mets might just be the most disappointing team to start the season. Despite calls to fire Carlos Mendoza, Mendoza’s job appears safe for now.
We can speculate why Mendoza has kept his job while Cora and Thompson did not. There are legitimate reasons why Mendoza is still employed.
Juan Soto was hurt eight games into the season and missed 16 games. Francisco Lindor was hurt soon after Soto’s return, and he is poised to miss the remainder of the first half, perhaps more. That also discounts how Lindor was returning from hamate bone surgery to start the season.
With both Soto and Lindor in the lineup, the Mets were actually 5-4, which seems unsatisfying, but that is a 90 win pace. Yes, take that with a grain of salt.
The injuries are a major reason why the Mets have faltered to start the year. Soto has missed 16 games, and the Mets were 3-12 in his absence. The Mets have been 1-3 with Lindor out of the lineup.
Those are not the only injuries of consequence. Jorge Polanco has been injured most of the year before needing to land on the IL. The Mets are 3-11 in games he has not played.
Those are three significant bats that are out of the Mets lineup. Of course, they are going to struggle. However, that’s not the only reason the Mets have struggled.
While the offense has understandable struggled, so has the pitching. Unfortunately for the Mets, there are no injury concerns there to explain these struggles.
Notably, after the Mets fell apart to end the 2025 season, Stearns parted ways with Jeremy Hefner. Hefner is a well regarded pitching coach, who did not remain unemployed long.
Hefner is with the Atlanta Braves now, and the Braves pitching staff has an MLB leading 3.13 ERA. Keep in mind, that is without Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Raisel Iglesias.
Meanwhile, the Mets have seen David Peterson fall apart. Kodai Senga seems to have suffered a fate worse than that. The current Mets pitching coaches have tinkered with Sean Manaea’s mechanics, and he can’t regain his velocity,
That’s nothing to say about Devin Williams being terrible as the closer. Luis Garcia was so bad he was released after just six appearances. Luke Weaver has a 4.91 ERA.
What could have helped was better defense. Believe it or not, the Mets pitchers have a 3.77 FIP, which is the sixth best in baseball. To that end, the Mets have a 1 OAA, which is tied for 13th in baseball. That’s not exactly the transformative defensive impact Stearns promised.
Joining Hefner on the Braves staff was Antoan Richardson. He was the well respected first base coach who had the Mets running the bases much better. Soto LOVED him.
Currently, the Mets have stolen 16 bases, tied for 7th worst in the majors. They’ve been caught 6 times, which is tied for 15th worst. Overall, they have a 72% success rate, far below their 89% success rate last year.
Looking at the returning players, nearly everyone is performing worse. You may want to attribute some of that blame to Mendoza, but in reality, he’s surrounded by a completely new coaching staff. Is it more likely Mendoza got worse, or the coaching staff got worse?
That’s the inherent issue. Stearns not only changed the lineup, defense, and bullpen. He also changed the entire coaching staff basically leaving just Mendoza.
Stearns’ hands are all over this Mets team. To be fair to him, there have been so many impactful injuries. Also, the only player who did not return that has performed well has been Brandon Nimmo, and if you look, he has been quite bad the last two weeks.
The heat is already on Stearns for this season falling apart. However, at this moment, that heat is shared by Mendoza. Once Mendoza is gone, all the attention goes to Stearns.
That makes Mendoza a shield for Stearns. That doesn’t mean that is the reason Stearns is keeping Mendoza. It could be Stearns acknowledges what has gone wrong, and he realizes Mendoza is not at fault. It could be that there are no obvious replacement candidates. After all, reports are Cora does not want an immediate return to coaching. ‘
Whatever the case, Mendoza is taking on the burden of shielding Stearns from total blame. There is no obvious answer as to when would be a good time to replace him, so at the moment, the only thing we can hope is he will be rewarded by this team righting the ship like it did in 2024.
Seemingly since taking over as the president of baseball operations for the New York Mets. David Stearns has heavily pursued Luis Robert Jr. It’s a bit of an overstatement, but Stearns did pursue Robert for multiple years and deadlines before landing him.
The fascination has been rather odd.
In 2024, Robert had an injury prone year. He had a 1.3 WAR and an 84 wRC+. Now, you may want to attribute that to an off injury plagued year.
That’s fair, but then, he essentially repeated the year. In 2025, he had an injury plagued year with a 1.4 WAR and an 84 wRC+.
In his hubris, Stearns thought the Mets could revive Robert’s career. He looked like a genius when Robert hit .308/.460/.462 over the first two weeks while showing much improved plate discipline.
Since then, well, he’s been Robert. Over his next 12 games, he’s hitting .152./188/.217 bringing his season mark to .224/.327/.328. Right now, he’s at a 94 wRC+, and we can assumed he will remain below the 100 mark the rest of the year.
Now, you can live with that in exchange for elite defense. While Robert has been good, we can’t quite say he’s been elite in center. Certainly, his throws haven’t been.
In reality, Robert hasn’t been elite in center for years. In 2023, he was the second best center fielder with a 12 OAA. He hasn’t been that again.
Since 2024, Robert had an 8 OAA. That ranks him as 22nd overall in baseball. There are 30 teams in baseball. These are not elite numbers.
Notably, Harrison Bader ranks higher than Robert. Bader has a 13 OAA in the same time frame. In that time frame, he also has a 98 wRC+.
This makes Bader the better player. It must be why he’s had a 4.5 WAR since 2024 while Robert has had a 2.9. Taking everything into account, it gets worse.
Bader was productive for the Mets in 2024 for a $10.5 million. Instead of re-signing him, Stearns thought he could do better by trading for Jose Siri, who was hurt and bad. He’s now playing for the Los Angeles Angels Triple-A team.
For Siri, the Mets gave up Eric Orze. Orze has been an effective reliever the past two years in his limited MLB time. That’s notable for a Mets team struggling to put together bullpens in Stearns’ tenure.
For Robert, the Mets gave up Luisangel Acuña. Being fair, Acuña has been awful for the Chicago White Sox. That said, Francisco Lindor is hurt, and the Mets don’t have a real shortstop option.
Moreover, the Mets are paying Robert $20 million. After the year, they either pick up his $20 million option or give him a $2 million buyout.
Since leaving the Mets, Bader has made $15 million. Put another way, Bader has made $5 million less over two years and has been the better player.
Stearns gave up assets and had Steve Cohen pay $20 million to get worse at the position. This was done in the name of defense and the belief the Mets can make players something they’re not offensively.
Stearns made the Mets worse in center field. He gave up prospects, and the Mets are paying $20 million to be worse.
Bader was not a long term solution. He was a part time player. It behooved Stearns to improve and find a long term solution. Fact is, he hasn’t.
Instead, Stearns chased Robert. It was an unnecessary pursuit. Hopefully, it won’t prove to be a blunder.
Whatever the case, Stearns wasted resources trying to improve from Bader. He’s failed miserably and compounded it by wasting money and prospects. As Mets fans know, we could be talking about Robert or any number of Stearns’ decisions.
The New York Mets twelve game losing streak is finally over. Mark Vientos went from embarrassingly running through a stop sign to a go-ahead RBI single.
This magic was brought to us by Bark in the Park Night. Dogs and Mets games. Sounds like the 2000 Mets blaring “Who Let the Dogs Out” during their pennant run.
That’s right. As Timo Perez caught the final out, and the Mets players swarmed NLCS MCP Mike Hampton, “Who Let the Dogs Out” blared across Shea Stadium.
The song wasn’t exactly embraced, and there was the blight of the Baha Men on the Mets dugout in the World Series. We can all forget the Z100 trying too hard version of “Who Let the Mets Out.”
However, we’re two years removed from the 2024 magical run to the NLCS. That team was left for dead only to rally around Grimace and OMG. Sometimes, you need these goofball things to get you going.
The 2026 Mets broke the 12 game losing streak with the dogs at the ballpark. The 2000 Mets were powered by that song to a pennant. Let’s embrace this same spirit that worked so well in 2024.
Time to dust off “Who Let the Dogs Out” even if no one wants to hear it.